A new model of UTV for Artic Cat in the 2017 model year has been brought out. Many of you may already know that Kymco has been producing engines and drivetrains for Artic Cat for many years now so it is no surprise that their latest offering in the UTV market is the Kymco 450i rebadges as the new Prowler 500. Don't be alarmed as the 450i from Kymco has been a big success so that is a good market point for the big Cat company. It appears that most of the change is in the front plastic's as the rest of the UTV looks Kymco all the way. Nothing negative here as Kymco has proved themselves to be a reliable manufacturer. Check out the new models for yourself.....

 

Its funny that Arctic Cat calls it a 500 even though it is still the same 443cc engine. I thought maybe the Prowler 500 was slightly bigger but it appears to be the same size as well. But it does cost more, that is true. I think the Kymco 450i retails for $7999 so its basically $1500 for the same machine.

 

Well Kymco is also exaggerating, it's 443 ccs, not 450, haha. Could be wrong, but I think the motors are Kymco built, but the rest of the UTV is different. Think they are both good, would shop dealers and price. I have no problem with Taiwan made stuff, but the other China makes some crap! AC didn't say 500 cc's they called the model a 500. A Ford Galaxie 500 was a model, not the engine displacement. As long as the new AC 500's are slower than my old 496 cc Suzuki powered model, haha.

 

Hydrex I am not sure the rest of the machine is different except for the front plastics. The advertisement I looked thru had numerous pictures and specs for the new prowler 500 and they were identical to the Kymco. Same seat, width and length specs as well as weight spec. Same fuel tank size and from the inside pics the chassis pics look identical, only the digital portion of the dash is different. Not knocking the machine at all....Kymco has a winner and why shouldn't artic cat jump on the wagon like the rest of the manufacturers do? Heck Kymco builds engines for Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Polaris,artic cat, and even some of the Chinese crap.

 

Gotca, sadly my AC dealer stopped selling AC ATV and only sells Kymcos, Hondas and Kawasakis. The sell a pile of AC snow sleds. Kinda pisses me off, always thought my next ATV would be a new 550 or 700 AC TRV. AC dealer is already 30 miles away, probably have to go 100 miles now to find a dealer with AC ATV's in stock. You are right, I hear only great things about the Kymcos and the Kymco powered AC's.