Yes the Sportsman 570 is close in price at the same dealer ironically, it sells both new Honda and Polaris. Even if it costs a few hundred more, it probably is a better value. The Can-Am Outlander 500 isn't that much more expensive either and it has even more power. MSRP is nice but nobody pays that when they actually go to a dealer. There will be some people who will NEVER buy an atv with a cvt, Honda is the only way to go for them. Yamaha most likely sells a lot of atvs worldwide as well. Yes, a Sportsman 500 and 570 and a Grizzly 550, even a King Quad 500 are all faster and more powerful than a Foreman 500 but not by as much as the hp numbers would indicate. The deals I was referring to were on leftover 2014 models they were trying to sell to make room for the redesigned 2015 models. I guess it seems I'm trying to justify and defend Honda for making less powerful machines. In reality, they have failed to update their engines and have fallen behind the rest. Still, they have the most loyal owners in the powersports industry and if they keep selling, then why spend the extra money to develop a new powerplant. The old saying of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies here. They have sort of boxed themselves in to making the same machines or lose customers because they would raise prices if they tried to build a competitive hp machine.

 

I go to the World Ag Expo every year and get to speak with the reps from each major ATV maker. Sometimes they even have someone there who knows something.

Honda and Polaris both claim the #1 slot in sales, as they have for several years. Honda says that Polaris cheats and includes their UTVs (Rangers, Razors) in with the ATVs.

My suggestion for anyone interested in a big-*** 4x4 utility ATV is to consider the Kymco MXU 700i or 500i. All the bells and whistles, and hundreds less than the other brands, with full dealer and parts support.

 

There just aren't very many Kymco dealers in many parts of the country. I think there is one relatively close to me over near St Louis but that's over an hour away. As I said earlier with the good deals on the Honda Foreman, many times you can get lucky and find leftover models from the previous year and get a great deal on those. They're still brand new. Especially if there is a significant change for the upcoming year, the older models can be discounted significantly to get rid of them. I'm sure it happened a couple years ago when the Sportsman 570 replaced the 500. Polaris dealers probably had to drop the prices a lot to sell the remaining 500's. There may even be some dealers with Sportsman 500 or 2 left, I bet you could really get a super deal if they do. It appears Polaris dropped the Sportsman 800 for 2015 so finding a leftover 2014 would probably net another great deal on a solid machine.

 

A quick dealer search around the Windy City shows 10 dealers within a 200 mi radius. Note Kymco is huge in the area of scooters, and dealers may only have one or 2 ATVs in stock. New parts access via internet is good, from my experience.

By all means, get last year's model leftovers of any brand if you can.

 

I guess there's more than I thought. I live in southern Illinois and there are 2 Kymco dealers within 50 miles of me. Many dealers down here sell multiple brands. One of them is a Polaris dealer that also sells Kymco. The other is a Yamaha dealer though it only sells the scooters. The Polaris dealer is the closer one anyway, about 30 miles away. A quick check of their website shows they only have new scooters in stock. Since it is a Polaris dealer that's what people buy if they go there looking for an atv.

 

Your are correct about the multiple brands. I checked a dealer in Alton, Il,
and they carry many brands. Often this kind of dealer will sell Honda or Yamaha or Polaris quads, and Kymco scooters. (I bought a car from Alton on eBay and had it shipped to me on the left coast.)