My newest toy has EFI, first one I have owned, all my other toys have had carbs. Yep, it can get cold where I live so cold starting needs to not be a problem. I have never had cold starting issues with my carb engines but sometimes some extra cranking or pushing on the throttle is needed to get them going. This morning we reached -5 yep, below zero so I had to run out and see how the new UTV was going to start. WOW...just turned the key to run position and waited for buzzer to stop the turned to start.....engine did not even make two revolutions and was purring like a kitten. Nothing to play with to keep her running,,,man that is nice! She sets in my unheated barn and damn that seat was cold this morning but she started so easily....that EFI is great stuff. Wish all my toys had it now !

 

Good to hear.. Is the buzzer sort of like a diesel light that tells you when it's ready to be cranked or just a normal bells and whistle sound like an auto makes when you first turn the key on? Just curious..

 

Was explained to me that the buzzer goes for a few seconds when the key is set to run position, this allows the EFI system to set itself for the conditions, when the buzzer goes off then turn to start position and it starts almost instantly. Seems to work great, sure was surprised at how fast it started this morning!!

 

Good idea.. Gives the fuel pump time to prime up along with all the sensors sending info to the computer. Polaris needed something like that on the first batch of 550s and 850s. If you even touched the throttle before the first minute or so after they cranked you'd foul a plug..

 

On my machine, touching the throttle after it has started does not seem to affect it, however there is a rev limiter until the engine warms up. When cold only a slight increase in throttle can be made no matter how hard you push.
This throttle limiter becomes less as the engine warms up. On warmer days(50 degrees) the limiter only lasted a couple minutes at best. Will have to wait until warm weather gets here to know how it works then. Been told that as the temp rises the limiter function decreases. Guess that is part of the waiting for a few seconds for the computer to set things before starting.

 

Yea it's called a "retard spark,waste fuel" mode when most efi machines first crank until the sensors send all info to the ecu for it to establish the correct air fuel mixture,etc. I like the idea of a limiter that works like this when cold until everything is ready.Beats fouling plugs. Seems like Kymco may have studied other machines and have done their homework on this.

 

I hope so....I researched these for about 4-5 months before I made my decision. I can honestly say in all the reviews including those that came from competitors forums I did not find a single negative comment about this machine. Worst comment was only time will tell and the notchy shifter which is getting better with use or mabey I am just getting used to it. In most reviews even those comparing other brands to the Kymco everyone was impressed with the Kymco...especially for the cost difference. I am fabricating my own plow mount due to the fact that no one makes a good system for this machine yet, at least not up to my quality standards. I have had this thing apart, all skid plates removed and I can say with out a doubt this thing is well built. There is no c channel or angle in the frame, it is all heavy wall rectangular tubing welded all around and completely powder coated. Many of the other brands I test rode and gave close inspection to lacked quality welds and what I would consider quality frame materials. So hoping I made the right call, but so far quite impressed.

 

My uncle has a Gator 825i 4 seater and its a similar start up. You turn the key and basically wait a couple seconds for the fuel pump to kick on and then start it up. But with efi, its instant start up too. The Kymco 450i looks like a great machine for a good price. Basically the only other machines in its price range have less power, the Honda Pioneer 500 and the Polaris Ranger ETX. Of those 3, I'd rather have the Kymco. I assume those were on your list too but the Kymco should outperform either of those.

 

When I first decided to look for UTV's everything was on my list...yea I know wishfull thinking LOL. The first thing that hit the reality list was some of the price tags....no way was I going to drop 15-20000 on a UTV. Then I started looking at more of the utility side which is what started me thinking about this to begin with. Strict utility only vehicles were a turn-off and not cheap either. By this time I decided that I would have a $10000 limit and see what I could find. My first draw was to the Polaris but not impressed with ride quality or build quality, so I looked at some Chinese models....yep build and ride quality was not good. Looked at rhino's and thought mabey but getting the price down was hard. Looked closely at Honda but not having a dump box about ruled that out, and I know about Honda's reputation however that paddle shift turned me off. A friend has an ATV with that similar electronic shift tranny and while he likes his machine he is skeptical about the tranny.
In my search on forums and such I would see the Kymco name keep popping up with good comments. I was familiar with there ATV's and knew they had a good reputation so I started looking at their UTV models.
The more I looked, the more I liked, then started comparing them to other brands in there price range or in most cases the other brands were slightly higher priced but still within my budget. I finally found a dealer that allowed me to crawl around, under and thru, take apart and look, touch, feel, and yes test ride....serious test ride!! No other dealer of any other brand would allow me to do this...mild test ride only at best around the parking lot. I was allowed to take a machine out to their test field which was covered in snow, had hills, small jumps, mud, the whole 9 yards and put it thru its paces. Ride quality was the first thing I noticed, much smoother and quieter than "any" other I tested. Build quality is second to none, dump bed is all steel with just a plastic decorative outside whereas some units had plastic in the area you would haul cargo. Lots of storage everywhere, and that 450 engine is a real get up and go engine. Most tests state it will outrun anything else in its class and even outrun some 500 models. Now I wasn't looking for speed or ability to jump.... but what the hey if it has those qualitys as well!! I am 65 yrs old and performance was not on my mind, build quality and ride comfort were at the top of my list and this machine fit both quite well. The only issue is reliability....not sure as only time will tell, from all the reading I have done it seems to not be an issue. I talked to a couple dealers that lost their Kymco franchise due to other brands not allowing them to have Kymco on their floor in competition with the other brands. Those dealers spoke very highly of Kymco and how well the mfg treated them for the few warranty claims they had. This was another thing that got me thinking....all the dealers said they would be happy to get the Kymco franchise back if the other manufacturers would allow them to do so. So far so good, after markets accessories are scarce but are begging to show up. I am not into making mods to my machine so that doesn't bother me. I am having to fabricate my own plow mount as no one makes a good mount for this machine yet, at least not built to my standards. As a tool maker for more than 48 yrs I think I can handle that job. If all else goes well I think I will have made the right call on my UTV.

 

Extra power isn't just useful for going fast. With most cvts having a high and low range, extra power many times means not needing to use low range very often. Using high range keeps the rpms down, making for a quieter ride and using less fuel than low range. If you plan to plow snow, low range will definitely need to be used for that but for general trail riding and light work duty, high range will be sufficient most of the time. I use low range occasionally on my Grizzly, most notably on one slow trail I ride on and loading the machine on my truck but not much besides that unless I'm a bit off the normal trail and I can see I'm going to go slow. Or if I'm about to get stuck I put it in low and diff-lock to give me max traction.