For the 2002 model year partsland.com shows the same part # for the piston, cylinder, crank & camshaft, they are both 499cc 4 valve water cooled motors with 40mm carbs so I am not sure what is totally different?

 

If you want complete reliability, go with the Japanese ATV leader, go Honda. Will never let you down and no belts to slip or break. Polaris are too heavy, to many grease fittings, to high maintenance and just to awkward. Honda has proven themselves for the last 30 yrs or so. They invented them and perfected them. You cannot go wrong with Honda. And for all the die-hard "by domestic, buy American made" fans out there in the U.S, they ARE made in the United States of America! Can't beat a Japanese bike guys, sorry............

 

Not so Rezie Boy, The Hondas are reliable but greatly underpowered. They may be built in America [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] but all the profits go right back to Japland. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]

And they didnt invent the quad.

 

Some crazy loon who wrote in to Dirt Wheels magazine was complaining that his 2000 Sportsman 500 didnt have enough power. He had tried different pipes and such and nothing made an appreciable difference. So he took a page from the Scrambler 500 and modded his Sportsman with the parts mentioned above. He even included his email so that other owners could email him for the part numbers to have theirs boosted.

Well the next year, Polaris did it at the factory, called it the H.O. and didn't even thank the guy. The one question I have is that I thought I remembered there being a slightly larger piston being used as well as the carb and cam, but I could be wrong. This guy essentially modded his Sportsman up to the snappier Scrambler engine.

As far as which Polaris to buy? Who knows, but I like any of them over the Suzuki, for exactly the points mentioned above: Better ground clearance and IRS.

After riding my BF on the same trails I cut my teeth on with the Sportsman 4 years ago, I have to say that there is NO WHERE I cannot go on my Polaris. I just go with more power to spare on the BF. The big questions are:

1. How much top speed do you want? (Do you occasionally ride roads to get to a trail?)
2. How much low end do you need? (they are all good, the BF might not even need 4WD...)
3. How much do you want to spend?

Man, all these quads are awesome, including the Vinson. Sort of like, which is better? Ferrari or Lambourghini? I don't think you could go wrong. The only thing that concerns me is the reliability of Polaris. Some of the Sportsman 500s are problem-free, others are riddled with problems. But after 5 years, you would think they would've gotten it right now!

 

Yeah, but our military kicks the rest of the planets' collective ***. For references see:

Hummer
M1 Abrams Tank

I also think my Polaris has tons more character than my Brute Force, which I love. But if you look at the build quality of the PARTS used by Polaris, they dwarf the parts used my Japanese manufacturers. I cringe when I look at the drive shaft of my BF. Looks like a #2 pencil compared to the beefier Polaris ones. That being said, I too would pick my BF over the Polaris. Jap quads are hard to beat. But I am rooting for Polaris!

At least Polaris is not like Harley Davidson, and doubling the price of what their quads SHOULD be selling for...(see V-Rod for explanation)

 

oh ya....go with Honda, my 300 Fourtrax was a good machine, but my 450 with the pushbutton shifter was a piece of $hit. I couldn't get it back to neutral, would have to pull out the hand crank (which they come with in the tool kit knowing you will need it) and manually crank it back in gear. Never shut them off in gear, you won't be able to start it or get back to neutral to start without the hand crank. I also kept sucking batteries dry on the machine.

The two best machines I've owned were my Polaris 500 Sportsman and so far the 05 700 EFI, but I only have 250 miles on the EFI so far, but working great as I expected.

 

When polaris came out with the sportman to me they set the bar for 4x4 atv's, then the 500 H.O. raised the bar,
now we have all the monster motors coming out, but polaris is doing some thing right as they are #2 in atv sales !!
so they went right on by kaw, suzie,yammi,cat & brp with only the big H in front of them.

 

we also use the military vehicle!!!! kick *** quad there and it saves some guys life out east. that is all polaris quality. if u really want to prove it look at the machine and compare it to another everything on the polaris is beefier causing more weight but i would rather have a tank polaris then a piece of fiberglass suzuki, and i even own a suzuki.

 

are the polaris fast and do they have good acceleration?? cause i ride/"race" down the road with my neighbor. or would you say the Vinson 500 or the Kodiak 450 are better??

 

If you want a fast ute......get the 500ho and put a predator engine in it.........oh and by the way(the pred 500 is the best 500 polaris makes).....lol......[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]