I swore never another Polaris machine after my 2000 Sportsman 500 basket case
But in 2008 we ran into a little red 800 50" on the trail while 4x4ing in our trucks.
This lead us to the Polaris dealer in 2009 and as soon as my wife saw the "S" model with the HIGH OUTPUT sticker it was over.
Been a fan of Polaris again with the rzr
I would change a few things about our 2015 XP1K4 starting with the front driveline and the price! But we had two 800's that were mostly trouble free (weak ball joints) and became Polaris fans again

Polaris new snowmobiles are really getting good and this 2017 lineup is impressive
No matter what you buy I am a firm believer in run what ya brung its not about brands its about good quality experience from a machine

 

I've had bad experiences with Polaris in the past as well. I've owned several Scramblers and they all turned out to have major problems. All but one were pretty old by the time I got them though so probably not all Polaris fault. Too much abuse by multiple owners and lack of maintenance so by the time I got them, they had seen better days. I have owned mostly Hondas and Yamahas. Hondas are pretty much bulletproof. Performance isn't there with the utility lineup though. Also owned a couple Grizzly 660's as well and those were a mixed bag. Again, too old and too many miles before I got them much like the Polaris machines. This Brute Force I have now is my first Kawasaki. It is in much better initial shape than most of the used machines I have purchased recently so hopefully it will represent the brand well. If I like it long term, my new utility quad of choice will probably be the Brute Force. My intial take on it is that I like it. I do like the v-twin power over the single cylinder machines that were the only thing I had owned up to this point. I'm sure a newer 750 efi Brute would be a noticeable step up from this one in power and probably get better fuel economy as well. I still think it might be the last quad I will ever own as I do think a side by side is side will be what I move to next but I'm not really sure. Will probably be a few years away from buying something different.

 

I can't remember how many times I heard the same thing about all the other brands when customers came in to purchase a new Polaris after having night mares with other brands used machines. Any of them can turn to crap if abused or neglected along with some unsuspecting people buying other persons problem child.This can turn people off real quick from one brand or another. Like the old saying: If the machine runs great,no problems,you'll tell a few people to get one. If it happens to be a lemon,constant problems,you'll tell a whole lot more people not to get one.

 

I've tried to be pretty much brand neutral for quite a while. I look at any and every model in a certain price and power range if I want to buy something different. I've had Hondas, Yamahas, Polaris, and one Suzuki. No Arctic Cats or Can-Ams though I have considered those. The older Cat v-twin machines had Kawasaki engines anyway. Can-Ams always seemed to be more money than I wanted to pay for a used machine. Had a chance to get a nice Outlander 800 a couple years ago for a good price and now I kinda regret not jumping on it.

 

The New Prostar engines are light years ahead of the old single jug Fuji engines. The ARB dyno sheets still say the 450ho uses the Prostar 567cc. They also thump out more torque and are capable of 100HP per 1000cc. The Fuji's could not match that.

They only thing that will get me off a Polaris would be a Can am. But with the Polaris line up, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

I remember back years ago when Polaris came out with the "Domestic pwc engines" that eventually replaced the Fugi engines. Nikasil cylinder bores,Elco hard forged pistons made in Austria. Same pistons that a lot of Ktms and Rotax engines used. Loved the little bullet proof 700 twin that put out 95 hp,more hp than the Fugi triple 750 did. I wondered at that time(late 90s-early 2000s) would they come up with their own atv engines and walk away from Fugi. Looks like that questions been answered. I was impressed by the first 2014 570 that I rode at the shop and hopefully they've gotten better. Got to go back and try out some more new ones soon as I can.

 

Prostar switch was one of the main reasons we bit the bullet and went from 800cc rzr to our xp1K

I knew full well they would have a start up rattle direct from the factory when we purchased them so no surprises there. I think it is a shame they use a motocraft style timing chain tensioner that has cold start pressure buildup issues right from the factory in a 2014 & 2015 machine!!

Easily defeated by installing a manual or auto tensioner, but at the tune of $180+/-

After that the prostar 999cc and our 325cc Ace have been awesome, all weather all conditions they run fantastic

To be fair I never had an issue with the Fuji 800cc engines either and I LOVE our RMK 900cc 2 stroke powerplants in our sleds, but I frequent these forums and see lots of crank failures with the old 800's

I love these discussions and I hope PII is paying attention, I know they are since many of the downfalls with the xp1k were addressed with the release of the xpturbo

They have poured rzr profits into manufacturing plants world wide, if their new sleds, slingshot, ace, turbo, are any indication of what is happening at the Polaris think tank and engineering you can call me impressed and looking forward to their future offerings

a manual clutch sport utv (4 cyl maybe?) and a arm suspension ace would be nice to see

Go USA!!

 

I do think Polaris has the best lineup of utvs out there. The Yamaha Wolverine would be great if they would offer more power. The Grizzly 708cc engine is ok but the Wolverine is twice as heavy as a Grizzly. The Viking could use more power too. Can-am is neck and neck with them though except no 50" model which surprises me. That's a segment they could jump into and get a large market share with a great machine. If I bought a utv, it would most likely be a 50" model. The Honda Pioneer 500 does have paddle shifters(which I like) but not nearly enough power. The only other options are the Arctic Cat Wildcat Trail and the Rzr 570 or 900 trail. I do like the lower price of the Wildcat Trail over the Rzr 900 trail and the 700 twin in the Wildcat puts out a surprising amount of power for its displacement. I'm also a bit shocked that Kawasaki doesn't have a real sport utv. The Teryx is more of a utility machine that can't compete with the Rzr, Maverick, and Wildcat. I kinda see 1000cc being the limit for atvs and utvs. If you look closely at specs, they're all just slightly below 1000cc. I think anything above 1000cc has to be classified as something else.

 

You are bangvon about the cc limit Greg. Click the link and open the state requirements tab.

ATV Safety Institute

I agree on the Wildcat Trail, a friend has one. More bang,less buck. They have Fox fully adjustable rebuild able shocks, and are the lightest steering UTV on the market, no EPS needed.

They switch the Wildcat out to Team Clutches just like Polaris uses. More legroom than the 50" RZR.

 

The minimum and maximum engine size for ATVs in Michigan is 50-1,000 cc. It used to be 50-500 when 500cc was the biggest thing anyone made. They already doubled it and I don't think it's going to change again anytime soon but that's okay with me.