You'll be fine on the Warrior if your just going to cruise around. In fact you can even go fast and have fun.

Just don't expect it to be a sport machine that you can whip around.

I've always put the Warrior in it's own class. It's not quite a true sport machine, and it's not quite a utility machine. It's kinda like a cruiser with an attitude.

I use mine to mow the lawn, it pulls a 44" Swisher deck and does it just fine. Then it performs well on the trails for my wife. It's kinda like a duel purpose sport machine for us. It's a good machine. Sure the new age machines are much better, but for years the Warrior had no equal for the weekend trail rider.

And as has been said you can get into the sport via a Warrior for a fair price.

 

i do have to admit the 400ex is a faster machine but if you wait you might find a used 2005 model

 

Yeah it would be cool to get a new 400ex with reverse and the new plastic!

 

I know that I'm new to this forum, but here is my 2 cents. I have both. The EX is stock but the Warrior is slightly upgraded. I like the Warrior for the low end torque for trail riding and riding with the familly(reverse). Have to stop alot for my daughter(10 years old) so the reverse helps bunches. For MX riding I love the EX. I can really get on it without the front end always coming up unlike the warrior. I believe with some suspension mods on the EX, it would be my favorite and could over look the lack of reverse. I think that both are great machines. They just fit into different catagories. The Warrior doesn't seem to take alot of abuse very well though. Lots of maintenance between rides. Good luck with either though!!

 

Welcome to the forums Sushi.

I'm surprised with two of the things you stated in your posting ..

1. You have an easier time keeping the front end down on your ex than on the Warrior. The Warrior is probably the most difficult sport quad to get the front up on .. the 400Ex is typically the wheelie king .. Warriors are very front heavy, something that makes them very stable hill climbers.

2. You say the Warrior requires a lot of between-ride maintenance? How so? What do you do to your Warrior between rides that you don't have to do to your EX? I don't know personally of another quad on the market with the bullet proof reliability of the Warrior. You frequently hear of troubles with Warriors more so perhaps than with other quads because there's so dang many of them on the market and they were produced in mass for 17 years, and had (and probably still has) the title of best selling ATV of all time (sorry for the run-on sentence).

I agree though .. the Warrior is a great trail machine. It can put along and tear it up equally well. But in as far as this post goes .. the 400EX outshines the warrior in just about any circumstance. More powerful, better handling .. the only thing it lacked on the Warrior previous to this year was reverse. But now the weight difference is not so great any more [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Thanks for the welcome!!
I guess I should have clarified abit when I said slightly upgraded. Sorry about the confusion. This is what has been done to my Warrior to make it abit faster. New pipe, new sprockets for low end, new ignition system with boost pack, new carb, extended axle, bored out to alittle over 400, bigger steering stem and more aggresive tires. From a dead stand still I can bring the front end up in third without high rev and dumping the clutch.
As for the maintenance, I am rather really hard on my toys. The frame has to be watched very close for cracks. I have to replace the chain about 4 times a year. Slowly having to replace all the connectors with sealed ones because of corrosion and a problem with wire chafing. I go through tie rod ends and bushings and brake pads.
The 400EX I bought last year from a friend. He was the original owner. He took it out maybe twice a year. He rolled it the last year and has been afraid of it since. Can't say much on that. I just rolled it up in Uhwharrie last month. I lost common sense up there and have since regretted it. Big Ouch!
I hate it when people don't clarify them selves when giving an opinion and have just done it myself. For that I do apologize.

 

i am still going with the 400ex

 

Well I guess that I just need to shut my mouth!!! I just sold the Warrior to my son in law about an hour ago. Not exactly sure if I should be happy or sad. Now I just need to get a new steering stem and handle bars for the EX and I will be back in business!!

 

dude warrior is closer to a 400ex than a yamaha breeze... ud be surprised how close i am with my friends 400ex, its a pretty close race untill my 5th gear and hes just got must better top end.

 

Not close at all imo. Rode with a warrior a lot. Left him in 2nd and pulled away hard.

I liked the warrior for really tight trails. The rear end was easy to slide around. But the EX is better for everything else.