Hi,

I have always had Skidoo snowmobiles, so when I was in the market for a new ATV, I decided to give Polaris a try. I purchased a brand new 2016 Polaris Sportsman 450 this past June from M&M Polaris in Liberty, NY. I even had the winch and plow package added on to my purchase. I was so excited to take it out on the trail with my friend. Well 4 miles in, I loose all power. The machine wont go anywhere. My friend had to tow me back and then I had to winch the ATV up the hill. I have the dealer come pick it up. They look it over and tell me the Polaris factory did not properly seal the CVT so water got on the belt, but nothing to worry about it was all fixed. Well then at about 20 miles, the ATV starts popping out of gear so again I have them pick it up to fix and they tell me that all is fixed and not to worry. I have been busy so I haven't had a chance to ride in a month, but my friends and I planned a camping trip and off road course at a hunting club this past weekend. I was very excited. Well not even 5 miles into the trip, the check engine light comes on. At this point I only had about 55 miles on the machine. My friend thinks that the battery might be loose so we take it out, clean the connections and reinstall the battery. It seemed to work so we continue on. Then a few miles later, the ATV's temperature light comes on so we pull over, look at the coolent, radiator and airbox. The airbox had some dirt in it so we cleaned it out and i poured water on the radiator to clean out any mud. Well that seemed to do the trick so we continue on well we dont make it that far and the check engine light comes on and it goes almost into like a limp mode where I cant go above 15 mph. We take it back to camp, use a hose to really clean out the radiator thinking it would do the trick. I ride it around and all seems to be fine so we decide to go back out. After we get into the one way course at about 10 miles, the check engine light comes on, it goes into limp mode and if I went down any hills it would just shut off even though I was giving it a little bit of power while trying to control the speed with breaking. At this point, I now cant start the ATV without holding the break, trying to give it some gas and turning the key. In addition it started backfiring. I had to drive back 20 miles at 15 mph which was not fun. I dropped the ATV back at the dealer on my way home and they tried telling me that mud and water caused the issue. They said I submerged the ATV and it was my fault I had the issues. However the code that it was throwing was for the TSP sensor. There was no water in the oil which is a tell tail sign that the ATV was submerged. My friend who is a diesel mechanic even called the dealer and the guy could not answer any of his questions or let him know if certain things were indeed actually fixed. I am now not sure what to do as I have no confidence in the machine or the dealer. They are trying to get me to buy a different machine, but with their offer, I would be out $3300 from my 450. Isnt their laws for assistance with defective products. Does anyone have any advice on what to do?

 

If they won't give you an answer try another dealer or Polaris directly. Definitely seems like your machine was not properly buttoned up and they should have gone over it completely after the second time to make sure it was good to go. Shouldn't have that many issues on a new machine but they should make it right or take it back. If they still give you the run around try the Better Business Bureau as well. First I've heard of that many issues on what should be a nice machine from what I've heard...

 

One with that many issues should be simply replaced by the dealer. It happens occasionally, you simply get a poorly put together new machine. They should just give you another new one or your money back. Then you can go out and buy something else. The dealer would get reimbursed by Polaris so its not like they would lose any money. It sounds like your dealer is not being very helpful. They're trying to blame you so they don't have to take care of the issues. I hope you can find a way to get rid of this piece of crap and not lose too much money. At the very least, trading it in at another dealer should get you close to what you paid for it, within $1000 or so, not the $3000+difference your dealer quoted you. That would be the difference in price from the 450 to probably a Sportsman 850. A Sportsman 570 base model is only about $600-$700 more than the 450, both being new. Even a used 2016 450 shouldn't be more than $1500 difference trading in on a brand new 570.