Is Honda actually making this quad now, or did Honda just pre-hype the fact that they plan to release a new 4X4 one year from now? If so, this is a marketing rip-off. Sounds like Honda hired Microsoft's marketing group. Everybody sit still for three months pending our big announcement.....okay (3 months later), our annoucement is that we are going to build a kick-*** 4X4 quad a year from now...now wait some more.

To think I almost held off putting a new exhaust, dynojet kit, and Elka shocks on my Raptor thinking Honda might come out with something that would compete with the Raptor and be dependable too. The only reason I moved forward with the mods was that I decided if this happened then I would give the Raptor to my girlfriend to ride and I would get the new Honda. ALMOST but not quite suckered again thank you very much.

Don't get too excited reading this, we have 2 Honda 400exs that are very dependable - just not quite the rush of a Raptor. I will start building the 400exs up though since it isn't likely Honda will do anything until they take a beating in sales over the next two years.

 

They are not making it yet. They have these machines a long time before they actually come out. I have a friend who test rode the Grizzly 660 in the SUMMER of 2000 and it just came out a few months ago. My guess is they released pics and info on it to let the public know they have a new toy coming out. I doubt the specs we have seen are the final versions.

 

It may be sort of like kawasaki did with the 650. Kawi anounced the quad long in advance and took prototypes to clubs around the U.S. to test it out, get consumer reactions, and test reliability before releasing it. Sounds ok to me.

 

I hear ya but it isn't make any sense. So you are saying that Yamaha was running around with a prototype telling everyone watch the website for a new announcement and then the announcement was that they have a prototype running around the country for a year?

Nope, this is a big slap in the face so all the Honda people wait for their beloved company to catch up to Kawi, Yami, and others. The big news on the website was nothing more than a pre-announcement of a pre-announcement that a quad will finally come out one day down the road assuming they can stick to an R&D and manufacturing schedule.

The question is how many 4X4 riders will continue to hold off? Forget about it for the sport quad fans.

What was the big deal then about saying we are going to make an announcement about a new 4X4 model on Sept 20th. How much of a secret can it be if you have to wait another year for it?

 

i share in your disappointment, but his annoucement was mainly about models that are going to be introduced very soon, in fact 3/4s of them are 2002 models. I know honda R&D department is working on a new race quad, but i doubt it will be soon. It does suck that the bikes get so many updates and updates yearly on them.