OK, got me interested with the "quiet diesel" I love my Arctic Cat 700 Diesel, powerful and massive torque, but quiet, it's not. BTW, looked at the Stampede at my dealer, they look well made.

 

The Stampede is very nice and appears to be well built. I'm told the Havac is even better with it's 100 hp engine. The Prowler Pro is supposed to be extremely quite - more quite than a car.

 

When I first got my Arctic Cat Diesel, it came from Georgia on a trailer, coldest day of a Maine winter! -20F . The truck driver was clueless how to drive it off the trailer. I cycled the glow plugs once and it fired right up with Georgia diesel. At that time, I'd expected to have trouble starting, nope. However, it took a while for my" diesel virgin" ears to get used to the sound, haha. Bosch mechanical fuel injectors give it a distinctive clatter. I'm either used to it now or have gone deaf.

 

Not so sure that just because they build other quality stuff means they build quality OHVs.

Look at Honda. They manufacture some of the best selling and highest quality cars in the world. They built Asimo, the very first robot capable of recognizing stairs and being able to climb and descend them YEARS ago.

Honda ATVs are no longer considered the most dependable ATV on the market falling behind Yamaha and Suzuki. They still use OHV engines.

And look at their flagship ATV the Rincon. Still no front locking differential for 2018.

Honda's Formula 1 race cars have a 3.0 litre V-10 that produce close to 1000 hp @ 12,000 rpm.

A company can own several different divisions and not all of them are as successful as the other.

 

If I were to consider a 50" utv, the Wildcat Trail would probably top the list. Plenty of power with the 700cc twin and costs a lot less than Polaris and Can-Am. I test drove one once, I was impressed with how quick it was. More power than the older 800cc rzrs had. I'd want to get one with eps though, the non-eps one I drove took quite a bit of effort to steer.

 

I can only judge from my own experience.

I will never own a Polaris, ever and I have no interest in a SxS. I prefer to ride than drive.

My best friend owns an AC 500 LE. Last summer he took it in to have a few things fixed, it has 2500 miles on it. Over $2000 later he took it home.

After his first ride he had to take it back for an additional $400 in repairs.

I haven't spent that much in repairs between my Honda and Kawasaki combined including maintenance with a combined mileage of over 25,000 miles.

I hope they are an improvement over the old AC.

 

We don't see many Arctic Cats out on the trails. Mostly Can-Am and Polaris. Started with mostly Honda years ago, then mostly Polaris, and now about even split between Polaris and Can-Am.

 

Honda has had more issues than just atv's. I bought a new Honda that required three replacement engines, the front shocks leaked, and I had to carry fuses in my pocket like change.

 

I've owned an AC for years - never had a problem that wasn't rider induced. It still starts right up - even in cold weather. I installed a block heater, and it will start even if sitting outside at 30 below.

 

At this point, the new models I believe generally are all similar in reliability. Polaris has gotten a bad rap for hot exhausts melting plastic but I think they finally got that resolved. That issue has been overly exaggerated for years. In the end, it comes down to personal preference. Its just like buying a new truck. The old argument of Ford vs Chevy vs Ram. Any of them is a great choice. Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra too. There's really no wrong answer. Buy what you like. One isn't really better than the rest.