I have two 2002 Polaris quads and not one problem. But like all of you say, they have all of these problems and no one wants one. No wonder their sells are so poor.

 

Thats sarcasm straight up. In 1998, Polaris sold more quads than Honda did. They have the sales figures. And their bikes are a lot better now than they used to be. But of course so are everyone elses.

The guy is asking for opinions. Thats what he's getting. Nobody is claiming to state printed facts.

 

While not quite a billion, the Polaris 700 has 4 grease fittings. There are certinaly more things to base a decision than this. Everybody makes dang good machines. I base my decisions on accessability of components/ease of maintenance, and overall rider friendlieness of the machine. Both the AC and Polaris are right at the top in my book.

Lvl1trauma

 

polaris has never ever sold more machines then honda they are close to yamaha but sadly they will never catch yamaha either i do know this for a fact honda has and always will bring there A game and it shows in the sales

 

Thats interesting - where does your data come from?

 

polaris passed yamaha years ago for the 2nd most atv sales

 

You are smoking crack pal. YES IN 1998 POLARIS DID OUTSELL HONDA!!! I don't know where you could look it up, but it happenned. It was the big buzz at the time here on this very forum, and of course you can't search back that long for the topics on it, because they revamped this forum in July of 1999 and we all had to re-do our logins again. I've been on this forum since 97, I've heard all the big talk that went on around that time, and Polaris took the cake from Big Red in 98. (or maybe it was 97 and the figures were released in 98)

Of course thats also the same time they cranked out 450 and the 400EX and it wasn't long before they had their sales numbers back on top. But you have to remember, at this time, Honda's best bike was a 400 Foreman, and their only sport was the 300EX. Polaris had a full lineup of several models that appealed to a wide array of people, and that with their marketing and advertising took over from Honda. Honda countered by actually putting together a good sport quad, and improving on the 400 Foreman, giving it a bigger bore, and another 1.5" of suspension travel. And of course an Electric Shift option.

A polaris 700 only has 4 grease fittings?? Are you missing some?? A 500 HO has 28 grease fittings and a 660 Grizzly even has 6 of them. If that is true, then Polaris is ditching that grease fitting idea for simpler technology (which is a good thing actually).

 

I chose the Cat 500i over the sportsman. Reasons? The Cat is a bit more work oriented, and I would be using it around my farm. 5 speed manual transmission, slightly better ground clearance, better articulation on the rear (no sway bar), and my farm is pretty much a pile of limestone rocks, so I needed all the GC I could get. 500HO has more power wound out, but the Cat has more grunt, especially if you get the manual transmission.

Cat seemed to have a few less electronic gizmos, less to go wrong. No fancy auto 4wd, just a big handle that you push on to get 4wd. Shoving on that handle might strain a limp wrist, but it works for me.

Personally, I'd take the grease joints if they were available. I suspect some of the reliability issues with Polaris were from people who jumped in mud puddles and never greased their quad afterwards. Mud is like liquid sandpaper - very bad if it gets into anything moving.

 

in 03, Polaris went down to 3 grease fitting on all their machines. My scram has 13, (I think?:confused[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] and I personally like knowing that all that is in there is grease, nothing else. I dont mind taking the 5 or 10 minutes every few rides and giveing each zirk a couple of pumps. It isnt very complicated to do[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Regardless of what the sales were Monkers is just asking for pros and cons, lets just give him the pros and cons and our personal opinions. I love my AC and would get rid of it for anything. From working to trail riding, I beleive that AC has really hit the nail on the head with this one. From its handling in 2wd,4wd and even with the diff locked it still handles great. 10 inches of suspension travel front and rear, 12 inches of ground clearance, 6.5 gal fuel capacity, 300 lbs rack capacity and especially metal(not cheap plastic lol!) racks and an mrp system, I personally beleive it is the best. Awsome mud, hillclimbing, downhilling, rockhounding and trail machine. To put it lightly!