Well I have three hundred miles on my Red Auto 500. For what it's worth here are my observations.
Good: Great ride,comfortable seat,handles nice,plows snow like a champ,compression braking is great.I hardly ever need to use the excellant disc's
Bad: Range selector stinks,pain to put in low range,always sticks,not real smooth.I sit for "hours" trying top off the gas tank..fill it up it trickles down etc.Gas gauge rattles,rattles,rattles................
Ugly: Nothing really,well my buddy stomps my *** with his Grizzly in a race,but I had one of those,you couldn't give me another one,they suck.
Wish list: More power and maybe 2 more inches of leg room from the seat to the floor boards but that is it.As you can see all the positives are the big things. The ride, handling,braking....All in all I am very satisfied with my AC 500. I previously owned a 98 Polaris 300(great ride,no power for 2 riders) and a 99 Grizzly(lots of power,tippy handling,mine had to be fixed 6 times in 300 miles) I think my AutoCat is the best machine for myself and my riding needs.

 

Mike, if you wish for more leg room you could probably take the seat to an upolstery(sp?) shop and get them to increase the foam in the seat to raise it up. just a thought.

 

Hmmmmm...i would thought that the AC would stayed with the Grizz in a drag race...but oh well...anyway...here's the real test....take your new Red AC 500 and put it in a creek deep enought to cover the belt and give it heck...and let us know if the belt slips or not...

 

Hey Mike, what kind of stuff went wrong with your Griz?

 

My Grizzly....where do i start? I got water in the clutch,drained it but the clutch would not upshift properly which made it rev like a banshee, which of course caused it to overheat.Made for very long ride at max speed of 20 mph back to truck(40 miles).Overheated one other time on the trail,in 55 degree weather? Headlight fell out,rack cracked,shift linkage bent.I still ain't figured that one out yet.Had 3 spark plugs in it.The rear brake absolutely sucks on these things.Cable's fill with mud as does the brake drum itself,which causes it to hangup and drag.Everytime I rode in the mud I had to pull it off and clean it out.My buddies Grizzlies rear cable froze solid on a winter ride last month.I had 253 miles on it,spread out over three trails rides.Three days riding and 8 days fixing.I decided "Screw it and buy an Arctic Cat"
Mike

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Well I tell you what, you caught h*ll with one huh? Shucks, I didn't know there was that many things that could go wrong with a bike. te he he Just kidding, glad you like your bike. Happy riding!

 

Hey Mike just a thought on the reason your shift linkage may have bent. To shift from high gear to reverse or low you have to depress the rear brake pedal. Sorry you had a bad experience with the Grizz, mine is a '00 with 300 miles on it so far and no troubles. Good luck with your Cat.