To throw in my 2 cents (what the heck), Ive got an 05 AC 400i auto myself. It still only has 50 miles on it to be honest, but so far I LOVE it. My experience has been that new quads just get better as they get more broken in. If mine gets better, I'll be VERY pleased. I ride in the mountains and foot hills of Montana. I go through a lot of rough country, and steep hills, and other fun stuff. While Im being cautios with mine for the break in, it has plenty of power for any of the terrain I deal with. Its a BIT slow on the throttle response, but Im sure that will improve, and I can tell that it is still fairly stiff from the factory (engine wise, again...break in).

Ive already pulled a guy out of a pretty rough and muddy creek bed. It was about 1 1/2 feet of STEEP bank and mud pasthis tires. He was wedged in ther pretty good. He was pretty doubtfull I could do it because he coudlnt budge it, it was wedged so tight in the narrow bed. I hooked up to his frame with my winch and tried to winch him out. He moved some, but I slid more than anything. He threw up his hands, and I told him to stand back. I put it in reverse, locked the front diff. and grunted him out of it. Thankfully I was a bit above him so that I wasnt pulling directly against the bank. He got it started, I waved and away I went.

Point being....unless you're a testosterone freak a 400 will do just fine. Dont get me wrong fellas. nothing wrong with a bit of testosterone. If you can afford the extra dough, GREAT. Im just saying that you wont be dissapointed if you can't, or won't.

 

mrmom, The 400 does have an oil cooler with fan. Had the fan come on the other day for the first time. Had been running hard and stopped and chatted for about 2 minutes when the fan came on. Was 65 degrees out so I shouldn't have been surprised. The 376cc motor as a ton of torque and pulls well from idle to WOT. But the motor has never underwhelmed me. I also prefer the air coolng as much less things to leak or go wrong. Ridden some severe terrian since I got the 400 and so far no problems with the boots. My oil cooler is protected by the 2500# winch.

 

Bear, What is a decent price on the 400 manual??auto??

 

Testosterone?you say??isnt that what made my hair fall out???.....no a 400 is fine......I lived through my younger years thankyou.....Kz1300 w/ 6into dg pipe,Formula 272sr-1 w twin 320 EFIs/ bravos,600 indy triple when that meant something...need I go on???never sky dived......a guy asked me why I would jump from a perfectly good airplane ????i didnt have an answer....I guess drew the line there.....

 

Well, I can only tell you about the northwest coast. The 400 auto was marked at $5600 and the manual was $5400 on the tags. These price were $400 to $500 lower than the Cat dealer only 35 miles away, but he handles several other brands and tends to keep his prices up. My dealer dropped $200 fairly quickly and it got tough then. We had been in several times in the months preceeding the actual buy. On one of those visits we had been quoted a price of $5000 for a 400I manual shift. One of their preseason flooring plan machines. The dealer was getting their second order of machines in and needed to move the earlier machines. My wife had gotten it in writing and even though they only had two left now they honored the price. So I got the 400 at their cost. BTW, the dealer I was at moves more Cats than any other dealer in Washington state.