I don't know, I just look at the original Predator and the 440 Canondale, both were good but not any where near as polished as the current Japanese 450's. Neither ahd to deal with the current level of competition there is right now either. R&D would be pretty costly for a smaller company that has little experience in designing and producing a top shelf race quad, and if it is quirky it won't sell. Why, are you looking to upgrade to a 450 soon?

 

Arctic cat is no small company. Just because they havent comited to atvs in the past doesnt mean they cannot put out a top of the line machine. You forget that the produce some nice sleds and could easily apply their resorces to making more higher end quads

 

No, I am fully aware of what they produce. I am looking back at the history of quads and saying that traditionally, newcomers to the sport market have not fared so well on intial quality. Say AC puts out a 450, instead of being in a class by itself like the original C-dale or Pred was, they are going to be competing with 4 or 5 other 450's. If theirs comes out last in the mag shootouts, aint gonna be pretty.