I have been reading these mags since 1985. The only time another machine won was when the Honda wasn't involved. A lot of times they are bragging up the Honda then you take a look at the specs and charts and they are all about the same. As someone mentioned earlier the Honda is outdated but still winning...go figure. Drum brakes beat disc brakes...funny, full time 4wd beats a selectable 2wd/4wd...."oh but its so smooth"... Air cooled is better than oil or liquid... 5" of travel is better than 6"or 8"...Swingarm is better than Independent suspension...why, of course it is... here is the quote from the mag concerning the foreman 450es. "Honda proves that it takes more than just suspension travel to make a good handling ATV".... what B.S.!!! I don't know how the Honda can win any of the shootouts. all the categories I listed Honda comes in dead last. I guess, all I can say is to do what I did... I am planning on buying a Arctic Cat 300 4X4 next month. I went and picked up all the brouchures from the different dealerships and got the price for each machine, I found the range I could afford. Then wrote down all the things that I wanted to have on my ATV like Disc Brakes, auto Transmission, Liquid cooled motor, Independent suspension, speedometer, 12volt outlet, Large gas tank etc. I then went through and found the one machine that had most of the features that I wanted. The Arctic Cat came out on top. I was concerned about is reliability. so I came here to the forum to see what other people have been saying about their cats. Everyone is totally happy with their quads and have had nothing but good to say about their quads. so if you want the biggest and best bang for your buck then the Arctic Cat is the way to go!!! Do the research I am sure you will come to the same conclsion as I did.

 

Well I've pulled a 3/4 ton Dodge with a utility bed loaded down with Plumbers tools(about 8000lbs), a Toyota 2wd extended cab long bed with it's parking brake on up untill a ditch, then I released the parking brake(I found out what was stoping me) and pulled it to a set of oil change ramps where I pulled the toyota on them. Then after selling it I pushed it up and on to a tandem axle trailer as the new owners watched in amazement.

Now if thats underpowered I'd like to see what a so said powerful Grizzly/Rubicon could do.

I talked to Grizzlyrules for about 2-3 months when he was considering buying an Arctic Cat 500 and trading in his broken 99 grizzly in for it. Now that he has it he tells me it has ALOT more power, better ride, and just a flat out better ATV.

I talked to a Honda/Polaris/Yamaha/Kawasaki salesman the other night. He bought a Grizzly, then a Sportsman 500, then an Xpedition 425, and now a 96 Sportsman 400. He says the Sportsman was the best by far and he regrets getting the 425 over it. He also said the Grizzly was the, quote, "biggest peice of $H!t I ever wasted my money on". I said I like the 401 Kodiaks and he said "thats about all Yamaha has thats decent". Now I think Yamaha makes some good ATVs for a differnt purpose than Arctic Cat. Yamaha(IMO) is the ATV manufacture for fast ATV's. The only ATV's that Yamaha has ever made(to my knowledge) that were slow were the Big Bears(all year models) and the Pre2000 Kodiaks. Even the Timberwolf/Beartracker is not a slow quad for it's class.

Why did I just talk about Yamaha?? I have no idea anymore, I think it's time to end this post. Don't you??? Well lata.

 

As a public school teacher I applaud you ttaylor for making a wise decision after considering all sides of the arguement, researching your topic, and making a decision that you feel strongly about. As a 25 year-old male with a 500 AC I say, "Rock on you bad a**!" Enjoy your ride.

 

who honestly gives a rat's *** about what the magazines say. i guess what they mean by puny is that the ac and suzuki have a 493cc engine and the ruby has a 499cc engine--a 6 cc difference. take a look at a 20 oz coke bottle, there is 592 ml (also known as cc's) of liquid in that bottle. how much space would 6 cc or ml occupy? not too damn much. i don't care if i have a less powerful atv than the next guy. after all 500cc is going to seem small with advent of the 650, 660, 700 and, hell, 1000.

just a redneck thought,

arctic cat 500 auto always cocked, locked, and ready to rock with a 45 caliber GLOCK.

texascat

 

Thanks for all the responses I didn't like the way the way they were testing the bikes either.
I want to know what they will pull how much mud they can drive through steep hill climbs (downhilling) engine braking with a load behind ride travel over ruff stuff how much weight you can load the racks with. I don't care how fast they are or which one jumps the best who drives a heavy duty 4x4 like that anyway.

I liked the load ratings for the racks the rear
susp.
The stock tires are the same size at all 4 corners
the pulling cap. and torque numbers.

I want it for snow plowing, pulling landscaping trailer, Hunting and Log skidding.

Thanks to Cowboys post and everybody else I know this machine is quite capable of what I need it to do thanks for the replys.

PS thats the last time any mag> gets my money.

 

When I become a rich man in about five years when I get out of college. I am going to by the biggest bike made by every manufacturer, build a giant mudpit, build a large hill, cut down a large tree, and get enough weights to see how much each machine will pull until it cant pull no more. Then I am going to put an open invitation to eveyone in this forum to come and watch. Whichever bike goes through the mudhole, up the hill, over the log, and pulls the most weight will be declared the winner. Then if there is still a dispute over the winner we will hook a log chain up to the bike that is being disputed and see if it will pull the other. And a note to everyone all quads will have the exact same tires so there is no whining about how the tires were the deciding factor. This should solve the dispute over the best UTILITY quad although the polaris and yamaha owners will all complain because yes we know they are faster. Just a little insight on how I think a shootout should work.

 

I'll tell you what I would like to see In the next Raptor test or Banshee test They should compare them in a mud race at fun wheeler or a log pulling test or how 'bout just an out right 4ft deep mud bog. According to their standards on testing 4x4 quads these test would fit the sports quads nicely

I read this article myself the other day and it irritated me beyond belief. I even started this petition http://www.petitiononline.com/niteowl/petition.html if I get enough signatures I will contact them with our complaints

 

If the AC does all of this flawlessly, I expect that you won't take away from it because of the awkward rocker shifter that "we just couldn't seem to get used to".

 

Sorry Andy I like my shifter, wouldn't have toe shifter again, even put one on my Suz 4X4 for young lad.

 

Ok…. A little off subject here and not to get into a mine is better than yours situation here. But as long as Boner mentioned what his Arctic Cat could pull. And he did ask what a Rubicon would pull.

Well let me say I don't know the answer to that. But what I will tell you is my puny little Honda 300 2WD pulled a 9000 pound 1929 Chevrolet fire truck on pavement with a minor incline. Albeit it needed a slight push to get it rolling and the little Honda smoked its tires and the front end almost airborne with a 140 pounds of sand on the rack.

The whole time it was saying to itself, I think I can, I think I can."

I have no point I just wanted to share that story. Thanks