I can't decide whether to buy an artic cat or not. My mower dealer also sells Cats, so he is going to give me a deal. His price on a 2002 400i is $3600. He also said he would throw in $200 worth in tires for my mower. I just cannot decide if I want something quicker. This will be my first atv, and I don't really know what I am going to ride. Probably alot of trails and poker runs. The only thing I am hesitating about is the speed and not necessarily the top end as much as the response. That is the ONLY issue. I love how high they sit and it sounds like they are a quality atv. Is there any way to hop up the engine? Maybe put a turbo or supercharger? Naw jk. But really what about an intake or other engine mods. ?

 

Well, that's a pretty good deal on a 400, it's about $2000 less than I paid for mine, but it sounds like speed is important to you. With this in mind, I'd recommend against the cat. I love mine, think it's rock solid, but speed isn't important to me. It's more important that you buy a machine you will like than one that's just a good deal. Take some test rides on different machines, see what you like. Check out the local dealers, get references if you can so you can ask owners what the service is like. I'd love to tell you to buy a cat, but from what you've said, doubt you'd be completely happy on it.

 

If you are looking for speed, do not buy the cat. I do not want to hear you complaining about it on the forums. Cats are more for low end power and torque. $3,600 is a fantastic price for a 2002 400i. I have a 2002 500i I paid 6K for. New tires for the Deere as a throw in? Your dealer sounds like he is trying to move out the 2002's to make room for the 2003's.
This is my first ATV. I have ridden motorcycles for 25 years. I know that I am new to ATV's but I don't really want to go much faster that my Cat can go, and the engine isn't broken in yet. I figure I can kill myself on the 500i without going as fast as it will go.
I use my Cat for trailblazing and logging on my property. I live on one side of a ridge. Most of the riding that I have done, I am whacking over Sumacs and going up steep grades.
Do you want a sport ATV or a utility ATV?
If you answered utility, get the Cat.
If you answered sport, dig a lot deeper in your wallet and see what the fastest thing you can buy is.
Have fun. Buy what you want and be satisfied with it.
Does your mower (I figure it is a Deere) dealer offer good service? Does it take days, weeks, or months to get something fixed? That is another consideration.

 

Where do you live?
I might buy the 400i for my wife. (I can always be a little faster than her if I but it. HAHAHAHA)

 

My dealer is awesome. I have a Dixie Chopper ZTR mower. Deere's commercial mower's kinda suck. Usually he has my mower done in a day or less if something ever goes wrong. I am located in Macon, GA. My dealer's # is 478-923-4628. He has two 400i's left. I guess I am probably not going to get one. I want something that can scare me. The cat just didn't do that. Although, if there was anyway to hop it up I would probably buy it. I am thinking about a raptor, but I wonder how good it will be on trails.

 

If your looking at pure sport might want to look at the 'zuki 400, revie against the Raptor int mag's liked the 400 better. I'm all 4x4 myself, sounds like a great deal on the 400i, there are some mods that can be done to the intake and exhaust to wake it up a little, the suspension might need to be tweeked a little for fast trail ridin'.

 

before you go putting mods on a brand new 400 talk to your dealer about a 500...or if thats not fast enuf look at the 660 raptor if thats not fast enuf buy a dragster....lol

 

If you want to get really scared, look at a Banshee. I was on one last summer, and it was a real kick in the pants. It was a lightweight, high strung, high maintenance machine, but speed and acceleration were not a problem at all. Personally, I'll stick with my 500i, but I tend to work with it and cross some pretty rough ground, so my priorities are a bit different than yours.

Love that Dixie Chopper, was looking at them a few years ago. Fast and well built. You won' t wear one out. I ended up settling on a big Dixon (60"), largely because my yards are fairly hilly, and the Dixon's twin pumps make it very stable on hillsides. I yanked the Dixon out of a gulley with my 500i, which says quite a lot for the Cat's pulling power, as the Dixon is a heavy mower, wheels are liquid filled, deck was dragging on the ground, and rear tires were locked.

--John

 

go with a sport wheeler i had a cat and it was slow as hell so i had to ride hard just to keep up with everyone else and i had a lot of stuff break bearins were one major thing but there was plenty more.

so if you want to ride fast and don't want to dump money into fixing broke parts on a CAT because you rode it hard ..... buy something else like the Z400.

 

I dunno, I ride my cat pretty hard (that sounds naughty) and it's held up just fine. It is NOT fast, however, so if you want fast, buy a sport.