I have to have the dissenting opinion here. I like my 450 and all, but now wish I'd spent the extra grand or so and gotten a 650/700 Prairie or a Rincon. While the 450 is certainly adequate, acceleration is fun even if your not going to hit 60mph. Also, if you don't keep it forever you probably won't see much if any extra depreciation on the 650.

 

if you havn't tried a yamaha big bear 400 then i would suggest that,i used to have one and i could plow,pull,and go threw pretty much anything, it was a TANK!

 

yea, I have a big bear also (2004)...I've had a blast on it, never gotten stuck and it pulls like a tank...and for speed, my dad topped it out at 50 on the road....sounded like it would explode, but it did it...but I'd say 400cc is plenty enough...big bear or kodiak one i would say

 

A 400 4x4 should be enough. A friend of mine has an ac 500 2up, my wife and I rode it and we liked it. She really liked that she could see over my shoulder and the grab handles were at the perfect height. I liked that she had her own foot board so I wasn't kicking her feet. We rode at the ORV park in land between the lakes in KY and they said if the machine was designed for two people then two people could ride on it. The 2up was alot stabler on hill climbs also. The only down side to the ac is that there wide, so if you have tight trails that can suck.

 

one thing i didnt like about the bb .. the top speed wasnt so great, but that thing had jsome much torque it was unbelivable... so if you use it to work with its awsome... and last time i rode a bb i had it wfo for a mile or so and the speedo said 47 the whole time

 

My wife has a 2000 Kawa Prairie 300 4x4 and I've had it
on just about every hill and trail at Turkey Bay LBL and have
not had any problems climbing the hills or running the trails.

although it couldnt keep up with the speed of the bigger bikes,
on the wide open trails, I wasnt too far behind...

 

i have a p300 and i would say it has pretty good accel but after 30 it wont keep up with the larger cc machines but imo it will out mud a 400

 

nah you don't need anymore than 400. we have a sportsman 400 and it has been put through hell (jumping, sunk in a river, snowplowing 24/7, hunting, trapping, mountains, you name it) but it still runs strong. neva had problems and it get's the job done

 

you dont need more than a 400, a 350 will do you fine, the rancher is a good reliable machine. so is the wolverine, but its probably sportier than you need. The new bruin looks good 2, its at a good price too. Finally the big bear, a good hill climber,good in water, pulls great, and is by no means sporty., i think that the big bear or the bruin would be good for you. JMO

 

I have a Honda 450 and a 650. I'll tell ya, it sound sto me like you definately don't need a Big Boy. I don't even come close to needing my 650. Wish I could trade for what I originally wanted, a Rancher or Suzuki Vinson or Eiger. I think any of those three would do you really well. Really it comes down to the features and performance you want from the quad, because they all have pros and cons. Bottom line is most are good. Check out ATV Television's website for a really good comparison of most of those ATV's. They do a great unbiased job of describing each one. Pay attention to which do/don't have parking brakes, which have shift lever on left side, which have 4 wheel braking, which ones you can start in gear...........

http://www.atvtv.com/test_info.html

Good Luck