lol the tyke likes to blow up and poop and too much maintenance to do on the damn thing. oh yeah and renegades... those are some bad *** mother of pearls imo!

 

1 thing to keep in mind is many machines built for racing which yours is will tend to be high maintenance but it also really depends what your doing, if you running through mud with something designed for speed on fairly smooth trails your going to have issues

 

Of the ones you have narrowed it sown to I like the KQ I owned a '05 700 and really enjoyed it, maintenance was fairly easy. The only reason it was sold is because my son thought he needed Can AM. I still have a Suzuki Vinson and plan on keeping it.

 

Had a kfx 400 (ltz 400 in disguise) and never had any issues I didn't cause. As far as major mechanical stuff, never had any issues there.

 

Here is a rule of thumb, the simpler and less options the more reliable. You can not break what you do not have.
That's why there are so many late 80s and early 90s ATVs still running around after 25-30 years. Like Old school Big Bears and Fourtraxs.

Your not going to see loaded up high tech ATVs with EFI,Powersteering,IRS,liquid cooled with selectable 2wd/3wd/diff lock running around in 30 years.

Just eliminating liquid cooling you do not worry about many things like water pumps,rads,rad hoses,thermostat,rad fan,thermal sensor and so on.

Full time 4x4 without diff lock has less to go wrong then selectable 2wd/3wd/diff lock .
A carb vs a efi relying on a computer brain box.
Straight axle has 4 less CVs and boots and much less piviot points vs a IRS.

But with simplicity does come boring without those features.

 

Kawasaki Prairie 360. Not super fast, but super simple, super tough and reliable. Single cylinder, air cooled, (with oil-cooler radiator) disc brakes in the front, a sealed wet brake in the back.

I had one for five years, and had to do nothing but change the fluids. Besides that, I cleaned/serviced the KEBC recently, and I put new disc brake pads on the front.

Very impressed with these machines.

 

Nice. I have never owned a quad with wet brakes, tho I think it is a great
improvement over closed "sealed" rear drum brakes. Rear discs are fine
for getting wet, but I find that rear drums capture water inside, which has
a very hard time getting out.

Simpler is often good for reliability, but some other modern improvements,
like fuel injection, greatly reduces fuel system problems.

I have never has an FI quad, but eventually I will. Eliminating the carb,
which is the #1 problem area, is a good thing.

 

Hondas seem to run forever because of their modest power output. A lot of people will trade performance for reliability. I think there is room for both. If something is slow and boring enough, it just isn't any fun to own and ride for fun.

 

Honda makes everything, from mundane boring cheap utilitarian 250 Recons, to
competitive hairy quads like the TRX450R, or TRX700XX.

As a tool, aka utility quad, it is nice to have something that starts and goes
right away, and works all day. Air cooling is good here, for under 300cc,
but even those are going away due to emission regs.

Water cooling is a big addition to maintenance, often ignored. That's
another case for getting an older quad.

 

The sport quads are the only powerful quads Honda builds currently. The new Pioneer 1000 utv is a pretty good performer as well. But the rest of the 4x4 lineup is way underpowered compared to everyone else. Many people didn't seem to mind as they kept buying them anyway. The old "if it ain't broke don't fix it" saying applies here. No need to add power if they are still selling well. Honda is the only one left that makes a 4x4 quad that isn't automatic. Many people just refuse to buy an auto machine. I have owned Hondas myself and they are very reliable. I like the ES system too. If they only built a more powerful quad with the ES 5 speed transmission, something with a single with as much power as a Grizzly 700 or King Quad 750, with difflock, power steering, good irs, and efi, Honda would get a lot more buyers. Basically build a more powerful Rubicon with a bigger engine, perhaps use the nice 700cc engine in the 700xx, and you'd have a great quad. Yamaha first put the 700 efi in the Raptor and then tuned it for the Grizzly 700. Honda could do the same with the 700xx engine.