I have little time to ride, much less carry an ATV back and forth to the shop. I have access to about 100 acres with mountain trails and a 30 foot wide creek about 1 to 2 feet deep, I'd like to be able to cross at will. I'll ride some with my nephew who has an artic cat 250 4x4. I ride a Kawaski 250 Dual Purpose trail bike and a Kawasaki stand up jet ski, and have been very impressed with the jet ski's reliablity. I'm 6'5" and 220 pounds. I live very close to a kawasaki/honda/yamaha dealer.

Reliability is my number one priority, next is being able to ford the creek, and maybe ? being able to carry another person.
I'd like an automatic 4x4 with an engine displacement between 360 at minimum and 500 cc at most. I don't know much about winches, but trees often fall down across the trail. I'll probably end up having 2 atv's in the next 2 or 3 years, so friends can ride.

I've looked at and like both the Kawasaki Praire 360, and the Bombardier Outlander Max.
I'm open to a Honda, but don't understand their lineup.

Thanks in advance,

Alan

 

The only Honda that meets your criteria is the Rubicon, but it may be more than you want. It has a very trick hydrostatic (no belt) transmission that can be a full auto or mimic gears. I think you would really like it and has excellent reliability, but it is going to be among the more expensive ones.

 

The Honda 400 Rancher AT also meets your specs with 397cc and auto tranny without belts.

 

I prefer yamaha and would recomend the Kodiak 450. Its a good quad and really reliable. Its seems as if Honda and reliable just go together though. We've got an 01 450 foreman and it has never given us any trouble and i've put it through some hard times when it was mine and my brother rides it hard also and its still holding up strong.

 

I agree with the Honda/ reliabilty statement. I have owned a honda big red 3-wheeler in the near past and it never had any problems. I now own a 2004 Grizzly and that is the same deal. But, since the grizz has less than 50 hours on it, it better start every time. The big red was an '86. Good luck in anything that you get.

 

I think you are to big for a Honda Rancher. Take a good look at the new Honda Foreman 500. It has a trouble free manual transmission (you can get electric shift if you insist). I personally prefer the simplicity of a manual transmission to any of the automatics. The Foreman line has set the industry standard for toughness and reliability.

 

I sell ATVs and been riding them since 1983,the Honda reliability BS is just that,BS!!------It USED to be prior to 2002 that Honda had the reputation as the most reliable ATV on the planet,but today,most all the major ATV manufactures are reliable and offer FAR more features than Honda at a much less MSRP..I also like the Kodiak 450..It has IRS,Low range,front Diff locker,Liquid cooled,Nice dash,and PLENTLY of POWER!

I owned a new 2003 Rincon and it was NO more reliable than some of my other buddies ATVs that were 2002 and newer,and come with far more features than the Honda.Dont waste your $$ on a Honda today.