Hello everyone,

I am in the market for an ATV. I need some input on which type, brand, and model to get. I am favoring a utility so I can do some "off roading/climbing/mudding". I'm not looking for a speed demon anymore but something that can go over almost any type of terrain. Are the utilities the way to go? I am considering the Yamaha Grizzly 700, Kawasaki brute 750, or Suzuki king 700 in this order as the grizzly has locking diff. Can anyone give on input on which is better. It looks like motivated dealers are cutting about $1,500 off the price.

Thank you

 

Hello. Ok, if you're going to do climbing/mudding etc. etc. and you're thinking utility, I would go with utility. I'll give you some input.

The grizzly 700: It has power steering (which is new and rare) nothing else has it. That can be nice. You'd have plenty of power and all. It also depends on your price range. The king quad 700 is a no-wrong decision also. You do not necessarily need a big-bore atv for mudding and all that good stuff. Either way, have a winch equipped if you ride by yourself in case you get stuck.There's one atv that is pretty much considered a hybrid: Can-Am Renegade 800. This machine can out-accelerate any sport atv (assuming stock vs stock) It has mad power, fully automatic, and you can switch to 4 wheel drive or just stay in two wheel. It does not have racks though like the normal 4x4's. I would go with either of the 3 you listed though. You pretty much know what you want, so just take some time and look at specs/prices. Good luck

 

Got to say that I come from a sport quad background, so I prefer the ride of a tight SRA machine with a low center of gravity, even when picking a utility quad. I do have to give up some ground clearance, but we don't have much mud here in the southwest anyway (thank God!). When crawling through the big rocks, superb stability is more important than "nominal" ground clearance.

Out on the trail, I'm not giving anything up to my big bore IRS buddies! What I don't like about the big bore utes is they have all gone for this tall, sloppy, high center of gravity, long travel IRS suspension with lots of unstable body roll. My friends who have them, mostly got sucked in by the cush suspension, but out on the trail they are fearing for their lives in the nasty off-camber technical stuff.

Of your list, the only one I would ever consider owning is the Yamaha.

 

i would go with the grizzly 700
locking diffs make for hard handling
but as we all know the griz comes with power steering so it king of eliminates that problem.
Plus its got plenty of power so it will go through just about anything

 

Id go grizz 700

 

From what you say you want to do I would also recommend a Grizzly 700. The more powerful utility ATVs are pretty darn sporty these days, and with an aggressive rider on a really rocky rough trail they can give the sport quads with solid rear axles a run for their money in straight line speed over the rocks.

Depends on how aggressive you are I suppose, because if you're moderately aggressive and just want to have a good time the fast utility quads with good suspensions are fantastic. If you're super aggressive, and want to go fast more than you want anything else, then perhaps you should skip ATVs all together, and consider a dirt bike. Thats what we did, and ended up pretty much getting rid of all of our sport quads. We had two YFZ 450s, a Raptor 660, a couple of DS 650s, and some others. But the sport quads didn't do the fast stuff nearly as well as the bikes, and didn't do the challenging fun stuff as well as the sport/utes, so we kept the bikes for speed, and the sport/utes for fun.

DV

 

Thanks for all the input. I have decided on a utility. Regarding the last response, i will be aggressive but not to the degree of needing or wanting a dirtbike.

It seems like everyone is for the grizzly. what are your thoughts on the Kawasaki Brute force 750. This is the only V-twin of the big utes. Will this be an advantage?

Thank you

 

grizzzzzz....... alll the way power steering is amazing.if i had achoice again i would have bought the grizz,but due to size requirement i had to go kodiak 450. have driven and seen what it can doon just about everything out there land water snow etc a grat allround bike would not consider anything else. in our group we have a 700 raptor,800 bom,ac 500 and a bom400 2up. 800 is fast but terrible in water does not run well wants to die .raptor is insane but that not a ulility ,ac not enough power ,,bom 400 nice alround bike for its size like the 450 grizz 700 does it all. stick with the grizz

 

I have a new 2007 Brute Force 650I, it has gobs of power is comfortable, has a locker, two or four wheel drive, independant suspention front and rear. I have had no problems with it. this thing goes anywhere you point it so be ready! lol

 

There is one more twin, the new Thundercat 1000. Buts thats a whole new league........ Way to much power, and a price tag to go with it. But it will out drag ANY stock ATV right now, sport or utility, as stated in the test reviews.