I've narrowed the field down to either the Praire 300, Bayou 300 or recon. My family riding is pleasure through woods, mud a grass. Not interested in speed. My wife likes the Praire 300 but I am worried about the automatic. Will it hold up under high use? How dependable. It is also a larger machine. Is the 290cc engine large enough? Recon price is 3299, bayou is the same, praire is 3499. Thanks for you comments.

 

II like your wifes choice. I Just switched to an auto for the first time, I will never go backto a manual. will they hold up? very definately.

 

My buddy has a '01 Prairie 300 auto that both he and his wife love. He beats the hell out of it and it has held up great. The auto tranny has been problem free, except he broke the shifter with his knee when he went over the handlebars when stopping unexpectedly .

 

I have had a polaris auto. tranny quad. and a Yamaha Grizzly auto very reliable.

 

those are good choices for the wife and yourself. the only thing you might want to consider is the fact the auto prairie does not have engine braking. going down hills you need the brakes on or be in low range and give it gas to slow down. my wife could grasp the concept but was worried she wouldn't have as much control. we settled on the autocat but that's the only quad we have. i'm probably going to get the arctic cat 300 4x4 as my second. don't discount that machine either. you get quite alot of machine for the price.