i am looking to buy a new four wheeler...and was looking at the artic cat thundercat... the main thing i like about it is its speed and power.....does anybody know anything about it...i want an atv that is fast, strong, reliable,...requires very little maintenance....and that can perform...let me know if you have any advice or suggestions

 

I owned a 2009 Arctic Cat Thundercat. It holds the prize for being the only new ATV I have ever owned that left me stranded on my very first ride. I took it for a ride, but before the ride I had to go down a paved road for two miles to get something and bring it back to the truck. On the way back I let the Thundercat stretch its legs, and to my surprise, ... KABOOM!, the belt blew into a million pieces. I had to walk back to the truck.

They have good power, and good four wheel drive capability. The suspension is rather poor though, because they have no swaybars. With no swaybars you can adjust the suspension so that the ATV doesn't lean over on turns, but then it is so stiff that it beats you to death, and you can't use the suspension travel that you have. Or you can adjust the suspension so that you can actually use the suspension travel, but then it leans so bad in turns that it feels like its going to roll right over. The Arctic Cat Thundercat is the single worst handling ATV I've ever owned.

 

Another quad to look at is one of the Can-Am 800s. The Renegade is very sporty with not as much mud protection for the rider as regular utility machines have. The Outlander 800 can be had as a single rider quad, or the Max that has a second seat for a passenger. The Can-Am 800 is faster than the Arctic Cat Thudercat and has a good ride. If money is no problem, they also have a 1000 Renegade and Outlander. I honestly don't know much about Arctic Cats. I don't see too many of them out on the trails and have never had an opportunity to ride one.

 

Speed? On our rough twisty narrow trails where lucky to find a section that we can take it out of low range.

 

How fast do you want to crash? They all go 3x faster than the terrain will allow on most of my riding.

 

I didn't really reply to the "speed" part of your question ivan.strilk. If top speed is important, the Thundercat does that very well. Top speed is just over 80 mph, which is at what point the CVT belt blows apart. The Thundercat is very stable at high speed though, better than other ATVs. It is comfortable at speed, it just wont turn.

Top speed on my Outlander 1000 is electronically limited at 77 mph.
Top speed on my Rzr XP 900 is electronically limited at 83 mph.
Top speed on a 2009 Renegade 800 I owned, that had an aftermarket pipe and airbox, was 84 mph.
Top speed on a DS 650 I owned, with larger 22" diameter rear tires, and the tallest gearing you could get with the sprockets, was just over 90 mph. (desert racing quad )

All of those are based on what the speedometer on the ATV said, except for the DS 650, which was from a radar gun at a desert race that crossed the Bonneville Salt Flats.

 

I doubt AC puts weaker CVTs and belts in there ATVs vs there snowmobiles, and 80mph and 80hp in snowmobile terms is SLOOOOOW and WEAK.

 

 

80 mph was the point at which MY Thundercat's CVT belt blew apart, and left me stranded on the very first ride.

 

How was the break-in period on that AC? Yamaha suggests 100 miles with nothing over half throttle. Either AC suggests something entirely different, you didn't follow what they suggested, or that quad will haul some serious *** at half throttle!!