i am looking for an atv that will be good for mudding, trail riding, and farm work...i do not like doing maintenance and i am not a mechanis....so i prefer an atv that will have few problems an perform well....what are the top 3 atvs that fit this description?

 

Evyone will probably have a different opinion but if I was buying one today I would look at Polaris Sportsman, Yamaha Grizzly, and some Arctic Cats before the others, but I would look at all brands except Honda and Can-Am. Can-Ams 4x4 doesn't lock in fast enough but the new ones are supossed to be better. They're too expensive anyway. Honda is the only brand without a locking differential so it's not good in mud. I haven't shopped around in the last few years but the Cats used to have the best ground clearance with the Sportsman being next, then the Grizzly.

 

If you're in thick deep mud it's good to have a powerful machine to spin the mud off the tires. My top three would be CanAm 800, Sportsman 850, Yamaha Grizzly 700. With a good mud tire these three are great. Suzuki, Arctic Cat, and Kawasaki are all good machines too. As JumboFrank said, I wouldn't get a Honda for deep mud because of the limited slip front. The CanAms do amazingly well in deep mud. A lot of it is the power the CanAms put out that allows them to clear the tires well. I believe it was 2010 when they made the 4wd system kick in faster, but I haven't been on anything newer than a 2009.

 

X2 ^^^^ Can-ams are pricey up front, you get what you pay for. Can-ams also are the highest horsepower / quickest bikes in the market also.

 

Another thought. I liked the Brute Force 750 when I had the chance to test ride it for a day. The thing I don't care for, personally, is having to hold on to the little yellow lever to keep the front locked in. They have a push button for full locker in the new Teryx 4. I'd like to see that on the BF. Other than that issue it would also be a good machine and would be in the top 4 power-wise.

 

Here are some hp numbers to ponder on.

Can Am 1000 ____82.0 hp
Can Am 800 R____71.0 hp(2009 & newer)
Polaris 850_______69.06 hp
AC 1000_________65.84 hp
Can Am 800______61.7 hp (2006 - 2008)
Can Am 650______55.4 hp
Brute 750 Carb____50.1 hp
Brute 750 EFI_____49.8 hp
King Quad 750____49.6 hp
AC Mud Pro_______49.06 hp
King 700_________48.5 hp
Polaris 800_______48.3 hp
Grizzly 700________45.6 hp
Polaris 700_______44.3 hp
AC 700 H1_______41.4 hp
AC 700 Suzuki____41.4 hp
Grizzly 660_______40.9 hp
Can Am 500______40.4 hp
AC 650 H1_______39.3 hp
Rincon 680_______38.5 hp
Grizzly 550________36.9 hp
King 450_________36.7 hp

 

the 06 & 07 visco diff was a bit slower locking up, but my 09 locks right up no problem.



again

having to hold in a lever to lock in the "analog" front diff really is the dumbest front locking diff setup ever- it just makes no sense. Up a steep hill, in mud, snow or climbing out of a river bank- who wants to hold in a lever to lock it up? why or where would I ever use a "partial" locking front diff? either lock it full-time or unlock it- or make it automatic locking like the can-am or polaris.

 

I found this chart also.

 

If I were chosing my top three ATVs for those purposes, it would be Outlander 1000, Polaris Sportsman 850, and Yamaha Grizzly 700. The new visco-lock front diff on the Outlander locks up INSTANTLY. It is every bit as fast as Polaris' all wheel drive system, and it is a whole heck of a lot faster than having to stop and push a button with your thumb. Can Am has the best four wheel drive system on the market right now.

Something to think about for someone that doesn't like to do maintenance though, ...

Can Am wanted to produce a very refined product, that is quite, smooth riding, comfortable, and also very very powerfull. They have succeeded; the noise, harmonics, and vibration on the new Can Ams is much less than other ATVs. They are very refined. But to keep the noise down, EVERYTHING is covered in plastic. This gets to the point that it is difficult to find something to hook a tie down strap to. Everything is plastic, or covered in plastic. Not a big deal, if you get creative, you can strap it to a trailer. A bigger deal, however, is when it is time to do your service work on the ATV. The "ten hour service" on a new Can AM ATV isn't called a ten hour service because you need to do it when there is ten hours use on the engine, it is called a "ten hour service" because it takes 10 hours to do the service! I have never in my life seen an ATV that is such a pain in the *** to work on. You need to remove plastic to do anything, including just changing the oil filter. You need to almost disassemble the ATV to change the transmission gear oil. And the plastic is held on by more plastic (pins) that usually break when they are removed. I just did my ten hour service this weekend, and need to order some pins to keep the plastic on. I have seen reports on the Can Am forums of people being charged anywhere from $200 to $330 for their first service by their Can Am dealership. After just doing the service I would say it was worth every penny of that amount.

The new Can Ams are a little over engineered, and over complicated. They seriously haul *** though.

 

That's good to know. I'm thinking of either a Sportsman X2 850 or Can-Am Max 800 next time around. I don't even care for the plastics on my son's 09 Renegade. Not user friendly. We'll see.