Honda is no different from other manufacturers, you can get good ones and then there are problems ones. Most have no issues with the ES but some have had issues. Only thing you have to watch and that is keep a good battery in them, without battery power NO shifting! Many of the issues are about poor electrical connections/dirty connections and low battery conditions. Most all of the newer models have all this all electronic dashboard and other electronic crap which is great as long as it works, but when it doesn't it can be a pain. I just sold my kawi praire 300 and moved into a UTV. It was a 2000 before all the electronic crap was put into these machines, owned it for 16 years, NO issues other than normal maintenance.
My newest toy has the electronic crap on it so we will see how long it takes to have electrical problems, but now they all have it so....????

 

Last night we ended up purchasing two of the rancher ES, very excited to get to using and riding it. It should have a pretty ease life with the type of riding we will be doing so I'm hoping it'll have little to no issues for a very long time.

 

Just remember proper care and maintenance is everything, I would guess that most problems are from lack of care. Probably only a few cases of real manufacturing problems. Good luck on the new rides, keep us posted on how they do.

 

personally, id stay away from the ES, as there is more to go wrong, and the ES models are generally less reliable than the regular "bulletproof" Honda, but if she wants a quad she won't have to shift, than you would want to get it. Hopefully, its been improved compared to the past models.