I am in the market to buy a atv. I am looking at 500's or higher. I like the polaris on paper,there stance and there American but I hear alot the maintenance and reliablity . What are biggest repairs and maintenance issue?

 

if you want to know what's up with Polaris, go to thier section and skim through there... you will see alot of gripes and alot of complements.....Another thing to do, is TALK to your dealerships in your area...(any brand) and find out how their service department is..."ask other customers"...see if the dealer keeps alot of STOCK in parts and what their turnaround time is for ordering....

Wish the best for you... drove me crazy trying to figure out which quad to buy!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

Jonathan

 

I can tell you that Polaris has the worst warranty claim rate in all the business and my first hand experience in dealing with all brands have reflected this year in and year out.

Polaris quality has drastically improved in the past 5 or 6 years, but are still behind when compared to the other guys. They are still the last brand I would recommend to anyone regardless of what the machine will be used for.

Just how much is one willing to sacrifice for the "Made in the USA" claim?
There are no more parts made in the USA on the Polaris than there are on the Honda's.

If no one believes this, then they should research it before laying claim. There is a big difference between made and assembled.

The only requirement a company has to meet to claim "Made in the USA" is that the overall cost to manufacture the machine must be over 50% American. It doesn't matter if it's labor cost or parts cost.

I don't know where to find it on the internet, but all manufacturer's who share parts sources from other countries have to disclose those percentages to the public when claiming "Made in the USA"

 

I am in total agreement with KNOWSALOT.I sell Honda's,owned a 99 Sportsman and now a 00 Xplorer,two Kawi Lakota's,and two Honda Recon ES.By FAR,the Polaris ATVs are the absolute worst when it comes to maintenance and premature parts breaking.

Its uterly EMBARRISING to have to ride my wife's Recon with my buddie's. My POS Polaris is tied up in the shop often because there allways seems to be something wrong most of the time with it.I would NOT recommend a Polaris to my worst friend,they allways seem to have something wrong with them.

Bill

 

djfz71

I do not have personal experience with the Sportsman line up. I own 2 of the GEN III models (2001 Trailblazer and a 2000 400 Scrambler 4x4 ). There are 5 GEN III and 0ne GenII Polaris with in the family. The only maintainence is a Oil Change 2 times a year on 4 stroke. and Grease it from time to time depending on use. (ALOT OF GREASE ZERTS, I think 10 of them) and a chain Adj from time to time. Like a car if you don't maintain it, it wears out. I have had NO PROBLEMS. My Buddy had a Water Pump Seal go out on his 400 Scrambler (That is it.)

I have heard many time about bad POLARIS reliability rumors, but can not comment on this. I or no one I know has had any problems (GAS & GO). I agree with Frogman, go on to the POLARIS section and Ask them about problems on the bike you are looking at.
I am very pleased and plan to buy another.(Want 400X BAD)

As far as warranty claims go , they sell alot of them.
POLARIS has sold 6 times more Automatic ATVs than all other Manufacture Autos COMBINED.
The other Manufactures would not let them PRINT it, if it was not true.

 

Polaris has sold alot more automatics than anyone else, but that is all they made for quite some time and now only a couple of shifter models. Consumers liked the convenience of automatics and the other manufacturers have developed their own automatic. Polaris was first, but I think the competing brands have equally good, if not better products. I think the Suzuki auto is far superior to the Polaris auto when comparing my 2 machines.

My Polaris has been completely trouble-free. The only thing I've done is clean the air filter and add gas and oil. Most of the complaints I've heard have been with the Sportsman model.