Looking to purchase a 2wd sport quad for trail riding. I don't need mega horsepower, just something reliable.

I'm open to anything, I just want a low maintenance machine motor wise.

I've heard the Yamaha and Honda 450's should get a rebuild ever 20hrs or so.

I was hoping to get utility quad reliability in a sport quad (500+ hours on a motor)

300EX comes to mind, and so does 400EX.

The Polaris Preditor i'm not sure about, but I assume it similar to the YFZ450/TRX450R in terms of engine life what is geared more toward racing.

The older Suzuki 400Z comes to mind as well, as they used the watercooled reliable powerplant from the DRZ400 dual sport bike.

Bombardier DS650 seems like a hog of a motor, but not to sure what this engine is designed for either and how reliable they are.

Not a big fan of the Yamaha Raptor/Warrior, but these would make good choices as well I assume because of the low compression/rpm motors.

Please let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

 

For pure reliability, hard to beat the 300 and 400ex, even with the air cooled motor,they just seem to keep running,the 300ex is a light quad, real fun on twisty trails, you can throw the back end loose by just shifting your hips over in a turn, the 400 has better suspension and handling, plus a lot more power than the 300. Z400s have the hp advantage, with the liquid cooling, and handle great as well. There should be a boat load of all 3 of those models out there, with everyone buying the newer 450 sport quads, look around, you could find a great deal if you know where to look.

 

Cool, thanks.
For some reason almost ALL the used 400EX's i'm looking at have rebuilt motors...? Seems odd if these things are so bulletproof?

 

The 400EX or Suzuki 400Z the 450s are motocross performance motors and will need a rebuild much sooner.

The 500 Scrambler has a long life motor,same one the 500 sportsman's has but i,m not sure you can call any 4x4 sportish.

 

Gottcha.

What about the DS650 and Predator 500?

 

There ok, not high strung motorcross motors.

 

If the 400exs you look at are rebuilt, ask why, a lot of people will put in a higher comp piston for a power boost,not exactly a rebuild, but requires all top end gaskets. Stock Honda compression is 8.2:1, so a bump to 10.25 or better makes a big difference in bottom end grunt and overall power. If thats all they did, no big deal, as long as they did a good job and it has been running reliably since. If the frame is dented and scratched up, as well as the plastic, it was probably beat to death, and needed a fresh top end, stay away from those. If the quad is clean and well maintained, it may be the owner was just looking for a bit more power with higher comp, or going up a bore, like .010 or .020 over.

 

So is the Predator as reliable as a 400EX?

 

400ex all the way!

 

I have not heard anything bad about the Pred 500 motor, but I have heard complainst of the 03 models having a notchy transmission, hard to power shift, which makes powering up a hill a bit hard.