in my experience, if you ever wanna do work around the house or just go ride trails...ive enjoyed the utility atvs more. the 4x4's can be used for almost anything. i have a friend that bought a polaris scrambler and they love it. IMO the utility or even the sport-utility are the best ride for the money. you can find tons of them on Craigslist for cheap and in pretty good condition.

 

Tenny80- thanks! I'm liking the big bear so far. It needed a little work but that's kind of how I like to buy them since I mechanic for a living and can usually get a better deal on something needing minor work. The arctic cat is actually about the same frame size as my big bear. It's a great little fourwheeler with some really nice features, just not as much power as the big bear...

 

If you are riding trails and if your looking for a sport quad get a honda trx400ex the have reverse and they are practically made right out of the factory for trail riding

 

did you wind up buying anything? i'm a big guy as well and now that I have gotten my wolverine all fixed up I am really enjoying it! it's great in the mud, and with its light weight and higher gearing it's got a lot of fun factor as well.

 

My daughter bought a Wolverine 450 a couple years back and when I rode it seemed to ride really nice for a guy that weights 280+....my personal quad is yfz 450 has about 55hp and pulls me just fine whether its dunes or trails...Good Luck :0)

 

You want a mud machine get an old Honda ATC200 with chain drive. Yes, you heard the idiot correctly a 3 wheeler. I live in Arkansas and see nice ones pop up all the time for about a grand. I have an '80 ATC185 that will do 47 with my 300+pounds on it (well till the clutch went out. YEA, excuse to put a performance clutch in). As long as you stay away from the ATC185s and you can fit some 25x13.5x9 zillas on the back a stock replacement 25x12x9 floater on the front and I challenge you to get it stuck. Trike plus tires still under 2 grand use the rest for gas. Let me see $300 divided by todays gas prices...hmmm.....yea I think you can get almost enough to fill an ATV/ATC but not quite LOL.

 

Acually the AC,s of that year only had one Chassis and it was full size. They just put different motors in them.
There 500 had the same dimensions as there 250, 300 and 400 only the tires size was different.
http://www.atvreviewnetwork.com/enth...le1=271&go2=Go

My "Bang For Buck" vote is the Suzuki 400 Eiger/KQ for Utility 4x4 or Yamaha Big Bear 350 or 400.
Honda 400EX for sport.
Id give the Yamaha 350 Bruin/grizzly 4x4 a close second but unlike the 400 Suzuki 4x4 or Big Bear it does not have a low range.

 

400ex is a nice sports quad for cheap