I am looking at buying a UTV in the near furture. i will be using it for hunting, plowing snow, but mostly for trails and mud holes. i have been looking at the yamaha Rhino 660. But i want to know how does it handle? How is it on the trails? can it go anywhere a normal atv can go? is the rhino better the the ranger? how about the prowler? Help!

 

The Rzr will get you EFI; a much narrower width and do all the things mentioned when properly equipped. The Rhino is no better than the Ranger XP and all three are truly very different machines (prowler incl.) that would be well suited given a more detailed explanation of your needs. (tight trails?; mud-thrasher?; high speed stability/jumps?; cargo room?; etc.).

 

A Rhino won't go every place an ATV will go, at least not without plowing the rollbar through the tree branches to make the trail wider as you go. Width can sometimes limit where it can go, but it rides smoother, and feels more stable on extreme angles. The Razr is the narrowest, followed by the Rhino, then the Prowler and Ranger are the widest for when it comes to fitting down the trail. The Rhino accelerates slower than an ATV because of its weight, but you get to take a passenger with you.

 

How do you enjoy your rhino? was it worth the money?

 

I love the Rhino, it is my favorite off road toy. I get to choose between an open class two stroke dirt bike, a 700cc utility atv, and the Rhino, and I pick the Rhino about 70% of the time, the bike 25% of the time, and the utility atv almost never. The Rhino is so much more fun for me than the utility atv, that when I am in the mood for four wheeling I always go with the Rhino. Mine is more specialized than most, with a long travel suspension that gives it 15" of suspension travel, full race cage, race bumpers, and other stuff, yet it remains very very versatile.

Two weeks ago I had it on the WORCS track in Monticello, UT, and spent all day clearing 50' downhill doubles, table top jumps, and pounding it through the whoops. It rides like a mini trophy truck, and handles serious air time like its nothing at all. It corners at wide open throttle in perfect powerslides, doesn't feel even the least bit tippy, and is just a complete joy to drive on the track. The suspension and tires makes my Rhino 17" wider than stock, so keep that in mind when I describe cornerning.

This morning my brother-in-law and I took my two weiner dogs and drove the Rhino up on the mountain to go for a hike. We took the Rhino up some steep rocky hillclimbs and rocky ledges in 4-low/lock and parked it at the end of the trail, then hiked for two hours on up the mountain enjoying a beautiful 4th of July morning, while getting some exercise.

The Rhino is great, and it has done everything I have wanted to do with it. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't even buy the Grizzly 700. On really steep or off camber terrain, or on really uneven terrain with big ditches and washouts the Rhino will out-perform the Grizzly hands down. Much of the difference is from the Lonestar suspension on the Rhino, because with that much travel it essentially never lifts a tire rock crawling. Its like a big spider at slow speed, and rides like a trophy truck at high speed. It is the most amazing off road toy I've ever owned. But even stock a Rhino has so much potential that I would chose it over a utility quad any day of the week.

It depends on what terrain you are going to be doing, but a Rhino (or a Razr, or a Prowler) is certainly worth considering.

DV

 

One other thing I failed to mention... The Rhino is built tough as all get out. This is our second Rhino, and we haven't managed to break anything yet. The stock spindles, tie rods, steering rack, transmission, and everything else has held up well. The axles on this Rhino are from Lonestar, but the CV joints are stock, and are still going strong.
In contrast, I took our Grizzly 700 for a few laps on the Monticello track while we were there, and even though I wasn't getting anywhere even close to as much air with the Grizzly as I had been with the Rhino, because the Grizzly is stock, I still bent something in the chassis, and the transmisison linkage is now way out of whack, and neutral is now in-between the slot for neutral and reverse, and it wont go into low range at all. I'll have to re-adjust the linkage to fix it.

Anyway, the Rhino can be great if it fits what you want to do with it. Good luck with which ever you choose, and have fun with it.

DV

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: DesertViper

I love the Rhino, it is my favorite off road toy. I get to choose between an open class two stroke dirt bike, a 700cc utility atv, and the Rhino, and I pick the Rhino about 70% of the time, the bike 25% of the time, and the utility atv almost never. The Rhino is so much more fun for me than the utility atv, that when I am in the mood for four wheeling I always go with the Rhino. Mine is more specialized than most, with a long travel suspension that gives it 15" of suspension travel, full race cage, race bumpers, and other stuff, yet it remains very very versatile.



Two weeks ago I had it on the WORCS track in Monticello, UT, and spent all day clearing 50' downhill doubles, table top jumps, and pounding it through the whoops. It rides like a mini trophy truck, and handles serious air time like its nothing at all. It corners at wide open throttle in perfect powerslides, doesn't feel even the least bit tippy, and is just a complete joy to drive on the track. The suspension and tires makes my Rhino 17" wider than stock, so keep that in mind when I describe cornerning.
DV</end quote></div>

Does your Rhino never land awkward over those 50' doubles? Seems as if something went wrong during takeoff or in the air compensation would be minimum at best since you can't shift your weight? Apologies for the derail gents.

 

The key is to make sure your take off is correct before you leave the ground.

It actually takes more to deflect a Rhino from its path than it does a quad, so I have had less problems with a lip on a jump, or a small rock on the lip of a jump causing the Rhino to pitch sideways off of a jump, than I have with quads. I came up short on one double jump that I really shouldn't have even attempted though, and landed right on the Lonestar front race bumper. That was a hard landing, and lots of dirt, rocks, sticks, and other crap flew up in the air, and then back into my face as I kept going down the track. That was my closest to disaster near miss on the Rhino, and it caused no damage to the Rhino. A long travel Rhino is actually easier to fly than a quad, and flys better, and lands better. If you ever did get it completely sideways in the air, you better have a good aftermarket race cage and five point harnesses on that thing though.

 

Polaris Ranger RZR 800 EFI

 

Tell us about it Daranello. I'd like to hear about it.

DV