Just got back into ATVs with a 05 Rubicon purchase but it weighed heavily on a 17 acre land purchase, water front, with road to the water.

Looking at Side by sides and want something for work first, play second. For work I want to be able to use the box, dump feature to haul some wood and garden. For play, my wife will be the primary driver ( very used to driving bikes) and passenger our three year old daughter. ( she came very late in life, we tried for years, watched movies, various finishing moves, finally blessed when we thought it was past over.)

What I buy will be with us for many years. My hope is to be able to be off the grid in 10 years, least for the summer and some winter weekends. I want my daughter to know how to survive off the grid and what it is like to work. I think it will be good for her, my wife and I! I work with technology that has provided a good living but bad on my health. Grew up a country boy and speant 20 years trying to get out and the last 20 trying to get back.

This machine will be my horse for some time, realiabilty and functionality are the primary concerns without going John Deer/Kubota commercial style.

No brand loyalty although I really like the local Honda/Yamaha dealer. Have a Seadoo from the Kawasaki/Canam/Suzuki dealer and they forget your name after the sale, there is a Polaris dealer in the area but not afraid to travel and buy an arctic cat.

 

Do you have a size(width) and budget in mind? Polaris has the General lineup now that is a middle ground between the mostly play RZR and the mostly work ranger. But if it were my money I would take a long look at Yamaha and Honda. The Wolverine would be perfect but I don't think the box dumps. Still a lot of bang for the buck just in that suspension alone, and it is all proven drive train. The Viking is more utility oriented and has the dump box.

Honda Pioneer, especially the 700 may fit the bill too.

My brother has a first year Kawasaki teryx. I am really impressed with what it can do and the trail speeds he can maintain. The newer ones have much better seating and suspension. I view the teryx lineup to be pretty close to the wolverine in terms of bang for the buck/utility and able to have fun.

Summed up, Wolverine if you can live with a box that may not dump. Oh, and budget for a good set of harnesses for it. Stock seatbelts on any of these aren't as comfortable nor do they offer any where near the protection in a true roll over/crash.

 

The Viking I think would be better than the Wolverine for utility use. The full bench seat that can seat 3 and dumping cargo box over the 2 bucket seats and smaller, non-dumping cargo box the Wolverine has. The Viking might not be the sportiest machine, but its definitely more sporty than the old Rhino models. Top speed of about 50 mph with high/low range and diff-lock. Power steering is optional as well, if that's something you want. The Pioneer 700 would be ok but it has much less power than the Viking and costs about the same. It doesn't have diff-lock either or low range. You'd have to step up the the Pioneer 1000 to get more power and features and it costs quite a bit more. Its too bad you dislike your Can-Am dealer, the Defender HD models would be a good choice too. They come in 3 different models, The HD5(450cc single with 38 hp), HD8(800cc vtwin with 50hp) and HD10(1000cc vtwin with 72 hp). They also have a full bench seat for 3 and dumping cargo box like the Viking. They also have a lot of onboard storage like removable boxes under the seats and the glove box is removable and has a handle on it to double as a toolbox. The HD8 would be the one most similar to the Viking in power and performance, I think that would be the best choice in your case. The HD10 is definitely more powerful and faster but I doubt you would ever need more power than what the HD8 has.

 

Budget is flexible, rather spend what I need too than have buyers remorse. In a perfect world under $20K cdn and will want some options like a winch, roof and windshield to name a few. To help with a price conversion to USD a base ESP is 14K plus 15% sales tax.

Budget at 20K may be unrealistic. The Viking appears to have a lot of what I am looking for.

 

I think you'd be happy with the Viking. The 700cc single has good torque and is a proven reliable engine. Yamaha's cvt system is proven reliable as well. I'm sure there would be times when all 3 of you want to ride together and the 2 seat models just won't allow for that to safely happen. There's room for 3 adults on the Viking, though I'm sure it would be a little crowded. Plenty of room for 2 adults and a small child though.

 

@greg74

I do not dislike my Canam dealer enough not to buy a Canam if it is a better choice. After I buy it I just need to be really good at maintaining it on my own! Type of dealer that's not going to give you any breaks and is going to charge you by the hour or the time in the book depending on which is more. Experienced this with them already where I explained I was not his Quality or Training department after it took 3hrs to install a part when the book time stated 30 minutes. His bases was this was the first one they had installed and reason why it took longer which I did not see as my issue. We settled on 1.5hrs but left a bad taste in my mouth. Also you need to make appointments for service in person, they do not answer the phone based on my 10 or so attempts to contact.

 

I guess I took your first comment to mean you didn't care for them. The HD8 would be a great choice but proably will cost a little more than the Viking. The maintenance schedule on the HD models is supposed to be longer intervals on most things. They did that with people using them for work in mind so there is less downtime working on the machine. They even claim there is no break-in period on the machine. I'm not sure about that one, I feel every new machine should be broken in properly. If you like your Yamaha dealer a lot more, I don't think a slight increase in performance will outweigh that. I get the feeling that most of your rides will be at moderate speeds and the Viking has more than enough power for that. The more powerful vtwin machines are great for going faster but if you don't need or want all that speed then its kind of a waste of money. I'd definitely try out several different models, just for fun if nothing else. Its a big investment, you want to be happy with your choice. Its nice that the dealers in your area carry several different brands, gives you the chance to compare them directly in real time.

 

I think the best UTVs for both work and play right now are the pioneer 1000 and the polaris general 1000 given that you have the room to operate but since you plan on keeping it forever, I'd reccomend the Honda given its added level of reliability. I'm not sure how the Canadian dollar is currently converting but the base 3 seater model starts at around 14k USD and I think the 5 seater deluxe edition is right around 18-19k. The Viking is a great machine but it's 708cc engine only makes about half what the others do, so, if your looking for something fun, the added power will definetly be a bonus.

 

I would most likely stay in the 700 range with a Honda as well. For me if I am dropping extra dollars I place more value in add ons then engine size. My idea of having a little fun is finding a wind fall, cutting it up for firewood, resting for a beer, loading it up and getting back to the camp/cottage site. My need for speed I will let out now and again on the 215HP super charged Seadoo

 

There are some decent prices on all of them close to where I live. I have heard pretty much everything is more expensive in Canada though. The base 3 seater Pioneer 1000 I just looked up and saw for 12K US locally, add 1k for power steering. Found a brand new base model Yamaha Viking for $10,500 locally as well. The best deal of all is on the Wolverine https://carbondale.craigslist.org/snd/6031960411.html. I almost feel bad posting this as I know prices are much higher where you are.