Anyone have anything to say about this shootout in the March issue of 4 Wheel ATV Action? I really thought the Big Bear 400 was gonna take the win after reading the whole article, but like they said at the end, it was so extremely close that the price advantage of the Rancher gave it the edge. The Xpedition 325 sure didn't sound like much, here's an example of where the weight of the Polaris got to it's performance. I don't think the Rancher did bad in the 45' drag race towing 725 lbs on level cement compared to the Big Bear which has a 57cc advantage. The Rancher was only 1 tenth of a second slower, and in the 100 yard drag race only 2 tenths of a second slower. The Xpedition wasn't even in the same class in any of the power/speed comparisons. They never commented on the Rancher's front differential though.

 

I read that article the Polaris realy sucked, they should know better than taking frames designed for 400+cc machines and putting smaller engines in them. Polaris is realy getting stupid after they tried it on the sportsman frame, and now they tried it again. I like how Honda matches the frames and engines, it creates a better atv, when is the last time you heard a Banshee owner trying to put a blaster engine in their frame?

 

Rooster, was price the only thing that seperated the two machines? I looked at the 2000 Big Bear before buying the Rancher, and almost bought it. Its just that Honda reliability thats always in the back of my head, but the new Bear did impress me.