I'm thinking about buying two new Honda Rancher 400 AT's, and I have a few questions. Any advice would be appreciated.
1. In full auto mode, can you feel the shift points, and how many gears are there?
2. About the engine braking in full auto, going down steep hills (I rode a Honda Rubicon, and I had to give it a little gas to get it to creep down the hill -- I liked that about the Rubicon), does the 400 operate the same way?
3. Using the electric shift, do you have to stop to shift the button to ESP, or can you switch while riding in motion?
4. How does reverse operate in ESP mode?
5. What is your overall experince with owning the 400?
My wife and I now own two 03 Honda Ranchers ES, one is two wheel drive, and one is four wheel drive, and we would be trading them in on the two new 400's. I was quoted a price of $5450 each, out the door, before trade in ---- is this a good deal?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Midget

 

Don't own an AT but have ridden one and do own a Rubicon.

After you ride it for a while and listen, you will notice the shift points and when it shifts. It does not shift like the Rincon or your car. There are five "gears", four shifts. You have a mechanical shift lever for reverse, neutral, and forward. You can switch between ESP and drive while going , but have to stop for it to change. Everytime you switch to ESP it goes to 1st "gear." That would be bad at 40 mph. Yes, it has the same engine brakeing as the Rubicon, as close to it as it can with no low range. It is very closely "geared" to you current Ranchers.

I would take a new 400 AT over a 350 Rancher any day. We have a 2002 Rancher 4x4 ES and like it allot and it has been an excellent ATV and is fun to ride. But I like the AT a whole lot more. The Rancher is for our daughters when they get the chance to go, my wife and I never ride it so we wont be trading it in. If either one of us rode it we would have already traded it in. When in the ESP mode, you just push the button to shift, no letting off the throttle. Wide open and shift, you will love it. And you can switch to a fully auto mode too. The fully auot mode is like the D1 mode of the Rubicon, sportier than the D2.

Hope you get them, and enjoy em.

 

Actually in the full automatic mode there is an infinite number of gears and you can't really feel the transmission shift at all.This is the same as the rubicon except the rubicon has high and low range.

 

My understanding was there was only 3 gears in the AT? I am a big fan of the rubicon after driving one several times.

 

$5,450 is a steal. $5700 is the best I have seen and that was at a dealer 5oo miles away.

 

Mine must be a little different or I am interpreting what I feel and hear differently. I can feel when it changes "gears" all the time. You can hear the change in rpm and it "sounds" like it is changing "gears." Come down a hill using the engine braking in D1 or D2 and give it gas and you will feel it "shift" to a higher "gear" or "range." Keep going and you will feel it "shift" several more times. If it is truly constant variable then it should feel more like a belt drive. It feels more like it has pre-selected ranges and you don’t feel it shift when accelerating because you are not "changing gears". Just the angle of the swash plate and the size of the oil orphis changes. I could definitely be wrong, but it sounds and feels like it changes "gears', not like it is "constant variable", although that is how it functions But when changing it feels like it goes to a pre-determined position or "gear". In my own opinion.

The Rincon has three gears, the Rancher AT has the same type of transmission as the Rubicon, just no sub-transmission.

If you like the Rubicon, I would think you would like the Rancher AT.