who cares about hitech engines when the lowtech are still winning the majority of the races. alot of people just have to much money to spend to have the right to own the faster fourwheeler that the magazines brag about. what you never hear are the hundreds of races being won all across the united states with lowtech 400ex fourwheelers.

 

Last Friday when I went to buy my Rancher I asked the salesman about the 400ex and what kind of deal he could offer on it.....he told me that with the 450R out now there isn't really that much demand for the 400ex.....and he said that he could sell it for just a little over their cost.....he wouldn't quote me a price but MSRP for a 400ex is now like $5299 I believe.....and the way he was talking I'm sure he would let it go for waaay less than $5000 prolly something like $4600+tax.....Put it this way I got my $6000 Rancher for $5350 OTD.....So what I'm saying is if I were you I think I would go with the Honda only because of the price now....and shop around you might be able to find a really good deal on one....but if you can find a new Z400 or KFX400 for the same price I'd get that one!!

 

i wouldnt say smoke it, the z just has the slight edge. a slight edge!

 

I have always been a Honda guy from way back.
However I have to tell you, I can't say enough good things about my KFX 400.
It really is very well balanced and everything just works awesome.
I have been beating on it for a year now with zero problems.
If you have any kind of a two stroke background the KFX/Z will feel great with its quick revving motor.
As for the EXs "winning all the races" I just don't see it, maybe we should ask Doug Eichner.
Not down on the EXs, just my $0.02

 

400ex's win a lot around here, so do the Z400's. I have never seen a KFX at the track though. The 400ex is a great quad with excellent handling.
The reason the more EX's are in races is because they have real good aftermarket support....probably more than the Z400. A stock 400EX isn't
a race machine, but it still has the potential to be one very easily. The one I rode last summer was setup for low and midrange power at the race
track...and my god, that thing had an amazing amount of torque and was the winner of every holeshot of every single race it was in and stayed infront
of the pack at all times against raptors, banshee's etc you name it. The only person that could keep up with him was a guy on another fully modded 450EX(not crf motor). That was a short track with pretty short straight aways, but man no one could touch the guys on the 400EX's.....with all the aftermarket stuff, they handled beautifully, had amazing holeshots and would just rocket out of corners and play with people badly. The guy on the 450EX once he
got out on front and far enough ahead would just do cat walks down the straights and still held a demanding lead.

 

the ex is great the price is lower now and there are a bunch of parts to get more from the ex.

 

HMMmmm! Last race I was at was open class and there were 2 400ex's that managed to smoke a Raptor, Banshee and a Z. Not bad for old Tech.

 

I ride a 250r and a 450r, but I use them to race. If I were to get an all around great quad it would definitly be a z400 or one of it's clones. If a was striclty going to be a duner I would get a Raptor. The 400ex's are nice, but they are very underpowered, sure you can modify it to make it better, but at this point, why? Buy something that is already there. The z400 has great power for screwing around and there are a ton of aftermarket parts for it. And just look, if you want to get real crazy with the bike Dough Gust is winning GNC and Yokley is in 2nd in GNCC. I think the z400 iplatform s a proven performer, and with mods it can compete with anything.

 

So why modify the 400ex to compete with anything when you can modify the Z400 to compete with anything? Makes sense to me! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

(I'm getting a lot of use out of that smiley today!)


Seriously, if I were buying new then I'd lean toward the Z too. Simply for the liquid cooling. BUT, the predator is in that price range too and it'll flat outpower both.

If you buy used, you can get a great deal on a 400ex and use the money you save on mods. Wouldn't take much to outperform 90% of the Z's in this world.

 

Buy a used 400ex, you'll save a ton of money.

My friend has a 400ex and I have a Z400. If I had to purchase a quad again, I'd go with the used 400ex. Most retards out there buy a quad, spend $2000+ on mods and then sell it because they can't afford it. Take advantage of their stupidity.