its 11500 cdn for the rincon he was willing to come down to 11200 cdn and i got my rubicon for 9700 cdn.
thats a big differance so i do know what im talking about.
also the rubicon is a manual shift tranny or auto shift so it has the best of both trannys.
and honda says its there best transmission.

 

Spectra-The guys at Honda R&D are brighter than I thought! If you look at the dimensions of the Foreman 475, they are mostly identical to the Rubicon (although the 475 has an all new frame design). The plastic in particular, looks to be identical. This is a foot shift Rubicon, for all practical purposes. It's about time we got a big bore manual! Any automatic transmission is going to be less efficient than a manual, so even though it gives up 25cc's to the Rubicon, I bet it will have more umph.

And, whether the Rincon was designed for low speed or not, is irrelevant. Most buyers aren't the least bit sophisticated. You can bet there are lots of folks out there (who like litegide don't even know what engine-braking is), who will be trying to do slow technical trail riding on their Rincons, whether the machine is designed for that or not. If you look at Honda's Rincon adds, they seem to suggest that it's good to go anywhere, and that is what most uninformed buyers will assume.

Not sure why they went 475 instead of 500??? And, why not water cooled, instead of air??? (Honda's marketing research does shows that most people prefer air cooled!). Why not just take a Rubicon 500 engine and put a manual trans on it??? Maybe we will learn some answers when the reviews start coming out.

 

An air cooled, foot-shift, 475 is probably what a lot of people are looking for. I prefer an automatic or even an ES over a foot shift, but when it come to reliability, who can argue? This new ATV fills a gap Honda needed to fill.

The new 474 is probably quicker than a Rubicon with not as much power being lost throught the trans.

I think Honda will sell a ton of these, probably more than any one manufacture will sell of their big bores.

 

The 475 can also be had with ES, for those who insist.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

a honda is a honda, they are both great machines. all the hondas are rated at only 850 pounds for towing except the recon, i would just pay the extra 500 bucks and get the rincon. but if you cant decide, just flip a coin for the hell of it.

 

Do any of you guys own a rincon or have ridden one? I like both machines (as who wouldn't if they like Honda's) As previusly stated "Why not pay the 500 more for the Rincon" for starters I don't have it [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] I 've got about 5,950 saved for this machine as it stands - my best price as of today local (without driving 8 hrs to abernathy's in TN) is 6,264 for the 05 Rubicon when it arrives and 6,715 whenever I'm ready or have the cash. All in All the 451 more for the 05 rincon seems small but wife is watching my spending carefully - she'll think it's 5,200 regardless [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I'm pretty sure the above are about the best prices on 05 machines to be had... I guess it would be an easy choice if both machines were side by side and if a test ride were possible but w/the way sales go these days - they expect you to buy before you drive... I'm pretty excited either way abou these machines. I have heard the 350 rancher ES can plow snow great, I would think that the rincon could plow as well as the rancher.

I had the Rancher AT for a very short while (1 month) I had bought it through a Private Party it was still like new (but not favorite color) and had the oppurtunity to upgrade so figured why not - the machine I bought was passed the 6 mo warranty window so an ext warranty was not an option. My reason for selling the RancherAT - well I looked at it as if I were to save 1k more and be able to upgrade from the rancherAT to the rubicon '05 it would be well worth it and the warranty could still be purchased (pro motor sports sells the 3 yr on ebay for 329 - 349 on their auctions) which could be purchased a few months down the road.

If I had the 715 dollars that I'm short right now, I'd probably lunge at the Ricnon (Going for 6,715 OTD) but the rubicon is only 264 out of reach at the moment so the time will help, I think I can trade some stuff to raise the cash to make it happen. No extra cash in our household budget to go out and buy toys at the moment. The Rubi is expected in December from what I hear...

You guys had said the rubicon has disk brakes in 05 and traxlok, does the rincon have disk brakes?

This forum is really cool and very informative, thanks for the great input - as you can probably tell I'm new to the Honda ATV world.

Phil

 

I think you have to look at what kind of riding you will be doing. If a trail gets really bad, and our daughters are uncomfortable riding through it, I will take the Rubicon through and walk back and ride the Rancher through. I am surprised at how many times I feel the Rancher being a better "technical trail" ATV than the Rubicon. Weight and size is the difference.

We don't ride fast, more slow in mountains and steep terrain, and I feel that the Rubicon is better for that type of riding than a Rincon. I do think for long trail rides that are more "scenic" than rough, the Rincon would be a better choice.

Just my opinion.

 

get the rincon it is just better

 

You have to love unsubstantiated, blanket statements like this that manage to show up in every "which do I buy" thread. The member is asking for advice on a major purchase involving thousands and thousands of dollars. The least you can do is backup your opinions with some shred of evidence or truth.