Do you know what the new Honda PWC is going to be called?..."The Boat Anchor". HAHA
Seriously though I think they are making a big mistake. A four stroke absolutely will not cut it in a jet ski. You need high revs to move through water. Did you read Honda's ad? "And because it's a 4-stroke, it's the answer to environmental issues too." They are catering to the tree huggers! Honda could care less about what the consumer wants as long as the environazis get their way.
And since the Raptor made it's debut, my opinion is Honda is on the way out. They just aren't interested in making high performance machines anymore.
Since reading the shootout, Raptor vs. 400ex. I'm lead to believe the 400 is a glorified trail quad. It even broke. The mighty Honda broke.
I've finally had it with Honda's "4-jokes". I ride with a few Banshees and 2 250r's. And all that I see is dust. I can't even keep up on the trails. If Honda is going to bother to make another sport machine, they better damn well make it liquid cooled and fast. Or I'm defecting back to Yamaha.
Sorry for the long post just getting tired of being smoked when I ride.

 

Honda is falling.

the 400ex is far from bullet proof.

Mild Power for a 400. Oil cooler brackets snap, Frames are a joke, Swing Arm Problems, sub frame bending and the stupid sub frame and grab bar are the same piece.

Even though the raptor does have junk axles. Thats an easy fix though, get yourself a durablue. But it shouldn't have the problem in the first place.


My favorite part of the article they bump up the HP on the 400ex to make it look better..

28-30

more like 24-26...

Lets not turn this into a flame war. Before you say it i know my 300ex has a pokey motor!

 

hey at least you're man enough to admit it.
the only reason the Raptor bends axels is when people launch them 20 feet in the air, repeatedly.
I personaly have never had any problems with my 400. It's just too frickin' SLOW!! I don't want to put a big bore kit in and jepordize reliability and overheating. At first I thought that Banshee's were unreliable. But I've since learned that as long as you check over the quad for loose bolts and keep everything greased, it'll run awesome.

 

Tighten bolts? Keep it greased? Sounds like a Polaris problem to me! Just kidding guys.

 

The only reason companies are bringing on the 4 bangers are because that is what sells. People want the easy start, and easy maintanance of a 4 stroke. yeah they don't produce as much power as a 2 but hey reliability will beat power any day. Im not putting down the 2 strokes because i like them too. atvs are great. even though the carrier bearings went out in the test doesn't mean the 400 sucks. Everyone makes mistakes even the factory workers at honda. I also believe that whatever they did to the raptor to bend the axle they also did the ds and 400. And as far as the honda frames being junk, yamahas are far from indestructable, i personally have folded up a few warrior frames and bent a banshee frame to. The workmanship is good on every companies bikes, but you have to give a little to keep the prices reasonable for us the comsumer. Just because yama came out with a 660 to compete with the 400 doesn't mean anything, they simply put some time and research into it and came out with a quad, don't have a lot to say about new intavations but they did a good job with the resources that they currently had. Not doggin the raptor cause i ain't riddin one yet but i will keep my 400 because im happy with it and that is all that matters.

 

I really didn't want to jump into this machine bashing war that Yamaha produced. The fact of the matter is every time I read these threads Honda is always mentioned. Geesee. For Honda being the piece of junk that everyone is talking about they always seem to win races. Yeah the rider has something to do with it, but most of you yammie riders and Honda misbeilvers just don't know how the big H works. Come on down to St. Louis and we will give a lesson 101 how Honda's run.

 

Not tring to be a smart ***, have you ever heard of hare scrambles? They are through the river and through the woods throw in a couple of miles of open sand and who do you sitting at the end of this trail...either of trx250r or a trx400ex. This is not new news. Why don't you move to the ATK forum for this kind of babble.

 

Quit your bitchin' and be happy with what you have! Damn you guys sound like little kids who didnt get the toy they wanted while they were at Wal Mart. If you dont like your bike, sell it and buy something else.

 

ok you got me on that one..however what they are racing and what we're buy off the showroom isn't the same thing... they can afford to bore the **** out of their quads then rebuild them after each season I can't this is my Honda and I'm very impressed with the handling the motor just doesn't seem up to par performance wise. it leaves alot to be desired. Maybe Honda wants to let it up to the buyer to mod it and make it faster.

I didn't know ATK still existed. LOL

 

If Honda makes a 4 stroke PWC that gets wasted by other brands of 2stroke I think no one would buy them and thats all the message Honda will need.I hear some companies are looking into 4 stroke snowmolbiles also, can't see that working out either.Even if the U.S government outlawed 2 stroke sleds Bombardier in Canda would keep building them here and they would be smuggled over the border before any self-respecting snowmobiler was caught on a 4 stroke sled.