Just one more vote for the Kodiak!By the way concord/polaris misleader,the 2000 Kodiak has a auto tranny w/engine braking.

 

Hi Concord/Polaris misleader here. Confused the tranny on the Big Bear with the Grizzly .... doesn't change my vote though ... for what TruSteel wants, I think the SP335 is a better choice. jltimm ... here's to you for tainting an otherwise friendly and constructive thread

 

One more vote for the Rancher. Good power, & 5 speed.

 

Saying polaris and reliable in the same sentence???????

 

He said he wanted something RELIABLE!!!!!!

 

I vote for the Rancher. I drove the Kodiak and the Polaris as well. I like shifting gears myself. I love the electric shifting. The Rancher is new and its reliability cannot be fully addressed yet. However, Honda is know for their bullet-proof design. I had an A Arm break off my Rancher, I am waiting for my frame to be replaced. It was a recall issue that affected only 200 Ranchers. I am still very pleased with my purchase. Yamaha's are not bad machines at all. Polaris makes very nice machines as well. I personally don't like belt transmissions though.

Point is, go ride all of them and pick the one YOU feel is comfortable. They are all good machines and will be a good choice if taken care of. Enjoy your choice.

 

Just to give you my 2 cents. I own a 400 Foreman, so I am neither for or against either machine. I will tell you that you should look around the Honda postings to see some of the problems that ES owners are experiencing. eg. After starting, not being able to find gears, after a dead battery, not being able to find gears, and things like that. I don't want to scare you, for every complaint, there is a rebuttle. As for the autos, my only experience has been with the '96 Polaris Explorer. It was noisey AND vibrated. Anyway, I'm sure that whichever machine that YOU decide on, you'll love it. My advice, Ride'em all. Choose the one you want.

 

You heard it here FIRST! Even the honda guys don't beleive in their own machines! Buy a Kodiak! I've driven manual trany since I was eerrrmmmm... young. Dirtbikes, street bikes, wheelers, trucks, cars.. always LOVED manual and now I have a Kodiak. Will never part with it, I can go up hills the manuals just won't go. With a manual, no matter how fast you shift it's not constent power like a good belt. I can blow away ANY machine of the same displacement with manual, maybe not a 2 stroke.. not sure. I've owned, ridden and abused hondas and they are reliable but so is Yamaha.

 

Hold on there Mr. Kerplunk. I'm a firm believer in my machine! I'm just trying to help someone who is about to drop 5-6K on a machine that he may not like. I looked for the same advice prior to bying my machine and am very thankful that all that replied were willing to share their "opinions". At least we can agree that both manufactures build reliable machines. Right? I'm just pointing out that I have heard horror stories about ES models. Something that I had forgotten to mention in my previous post is this. Autos (belt drives) can be tricky to ride on trails simply for the fact that when the belt is going to bite, can be hard to antisapate. In other words, if you need to "goose it" to get the front end up, or to try to jump a stump or log, throttle response does directly relate to power to the wheels. This is probably something that you have learnd to deal with or learned how to over come. When you punch a manual shift machine (providing of course you are in the right gear) you get instant power to the wheels. I'm just not a big fan of autos. Another thing. When in the mud, how do you know whether you are spining or the belt is slipping without looking at the tires. I know, on my manual machine, that the wheels are spinning by the sound of the motor. I'm not hear to bash autos or ES. I just happen to like manuals. I'll give you the speed arguement. "Most" Polaris will walk off and leave the Honda and Yamaha utilities, unloaded. But lets drag a trailer, or push snow while racing. I'll dust ya. Or better yet, hookem up back to back. How fast do you want to go backwards? Again, hopefully guys looking for advice will see through all this crap of "my machines better than yours" and select one that he'll brag about and be proud to own. I'm just providing food for thought. Hope I didn't **** anyone off or hurt anybodies feelings....

 

Yea.. I'll have to agree about getting the front end up. On a manual at least you can hold the shifter down to let the RPM build then let it go. As far as feeling the tires spinning as opposed to the belt I guess you just have to assume so by RPM, my tires stick out the side anyway so I can see them. But I haven't had that problem yet so I'll cross that pond when I find it. IF. As far as towing and snow plowing, your machine is 553 pounds and mine is 543 pounds so I figure a case of beer on the rack has that covered And towing capacity is 500KG on the 2000 Kodiak. I'm not sure of the Forman.