Howzit everyone new here in hawaii. Thinking of purchasing my first atv. Actually my fiance threw out the idea of getting me one as my wedding present. yes please! will be using it mostly for trail riding (some minor climbing involved) and getting me around spot and stalking axis deer and bighorn sheep. The island ill be riding on is lanai, very dry doesnt get much rain, not what you think of typical hawaii. I was thinking of skimping and possibly going with a 4x2 (grizzly 300, kawi brute force 300) but i think for the extra $1.5/2k i should just go 4x4. dont want to chance em and get stuck somewhere way out in the woods. So basically I was looking at the utility atvs in in the entry level 4x4 range around $6k. These were my options from the dealers website that i was looking at:

Yamaha Grizzly 350 Auto. 4x4
Kymco MXU 375
Honda FourTrax Rancher 4x4 (TRX420FM)
Kawasaki Prairie 360 4x4

so if you guys could advise me which ones you like and why thatd be great cause im a complete noob and have no idea what im looking for lol. would like to have somewhat of an idea of what i may be comparing when i go into the dealer. Or if you can link me to any similar comparison threads that would be great. Also will probably be doing most of the service on it by myself so durability and ease of working on it is a bonus. thanks in advance!

 

You could get a used sportsman 500 4x4. Not sure if there is a lot in Hawaii used, or if you want to buy used, but they are very good and reliable machines from my experiences. I haven't rode any of the machines but I've read reviews in some magazines about the prairie and rancher and they are supposed to be good machines. Not sure about the kymco but they have been making a good name for themselves the past few years. I would expect the grizzly to be a good machine because of the reliable 350 mill in it. Best of luck.

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome

 

Welcome. I'd go with the 360 Prarie, but then I'm a longtime Kawasaki person so maybe I'm a bit bias , from the sounds of what you are wanting to do you don't need over 400cc . I have a 400 Prarie and for what I've done with it I wish I'd have waited for when they came out with a 300 verison (but I didn't know they were going to either LOL).

 

I would go with either the kawasaki or grizzly. I have a grizzly 660 and brute force 750. Both are great machines. You should ride all the four wheelers your looking at and see what you think. Everyone is different.

 

thanks for the responses so far. already looked around but no real used options where im at. other than brand loyalty are any particular features that set each quad apart? the dealer i talked to today has the honda rancher in stock so thats a definite possibility.

 

The ranchers are bullet proof. My dad had one that he would ride around all the time and to my knowledge the thing rarely broke. If you are going for reliability I would take the rancher. Honestly to me the smaller four wheelers that are coming out now dont stand that far apart.

 

Welcome.

Don't know a whole lot about the Kymcos but I've read positive reviews of them.

The others are all solid, good quality, reliable quads. Not fast but good quality.