Hello everyone. I'm in SE Texas and will be buying my first atv. It will be used.

Requirements: FUEL INJECTION, auto transmission, IRS, 4X4, and a winch.
First question: What's the smallest atv that has every one of those features?

I don't need power steering, or ten feet of ground clearance, or 800cc of wheelie power. I don't plan to haul a lot of stuff and there are no hills around me.


What I want it for:

I've lived on a little bit of property for about a year now with a LOT of yard work. We're constantly having to trim palm leaves, remove vine growth, chop banana plants, you name it. I have gotten tired of using my daily driver truck to do our yard work. I leave ruts in our yard, dirt and debris that gets in my truck bed flies out all over the road the next day. More than a dozen times I've wished we had a four wheeler to haul a small trailer cart around to load fallen branches, pulled weeds, bags of mulch for the 15 gardens, etc. And I'll haul around a yard sweeper to pick up 2.5 acres of grass clippings.

I'll have fun with the four wheeler too. I'd occasionally hunt with it and ride around my large rural neighborhood or over to the gas station just outside the neighborhood.

Like I said, I'm very opposed to the big humongous bikes, especially ones that have snorkels (obviously been dunked in water) and/or mud bogged every weekend of their existence. I certainly don't want to get something too small like a 300 and be disappointed.

Don't worry, I have researched for about a week now and I keep coming up with the answer that a Rincon 680 or a Grizzly 700 will fit me best. But are those the smallest bikes that have ALL the features I want? Call me picky, call me a snob, but I just can't make myself like Polaris or Arctic Cat. Not a fan of their appearance, not a fan of the lacking market for them.

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

Welcome and check out the Suzuki Kingquads and Yamaha Grizzly lines

 

Welcome.

I've been on the Rincon and the Grizzlies. I'd take the Grizzly any day over the Rincon.

The Rincon was extremely hard to steer going down steep hills. Once the front end has a load on it, it gets pretty tough. I've never been on a quad with steering as bad as the Rincon. Works great on open, relatively flat trails, not so much fun in ruts and rocks, as I had for a day when out in Utah. I traded it at the rental shop for a Rancher with power steering and was glad I did.

The Rincon also has non-adjustable shocks. Friend who rides with a group from the NH, MA area is a big guy who had one. With no adjustment to the shock pre-load it squatted like crazy. That was also my experience as a heavy guy. I've never found any of the major companies without some sort of pre-load adjustment available. I guess Honda thinks one size fits all. That hasn't been my experience. It made for a very abusive ride. The engine/drivetrain is underpowered for that size engine. It's numbers are more in line with competitors' 500 cc class machines. The last thing I hated was the transmission. It's a 3-speed that lacks a granny low gear in first. Imagine going down a quad width trail that has 1-2' high rocks and ruts. You want to be able to have good engine braking to keep it slow while you maneuver. In first gear I found it would start slowing you down around 15 mph which is way too fast for that kind of terrain. When you use the brakes to slow down it makes the already tough steering worse. I've been on dozens of different quads and the Rincon is, by far, the one I hated the most. Just my experience with them.

The Grizzly 700 on the other hand is a great all around quad. They've widened it a bit for the 2014 model year so it's more stable in corners than it used to be and they've pepped up the engine a bit. They were first to introduce power steering and they've got it dialed in nicely.

 

Curious as to what you mean by lacking market for the Polaris?

 

Welcome

 

I have a Honda Rancher 420 and love it. It has all of the options you are looking for and is easier to ride and steer than the big boys. I trail ride but also use it to take care of my yard / woods (2 acres). I was looking for something bigger and the salesman talked me into this and I couldn't be happier, it goes where the big boys go and isn't lacking power.