Does anybody make a quad in that cc range that isn't an auto?

That should answer your question.

 

autos can tare it up to. in one of the dirtwheels mags. they did a test on a moded polaris sport and that was the quad to beat..if they could...and they could't. it took off soooo fast you know. no shifting like a snowmobile just hit the gas and hold on. so I can see why some people would want a V. hey at one point i was even looking at a V..

 

There were several things to take into consideration. First, Kawi had a Very potent, very well thought out powertrain in their Prairie 650's. So the old adage if it ain't broke don't fix it comes into play. The transplant (With the changes, more cc's and improved CVT.), into the newly designed Sport Chassis, cut down on the R&D side of creating the V. Second, there is More Torque being produced by the KFX700 than there has ever been from any other Sport Quad on the market, so reliability becomes an issue. It would take a h*ll of a lot of effort as well as time and money to develop a Manual Transmission that would handle the constant abuse of not only the Torque, but also the weight of the V. Lets face it, like it or not, the CVT transmission has been tried and proven to be a effective, reliable, and misunderstood piece of equipment. Everyone likes to throw around HP numbers, but on a Manual Quad, those peak HP numbers are only seen at the top of each gear. Between gear changes, the numbers drop and have to build back up each time. Now a simplistic description of the way the CVT works in the V is, when you hit the throttle, the engine goes to it's peak HP and Torque and stays there. No shifting means no drop in HP (Until the CDI takes over). I understand that this is a crude way of explaining it, but for the sakes of this discussion, it's the condensed version.

The Shaft Drive probably had to do more with the existing 650 Prairie powertrain transplant, than anything. However, I have said time and time again on these Forums that the Shaft Drive on the KFX700 is a bigger plus than it is a minus. The trouble free design along with the added ground clearance only benefits the V and it's abilities.

I personally think that Kawi wanted to do something different. They stepped outside the current line of thinking regarding what a "Sport Quad" was supposed to be, and for that I think they are to be commended.