I haven't seen many posts about the Praire 400's, it looks like it's a nice machine, and I was just curious what the owners thought about them.

 

just bought a new one about a month ago.Am completely satisfied so far.It has one of the most comfortable rides in the industry,and dependability too

 

I have a 2000 Praire 400 4x4 - 4 months old. Its my first machine so I don't have much to compare it to.

Positives: digital display, nice power, brakes stop very well, very comfortable, affordable.

Negatives: a little tippy, full time 4x4 (I would like to go 2wd occasionally), would be nice to have engine braking.

The thing goes like crazy and I love it. Last week I brought it home with a cracked rack, bent brake lever and flat tire. It made it home though.

Good luck with yours.

 

from what i've seen, there ok. there slow, the full time 4x4 is annoying, and handling is horrid on my friends. its really easy to tip, adn whenever you turn sharp at almost any speed, the inside rear tire likes to come up. the front suspension seams way too mushy, don't even consider doing a jump with the thing. The limited slip leaves the wrong wheel spinin always. Also, the shifting **** is annoying (make up your mind, either use the button all the time or not at all) Also, it has drum brakes in the back. i've seen better machines, i think kawi REALLY needs to revamp this model (500cc's for gosh sake!)

 

I have a 1999 400 2x4 Prairie. It is fast and comfortable and from what I can tell so far very very reliable. The down side is at high speed the front end wanders a little. I dont feel comfortable turning short or fast. It feels like it wants to start tipping. I dont think it will but it does feel that way. On the positive side it is really fast and very very reliable and a good all around utility quad. It will be very usfull for my hunting and recreational needs and for my small homestead chores. I dont think I will be able to wear it out. It really does seem solid. My 16 year old son just ran it off the road into a 10 foot ditch at high speed and it landed on its top and my son came to get me and it was sitting in a foot of water at the bottem of the ditch upside down for about 20 minutes. We crawled down the ditch and turned it over and I hit the starter button and it started immediatly. It blew out a little grey smoke for just a few seconds then ran like new. It pushed the handle bars down. That was it. I drove it out of the ditch and got it back on the road and my son drove it home and I tightend up the handle bars and it is FINE. It really did a good job of climbing out of the deep ditch too. I have had 2 other quads recently. A honda 4x4 forman es and a polaris sportsman 500. I didnt like the sportsman at all. I am not a large person and it was way to tippy feeling in uneven ground. I loved the Honda forman. I sold it to buy my daughter a car. I wish I had that one back. But to sum it up the Prairie is a solid workhorse that will last me a long time. I bought this one used and I could not pass up the price and that is why it is not 4x4. But so far it seems that it will go through about 80% of what a 4x4 will go through. I like the idea of driving around the bad stuff. No need to get covered in mud. But I have had it in a foot and a half of mud and it chewed it up with no problem. I love the automatic. My wife loves that part. I feel very comfortable on this Prairie and I will keep it even when I get another honda 4x4. My wife loves it. I can honestly say that for my style of riding (very cowardly and cautious) it exceeds all of my needs and I think it will be very mechanically reliable. A SOLID TANK

 

fast quad? come on. top speed on these things is like 55mph. the sportsman 500/magnum 500 is about 65. My ole polaris 250 goes 55mph. my buds 4x4 wanders like crazy, i would not want to drive that quad at high speeds much at all. Also, its been rolled over many-a-time. I just think there are better quads out there. I think kawi needs to do a update SOON

 

It is a fast quad and pretty quick. The top speed is 57. The top speed of a sp500 is 54. On flat ground.

 

You sure dont know what you are talking about. I base my experience from --actual use-- not bull**** talk. And it donst matter what you think anyway. We who own and use the Prairie's know what we can do with them.

 

I have a prairie and a scrambler the prairie is the wifes quad she loves it. It has ok power alot of low and mid not much top but it rides like a cadillac when im really lazy i like to ride the prairie cause it dont work me like the scramb does. It is kind of tippy. And I hate the sound of the exhaust kind of sounds like a lawn tractor but Ive heard they fixed that in 99. If anybody knows of an aftermarket exhaust system for the prairie please let me know. All in All the kawi's not a bad ride just in a different class. I just wish I could squeeze a few more horses out of it somehow if anybody has figured out how to please let me know.

 

Jazed1,
I think Mike Penland has a Supertrapp exhaust on his Praire, and he seems to do pretty well in his races, although I'm sure there are many other aftermarket parts on his machine.