I hate to say that one brand of bike is more reliable than the other.

I like to compare particular bikes rather than brands.

 

WVatvRider is close on his classifications of the different ATV brands, except there is no way Yamaha is a Brand C or has anything in common with how Polaris builds ATVs. Yamahas do not weigh too much (a Grizz weighs the same as a P700 and BF750) and Yamahas do not break down a lot. Granted the Grizzs have had their share of problems, but they are the exception to Yamaha's reliability record, not the rule. As far as being able to mod a Yamaha, try telling any of the Grizz or Raptor owners that have the 686, 727, or 770 kits that it was a "useless" mod. Yamaha is definitely a Brand B, probably more so than Suzuki.

 

everyone should have a brand A, B and C quad
bike for all purposes[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

i would have to go with honda on this one. but dont tell the guys in the yamaha forum i said that[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Honda. Time tested. Theirs were good from the start when others were still working out the kinks.

But these days, everyone else has pretty much caught up (though Kawasaki and Yamaha were always right behind them in the 80's). About anything you get anymore is going to be reliable. Unless you trash it.

I've had 3 yamaha's, a honda, and an Arctic Cat and never had any trouble out of any of them really.

Old suzuki's were lacking in few areas (80's mainly). Polaris had a lot of problems up until the late 90's, but they are much better now. Bombardier, well, I've never heard anything bad about them ever other than they are ugly which doesn't apply here.

 

gotta buck the trend here and say ...Suzuki..every Zuki ive ever owned or seen has been absolutely iron clad bullet proof....had a 350 dirt bike once that i couldnt kill no matter how hard i abused it..now a buddy owns it and ,even those hes not the "hottest burger on da grill" he hasnt killed it yet either..altho one wonders how...it has to zuki's relliability..hes managed to destroy everthing else hes had..

 

LOL, there wasnt supposed to be a Brand C but I had to get some enjoyment out of it. True, Yamaha belongs on Brand B... I just have a personal problem with Yamahauls. For some people they are the best, but if you are old school Honda they are the worst.. sorry about that, it just felt good at the time.

Polaris makes a good engine. (Why did they quit making the diesel?) I have ridden a few of them and the motor and tranny are solid, but something just doesnt feel right about them to me. Jumping from a Polaris to a Jap ATV is like getting out of a Buick into a Mazda to me.

Sorry to get off topic, I know that reliability is the keyword here.

If I had to pick one just for reliability.. Honda, no doubt.

 

I would say the older hondas would be the most reliable but today's machines have more features and more things to go wrong including hondas. My history with the Kawi has been quite good on the side of reliable, if you want reliable and good bike look for the KVF400, it's well on par with the older hondas. They way you take care of your machine will really be the biggest factor today on maintance. My personal experience with Polaris (1999) was horid, I think the newer ones are better, time will tell.

 

I dont know what all has been said but I think that all brands are equally reliable as long as you take the proper steps in maintaining that quad...

 

When I bought my first ATV a few years ago I went to a good local dealer and asked what ATV he has found requiring the least service(most trouble free). He sells Kawasaki and Honda, according to this dealer keeping in mind the numbers that he has sold he said the Kawasaki line was the more reliable. Take it for what it is worth, I have had no problems with the 2 Kawasaki's that I have owned a KVF300 and P650. I think that most of the machines out there today are pretty good.