I agree w/Honda being the most overated. To me overated means getting all the hype from the mags and the price of their machines compared to the competition. Polaris isn't overated, in fact most any publications are quick to point out their reliability issues. I own one as well as my Mojave and while I haven't had any problems yet with it I don't honestly expect it to be as reliable as my Kawasaki. It was just that for the money i saved I figured I'd give it a shot.

2000 Mojave
2001 TrailBoss

 

what size bayou

 

But your 300 has? The only two bikes with more power than the H.O in 4wds is the new Kawi 650 and the Grizzly.If you do not think the H.O has enough power and torgue than the Rubicon would be one bigger disapointment to you.

 

I can understand how someone could feel that Honda's are overrated. Their most recent machines seem to have had more problems then usual. I won't knock Hondas though. I've had 4 Hondas and they were pretty reliable. The old ATC 200s I have still starts up with 1-3 pulls after sitting for months. That is pretty good! I don't think they are way better than any of the other Japanese ATV's though. The nice thing about Hondas are they are generally easier to work on since things seem to be thought out a little better on them.

I still think Polaris is the most overrated ATV. Arn't they the number 2 or 3 manufacturer? How they got to this point I'll never understand. What I have seen in my area is a lot of the snowmachine owners also own quads. The Polaris snowmachiners naturally buy Polaris quads. If you have been around the new Edge snowmachine you will know that it has been plaged with problems when you ride them hard. Polaris owners just love problems and expect them so why should they expect anything different from their ATVs?

That Scrambler I had, funny that I had the same trouble with the bulbs. Also I couldn't belive my eyes when I saw the electical system under the front nose piece, it was all exposed to the elements. And then the silly thing required seperate oil for both the transmission and counter balencer. Who makes an engine that has a counter balencer with its own oil supply? JUNK.

 

Over rated means "not as good as the hype" to me. The one and only manufacture that buys lots of HYPE and follows it up with "mediocre" quads is Honda. Calling a 250X a sport quad? give me a break. Slower than a turtle and small enough that only tiny tim could ride it? PLEASE. And its the same with every quad they make. The mighty 400ex that regurly is in compares with Raptors and the DS, will always get good praise from the rag. Every other sentance is an excuse why it can not compete, but in the end its a "Great Machine" GAG The Rubi is a slow over engineered ( many problems waiting to happen ) buckboard suspended garden tractor. But all of these quads are "the best you can buy"?
Try spending a little more time rideing and a little less time reading, you will be amazed how the real world works.
In the different groups i ride with the only manufacture not well represented would be Kow, and they all do fairly well. At the same time they all have a problem now and then. The Polaris's have no more problems than the Hondas, Yamaha's or Suzuki's. I think older Polaris's may of had big problems, but they were also the first fast fun quads built, and got ridden with that in mind. In the begining of 4 wheelers there were 2 options, Polaris fast and fun, or Slow pig hondas. I seam to be just blowing steam now so i'll end it but to answer the original question, The most over rated quads are without a doubt [red]HONDA [/red]. Sory guys, its just a fact.

 

I have owned many honda's,a polaris,yamaha's,suziki,kawasaki and put many miles on atv's and could easly say that My honda's were by far more durable and easier to make last 40 plus km.

 

I meant 40 000 plus km.

 

No where in my last post did you see Honda=Junk.
Im not saying that they are, and yes I too have owned more than one Honda. The question was what is the most over rated, and that is [red]Honda[/red]. I will say that 5 years ago Honda paid more attention to detail were over all more reliable and better built then the others, but that no longer seams to be the case. That left over good reputation from 5 years ago may be part of the current Honda Hype, but to anyone not rideing one today it seams to be a bit exaggerated, or "Over Rated"
Earlier i read the post stating that Polaris owners are the most brand loyal, and I think it is more like Polaris owners are constantly defending their quads from cut downs. If you want to cut them down try to find out some facts, and not urban legends that are not true. Both of the quads I own now have been abused to the point of insanity, without one single problem other than regular maintenance. All of the other Polaris quads I ride with have had similar results. Most of them buying a second Polaris.
Point is we all have choices when buying a quad. When I make a decision that important I thoroughly look into each option, test ride, and let the facts out weigh urban legend. If you dont, then you just end up cheeting yourself.

 

Polaris problems being urban legend and not based on fact? What does that mean? I owned the piece of crap and it WAS a p.o.s.. As is all of the ones I see out on the broken down out on the trails. I've seen broken c.v. joints, a stuck throttle, wheel assemblies that have fallen off, just bunches and bunches of unusual problems that don't seem to ever pop up with any other manufacturer. On one ride in particular, I rode with a buddy who had just purchased the mighty 500 Sportsman. Thirty minutes after we entered the woods, we sat and waited for him to pull his brake pads off so the rotors wouldn't be ruined. Hours later, we encountered a group of people all on Polarises. They were demonstrating for us how much better Polaris was than our Hondas and Kawasakis, when one of them snapped a rear c.v. joint. He tried to drive his wheeler back to the truck, but having to cross hills and holes was causing his wheeler to try and ride sideways with the one wheel pulling in the rear. I wound up pulling him back toward the truck when we ran into another guy who was stuck in front of us on his Polaris. I actually wound up pushing one Polaris while pulling another. A little later we loaned a philips head screwdriver to another Polaris 400 rider who had a sticky throttle. I don't call that urban legend I call that rural fact.

 

Goattrotter, you're going to tell me you have 40,000+ km on a Honda? On any fourwheeler? I think you deserve a spot in Ripley's