Funny how people cut down the features on quads they do not own? Is it beacuse they wish they had them?
IRS is a great addition to any quad (not counting weight) and I think the 650 Prairie would be a better quad with it.
I can think of 5 reasons for the lack of repsect

(1) very few Kow's out in the field compared to the rest of the manufacturers
(2) This is Kow's first try at a large disp. quad
(3) before you could even buy one you read about flimsy plastic that will not hold up to normal abuse, so in a year of normal use it will look like junk. What else did they screw up? Never buy a first year run of any mechanical product.
(4) No IRS, even if you prefer a solid axle, which would be wrong for a sport utility quad, IRS would have sold more Prairie 650's for Kawasaki
(5) it looks more like a Sears garden tractor than a muscle 4X4 quad

The motor should be sweet, but thats about the only good thing about it.
In a couple years it might well be the king, but right now it is not.

I am not a Yamaha fan, but the 660 Grizzly is going to out sell the Prairie 650 by 5 to 1, live with it.

The after market is making real power with the Raptor motor so a modded Grizzly will be that much faster,
Better lookin, hands free locker, IRS, most likely will have better after market support, HUUMMM, kind of like comparin a Apple to a rasin.
next year i'll be lookin to buy one, I realy dought it will be the Kow.
Life goes on.

 

I just read my last post there and it looks a lot more negative then I meant.
opinions are like *** holes, they all stink except your own.
The only real info is found on the trail, and it will be a while before any of that is in yet on these two quads. I am not anti Kawasaki and hope I did not ruffle any Kow feathers.
LOVE THAT 650 V-TWIN MOTOR!!
Hope the rest see that and use twins of their own.
Can only help the great sport we love and live.

 

Rocker, actually Kawasaki kicked off the big-bore wars with the introduction of the Bayou 400. I for one think the Prairie would suffer from the IRS because I pile a lot of stuff on my Prairie, but I can see your point as well. If Kawasaki was REALLY smart they'd make 'em with whichever rear-end type you wanted. Maybe they will and if they remind you of a garden tractor that's probably because they sling a lot of grass.

 

Andy, I have always thought that the Arctic Cat skid plate was the best one on the market. It is very tough and slippery. From what I saw on the Grizzly though, I don't think they are comparable. The Grizzly's seemed much thinner and more flexible. Maybe it will take a lot of abuse, but it sure doesn't look like it to me. Time will tell, but the issue isn't plastic, its the amount needed to do the job.

 

Firstly, "Genius" is the correct spelling. As if it matters. Now, I got to see both of these monsters yesterday, and talk about coming away unimpressed. I don't know which I would get.

As far as the plastic skid, this one sucks raw. I was thinking like the AC skid all this time, and then I see this flimsy *** thing that yamaha put on. YAMAHA- You dropped the ball on fit and finish!!!

Flimsy plastic everywhere, worse in that regard than any polaris ever made. I liked most of the rest of the things on the Griz, but all the plastic sucks. The cv guards, bottom skid, side panels, and front skid are all plastic that would last maybe a month. Worst of all, the floorboards are total plastic, with only two small bars supporting them, and nothing protecting them. At least the polaris's have some steel underneath. Sure this is thick plastic, but it will be brittle when cold, and tell me how many times you have hung up a foot peg or floorboard on a rock in a creek bed. I've done it a lot of times, and imagine the full wieght of the quad and rider being transferred to that plastic thing?

The Kawasaki had a thing or two that I could pick at as well, but not much. The only thing about it was no IRS, and thats not a flaw, just a difference. I hated its drop down fenders, just something to tear off. I didn't care for the plastic over the racks. Still, it had solid footrests and bumpers, and I give it the nod 237 times to one over the Grizzly for fit and finish. I'm going to have to do some looking again before I can decide what I want, but one visit turned me from being "strictly grizzly" to "undecided".

 

 

Ok there Professor, I did mispell weight, but I didn't come on there and make note of it as you did with "Genious". Who is the jerk now? HMMM....????? Enough of the BS. Lets get down to whats up with the quads.

Ahh, now I see that you edited that last one where you specifically noted that I spelled genius wrong even though I had it right. Ok, but just for the record, you're the one that started that spelling thing.

Yeah, I "defended" the grizz, if thats what you want to call it. Actually, I just said that a plastic skid is pretty durable- thinking like the AC skid. Yamaha's does suck though. I know that now. I also said that a skid plate doesn't really add a whole lot of weight, and it doesn't. Sure, I would prefer a steel skid on it, but the bottom skid isnt what I hated about the Grizz, its the floorboards, CV guards, and side panels.

I did slam the griz a little here though. The overall machine is good, but the finish is not. I'm sure it performs good, but I am picky about how well it is constructed and what will tear up. Thats why I got that AC 3 years ago. Everything on it is solid, but it will only go in the low 50mph range, and the very low at that.

I liked most of the layout on the Grizz, but I think I would have the plastic torn off of it easily inside of 6 months to be honest. Yamaha should have kept the floorboards off of the old grizz, and they should have used harder plastic for the side panels. The clearance was good, but not really any better than the SP500 in the rear. The front is better, but thats because it doesn't use struts. The Prairie didn't have anything great to offer as far as clearance either.

Yamaha's transmission vents leave me puzzled as well. That and the servo that actuates the 4wd. Push the button and you hear it engage. I don't know if they have ever had any problems here, but I could understand if it went out. I think I would prefer a lever like the King Quad has. I also wish the Prairie had a parking brake type lock on their differential locker so you wouldn't have to hold it at all times.

What will Polaris offer? I'm not a big Polaris fan, but we'll have to see what they can give us.

 

 

In the future, I'd recommend actually seeing a machine before posting impressions you have about it. It justs makes better sense and magazine pictures just don't tell the whole story.