Every dealer always has several Praires but few if any Grizz's. Is the Grizz that more desirable of a machine?
Thanks

 

Why am I always replying to your questions first? If you can stand to read my opinion again, here goes.

Yamaha has a much bigger market share. Griz 660's sell like hotcakes due to yamaha's market share. They maintain it well due to their full lineup. Also, for people wanting to migrate from polaris, the 660 is a clear choice for them.

So to answer your question, even though the 650 is much more reliable, and all atv magazines except one have rated the 650 ATV of the year, and more people sell their 660 to upgrade to a 650, there is still more public demand for the 660 (uninformed). The 660 has not been atv of the year, not in the mags or on TV. ATV TV rates the 650 atv of the year.

Dealer specifics come into play too. My dealer I think sells them both just as fast. Some brand loyal people come in and have their mind made up and say "I want a griz". The ones that test drive them both most often buy the 650.

 

NYROC,

Once again thanks for the info.. I am actually now trying to finalize a deal for the 03 Praire based on your information. Again thanks!

 

NYROC, I think another part to that is for years Yam dealers have been able to sell products without cutting prices while Kaw was struggling and the only way to move a bunch of copy cat units was to give them away. Now that Kaw has some real inovative products they need to relearn how to sell them. If I am a Yam dealer and I know I will get x# of bikes and I know they will all sell I want to make all I can on them. The Kaw dealers have always had to pay floor plan on bikes that did not move and needed to get rid of them, then I think they over estamated their market and over ordered the P650 and are now stuck w/ them where as Yam had a better idea of how many units they would move.
The perfect situation is to have 03's off the floor as the 04's arrive, it would seam Yam dealers did a better job of that so now you can reap the benifit of a cheeper P650.

 

i think it is becouse of the irs. people see the irs rear end, and compare it to the solid axle, and most who want a 4x4 quad like the irs.
nyroc, i have read some posts on your opinions on the griz, and its reliability. the griz does/did( fixed on the 03 models) have issues like overheating, and vaporlocking/gas boiling. also with the floorboard supports being weak. what is not being stated is how yamaha has stepped up and issued new supports, and floorboards to all who have had problems. they also have a heat shield system in place to anyone who goes to there dealership with a heat problem. my floorboards sagged, and cracked my rear plastic. yamaha is replacing my rear plastic, my floorboards, and the supports, without a warrenty on my quad, all for free! the 03 models allready have these upgrades.
as for grizzly's being more expencive to buy, and harder to find. it is most likly becouse the grizzly is VARY reliable. what problems some have had doesn't ever leave them stranded anywhere. if running too hot, they just let it cool down for a few minutes.
i am not knocking the prarie at all. i think it is probibally the best engine ever put into a 4x4 quad, but sub par in most other areas.
just my opinion


my pictures

 

You have got to consider that for quite some time now, Yamaha has been selling probably 3, maybe 4 times the machines that Kawasaki has been selling.(anybody have official data?) Like Honda, and Polaris, Yamaha has a huge market share and Kawasaki is just starting to nip away at it bit by bit. If Kawie keeps rolling out theses type products (650 Prairie, 360 Prairie, and now the KFX 700) I believe they will be real close to the sales numbers of those other 3. It may take 5 years or so, but in the mean time the will take less profit to get these machines out there because the real world is what sells them. As far as there being more Prairies on dealers floors, that must depend on what part of the country you live. I only know of one dealer around me that sells both brands and he sells them both like hot cakes. There are certainly different geografic areas that support one over the other.

 

Kswasaki sure could learn a lesson from yamaha, since yamaha has a much more complete quad lineup. Kawasaki should not khave killed the 400, but upgraded it to 500 and updated it with 4x4 on the fly, diff lock and sealed rear brakes.

The features of the 650 make it clearly a better quad overall. If there were an IRS 650, there would be basicallyno reason for anyone to get the 660. The prairie is simply better in every significant way.

I had a very tough time deciding which wuad to get, since honda's stuff lacks what I want, and I haven't had very good luck with yamaha reliability. I started looking into Polaris, I am ASHAMED to admit, but everybody kept telling me not to. I always thought of kawasaki to be too obscure to consider. Luckily the dealer persuaded me to drive the 650. Very, very, very happy. My bro followed suit and bought the Kawi 400, which is also better than the yamaha couterpart in every way with the exception of the part time 4x4 (and this year the kodak has a diff lock).

 

I would have to disagree with you nyroc on the prairie 400 being better than my Kodiak. Just let me give you a run down,

First and foremost is engine braking, Kodiak is excellent and the prairie 400 doesnt even have it. Very dangerous going down hill. I would never own an atv without it. IM glad the 650 does or I would have one of them either.

How about selective 2wd/4wd? Kodiak has that prairie dont.
Those are the two biggies that made my not even consider buying a 400 Prairie.

Brakes, Kodiak disk all around, big ole drum on the prairie rear.

Engine size the Kodiak is 10cc bigger. Yeah yeah I know BIG DEAL LOL but it is what it is.

That prairie needed to go on a diet because it outweighed the Kodiak by 61lbs

Also, dont even start with reliability. I have put my Kodiak through hell and its held up great. Only problem was the first year waterpump that has since then been updated. Mine has the updated one for the last two summers and its been trouble free.

I admit I have never rode a 400 Prairie. Actually never wanted to, but I can tell you without engine braking its worthless to me.

 

I agree with the both of you[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Kawasaki should have turned the 400 into a 500 gave it the new Prairie features and priced it right betweet the 650 and 360 at $6,000 and they would have a hard to beat complete line of auto 4x4's. I don't think it's fair to say the 400 Prairie is better than the 400 Kodiak. Other than the engine wich from what i've read the Prairie might have a slight edge, the Kodiak has a lot more features as KISSODEATH mentioned. I am just confused by Kawasaki's marketing program. I mean the Mojave can't get an update for 15,000 years, but it is still profitable enough to sell? There is no market for a manual shift utility machine, but lets keep the 11,000 year old Bayou around and let it represent the worst in it's class? If they would have updated the Mojave with electric start, slightly better shocks and a longer swingarm for less $$$ than a 300EX, it would grab the tigers share of that market(it already has the best engine by far). Keep the Bayou line around, but for god's sake update it with the Prairie Engine choices rear swing arm and front end and new chasis. Oh well, I'm done now, maybe someday they'll listen.

 

I have owned a Kodiak 400 and a Prairie 400 , the praire had a lot more power and rode a lot better , I liked the Kodiak as far as the 2 / 4 wheel drive select , the Kodiak has disk all the way around , but so what , I had to replace the pads a lot sooner , I had was more than double the miles on the Prairie and never has to replace the rear shoes , I like the belt drive design better on the kodiak , and the engine breaking , but since then I have owned a rubicion and now a 650 prairie and I ride with a 660 grizzly , the 650 has the best motor and breaks EVER in a 4-wheeler and is the most fun to rip around the woods on , I have owned Kawaski's back in the old days ,had a KLT 250 and KLT 200 , the 250 would kick and other brands 250 in its time just like the 650 does now.