Could someone please tell me some pros/cons of the Prarie 360 auto. 4x4??

 

I only have 300 miles on mine so far, but I will give you my opinion. Kawasaki needs to do something about the noisy belt(been back 3 times already). Other than the belt problem, which my dealer finally got fixed, I love this machine. It has lots of low end torque. It is not a speed demon, top speed is around 45. I am around 260lbs and it pulls me just fine. The 4 wheel drive is great and the ride is top notch. But best of all, I get to watch my friend with his honda trx 300 4x4 get stuck in the snow when I dont. Then I get to back up and help him through.

 

Was that noisy belt problem fixed under warranty?

 

Yes, they fixed it under warranty. My only problem is that it took me 3 trips to the dealer. I live 45 miles away, so that was 270 miles I shouldn't have had to drive, not to mention the time to drive it.

 

So, that problem didn't show up until you had driven it for a while? It seems if I was to buy a Prarie I'd have to drive about an hour or so to get to a dealership. If the Prarie had all other good qualities that one hour of having to get to the dealership may be worth it.

 

Let me explain the whole story. The day I bought the 360 and brought it home, I unloaded it and went for a short ride behind my house, maybe a mile at most. As I pull back into the driveway, the clutch starts making a metal to metal grinding sound. I take it back the next day. Two days later its ready to be picked up. I bring it home and ride it for maybe a week. The belt starts squealing real bad. I take it back, next day its ready again. Bring it home. It sits in the shed for a week. I finally ride it again, not 1/2 mile and the metal to metal sound is back. The first time the dealer said it was from the clutch being over torqued from the factory. So I would think that when it was back for the belt squeal, they would make darn sure they torqued the clutch right, and maybe did a little test ride before calling and telling me to come and get it. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about the bike, just don't care for the service at my dealer.

 

I've had mine since May...It's a great bike Top Notch in every since of the term...It's not a speed demon but then again it wasn't meant to be...It's got an incrediable amonth of torque...It can and will pull and other brand ATV's out of any whole THEY might find themselves in! My only complaint is......I want a RED one! My dealer only had a green one when I bought mine....really didn't want to wait a month to get a red one soooo....plus they let me have the green one for a couple hundred cheaper!

 

So, just so I understand: (and this may be stupid question) but where does the belt I've heard of come into play on this machine?

 

Yes it has a belt. I had problems with mine as well. I had to bring it in two times for the belt squeeling within the first couple months, and again around 4 months. My light came on at about 50 hours, and it's supposed to come on automatically at 100 hours. I bought mine in March and experienced about 800 miles on it.

This was all just my experience:

What I loved about it:
-auto
-selectable 2x4, 4x4
-diff lock. Really does well with this and works like a reverse clutch, you can pull it in a little, or half, or all the way and it responds accordingly, I guess.
-great ride as far as suspension!!!!!
-comfortable to ride


What I hated:
-Reliability
-tires and rims don't hold up to much at all--always had slime, air compressor, and plugs in bag on rack!!
-Engine braking takes some getting used to--going down hills I either had to use the front brake only or had to give it gas and the brake otherwise the engine braking would make my back tires slide.
-no speedometer or anything to measure miles or hours. My husband and I always ride together, so I compared it to the Rancher's readings.
-kind of top-heavy, sits high

Problems I had:
-two clamps improperly installed; one ripped through intake boot to carbeurator, one ripped through cv boot
-had some problem that Kawi mechanics never figured out--engine would stop responding to throttle and settle to just an idle no matter what I did with the throttle and then it would come back a second or two later. Almost like vapor locking, we tried different things that never helped. Backfiring went with it.
-gas guage shot out of tank, I think they previously used a part that they don't use anymore, because when they fixed mine they used a different looking piece (silver instead of black) that they have on all of them now.

Not to say that all of 360's are the same and have the same problems. My dealer was really great and fixed all that they could whenever I showed up at their door. We traded mine for the p650 because of the problems we had, and the dealer felt bad and gave us a great trade! Otherwise I was going to get another Honda! It's amazing I even put 800 miles on it in 8 months because it was at the dealer's a lot! My dealer is 30 miles away, so it wasn't super convenient to find the time to take it there, drop it off, and pick it up later.

I was going to trade for another 360 because I liked the machine so much, but my husband wanted the p650 for himself [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img] He really enjoys the 650, though!

Hope that was somewhat helpful even though it was a novel.

 

I believe that the final drive is shaft, but it is a belt tranny? I won't pretend to be a mechanic though.