im looking to buy a new quad in the next few months and im having a hard time deciding. either the prarie 360 or honda rancher. they are both relitivly close in price msrp honda 5100-kawi 5499. i cant aford to spend a whole lot on the machine or else id get a big gun. my friend has a 02 prarie 360 and hasnt had many problems with it. just the squeeling clutch (common from what ive heard) i know the old honda forman 300's were indistructable but that doesnt say the new ones are the same. i like the prarie cause it has disk brakes front diff lock (wow is that so nice) the fact that its an auto doesnt really bother me. i would rather have gears but they dont offer um. so i cant chose. i ride mud (not to bad in the spring but come fall you better be ready) and a lot of snow (unemployed in the winter with nothing to do other than cash my check) i dont like the honda front diffs, i dont like the fact that the rancher doesnt have lowrange.i do like the killer lighting honda have. i know i could just get the rancher and buy a detroit for the front and the warn unlocker kit for it but wheres the money for the tires gunna come from? i like the praries 2/4 wheel drive ability and low range. its also realy comfy to ride on. and the old yellow confidance lever for slick mud bank climbs. but seems a little turdy with 6 ply tires (589mt's stock size) the reason i like the shifter models is they seem a little more peppy to the rider. ive had polaris's in the past and they seemed to unreliable for me ( go ahead bash me) mabey i got 2 lemons?? never know. my 01 sportsman 500 is crap and always was crap got it new, babeyed the hell out of it ( i ride much like a grandpa) and it had a crappy motor from the get go. last year just after the warenty ran out i needed to have the damn thing overhauled cause it used to much oil (from day 1) turns out the cylinder and piston was crap. and the shifter has always given me problems ( sticks in reverse, im getting good at tearing it apart to unjam it. ive learned to get extended warenties now [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]. so what do you think i should get?? i rode a brand new eiger 400 last week and it was pretty nice (really snappy) but it has its draw backs so i dont plan on getting one.
well i hope you can help- if not thanks for looking [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Get the 360. But tell your friend to adjust his belt. They shouldn't be squealing (exept at idle). The belts almost last forever if adjusted properly.

 

I'd also recomend the P-360, the features you get with the 360 over the rancher speaks for itself.. The rancher engine is probably a little quiter, & the tranny might be more appealing to some, but that is all it has over the 360.. Curious as to what you think the draw backs are on the Eiger?? It has been winning every 400 cc shootout & havn't heard anyone say to many bad things about it.. I think the Eiger is a more sporty bike then the 360, but for pure utilty cant beet the 360 in the 400 class...

 

6'3 300lbs i dint fit on it very well, had very poor lighting, runs like junk when its cold, new bike less than 150 miles on it and when i rode it i could barly walk the next day (destroyed my back) but when i rode the prarie 360 for 9 hrs i had no problems the next day. just my little gripes about the eiger, . ohh ya granted it had stock tires on it but the thing sucked in the snow and climbing hills, it was good at spinning 1 front tire, and its hard to tell where the hi low reverse shifter is in the dark, they dont have detents so you know where your at, and it supposedly had the fix where it would come out of reverse but it sure didnt want to. most if the time i had to give it a good sized forward wack to get it into hi range from reverse

 

If you want something close to the 500 sportsman the P650 is the way to go. It's more $ but it's more bike too. The 360 has lots of nice features and it would be mine preference over the honda. I had a KVF400 98 and I put 24000km on it, I would classifiy that as indistructable. With the honda you're right you need the warn kit for 2x4. I would recommend going and riding them keep in mind it's hard to tell how you feel about an ATV around the dealership parking lot. The 360 has a solid motor in it. The winter driving it's very nice for the brakes that are on the kawis. The rancher low range is first gear. I would also work a deal for a trade for new rubbers from the start.

 

Go with the 360 you will not regret it! I ride with two guys that have Honda Ranchers and they can't go through near the stuff I can! The locking front diffs really help out. The 360 has a big bike feel the Ranchers seem almost small compared to my 360 and their tires really suck....small. Kawi all the way [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

it's like comparing a toyota camry with a pontiac sunfire. with the toyota you get limited options, but you also get bulletproof reliability, best powertrain, and best resale value. with the sunfire, lots of options, poor reliability, a sqealing belt, and if you read the p360 posts you also get, free of charge, poor running, and over-heating problems that kawy can't seem to fix. save yourself a lot of trouble and buy a honda!

 

Why not consider an Arctic Cat or the very least the Outlander by Bombardier.

Kawasaki's are full of problems and the new Hondas re nothing like they used to be.

 

More like comparing a Toyota Camry to a Chevy Silverado 1500HD 4x4...With the camry you get sluggish accleration...no power at all and a pretty ugly damn pos....with the Silverado you get proven reliablity power enough to do pretty much what ever you want and generally look good doing it. Kind of funny how you talk about Kawi's being trash when most of the guys around here all drive honda's and have owned nothing but honda's but once they saw my 360 with the Bear Claws on it and the locking front diff and then they saw just what it could do they were all regretting the day they ever walked into the Honda dealer.

 

Arctic Cat's are great bikes I used to own a 250 2x4 it was a great bike and never gave me a bit of trouble. I really do like the new AC's that come in Lime Green I saw one today it looked really good! All I can say about Kawi's is that I've owned 3 and never had a bit of trouble with either of them....The 360 I have now I can safely say it had been through more abuse than any other atv I have owned and it keeps on asking for more.