Need a quad for an 8 year old who drives a quad very well. Basically I've narrowed it down to the Yamaha Breeze and the Suziki LT160. Any opinions would be greatly appriciated.
Steve
98 Grizzly

 

Our family has a 2000 Breeze and 2000 Kodiak. With the governor on all the way, our eight year old granddaughter can ride can ride the breeze without a problem. She is very good with it. If it were legal, she could easily drive the Breeze on the state trails. Both ATV’s are automatics and therefore easy to learn and ride. Automatics have a quick learning curve. Adults can go anywhere on the state trails with the Breezre and Kodiak. The Breeze is just fun the ride. I weight 224 pounds and love to ride on the beach sand. It is well built. The whole extended family (15) rides it without a problem. Our niece hit a tree (bent the bumper) with the Kodiak, but nobody has hurt the breeze. However, the Kodiak is definitely a better “ride.”

 

My 8 year old boy has a Breeze,my 12 year old boy has a LT160 and I have a Kodiak.Like Sunrise said the auto Breeze is VERY user friendly but I believe it is a better quad for a 6-10 year old so that they can get used to all aspects of riding without dealing with shifting.We bought both about three years ago but the older boy had experience shifting so the 160 was no big deal for him as it is an auto-clutch.I'm 6'2"& 230 and both will haul me up to a pretty good clip.The Breeze is a better climber as the center of gravity is lower and has more weight up front to keep the front end down on a hill plus it is easier to control when power sliding.The 160 seems a bit twitchy at speed due to the short wheelbase plus it seems to have a fairly close ratio gear box so you seem to be shifting a lot when in the woods.Looking back I would have started them both out on Breezes as(in my opinion)automatics are more fun for basic recreational riding. If you want to groom a youngster for racing/sport riding of some sort then the 160 would be a better choice.Either way they are both great quads and have never let us down mechanically. Good luck with your choice, we need to encourage kids into our sport/hobby as much as we can.I keep a Honda 110 atc just for when their buddies wanna come over to ride...