Some Hondas still have mechanical drum brakes like cars started using in the last year of the 19th century. Hello Honda. Wake up. It's the 21st century. Not the 19th. Not the 20th. The 21st!

They're so far behind the times they'll never catch up.

 

I don't think they have any intention to.

 

Can you imagine if every company was like that? AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph Company) would still be operating telegraph lines instead of trying to sell people cell phones, satellite TV, and slow internet service.

 

I marvel at it.

If Honda wanted to they could own the market. I don't doubt that for a second.

The have the technology and the money.

Honda developed a new aluminum alloy for the pushrods in the Rincon to keep them under 600 lbs when they first made them.

A designer of the Accura NSX designed the wheels for the Rincon.

Just for $hits and giggles Honda made a 250cc 2-cylinder 4-stroke engine that would rev 25000 rpm. Once the goal was achieved they put it on the shelf and moved on to something else. They just wanted to know if they could do it.

Honda made the 2000S to compete with the BMW Z4 and the Porsche Boxter and to keep its retail price under $30,000. And they did and when it was first introduced it out performed both of them.

They are a weird company.

 

Don't take this the wrong way...I like Honda atvs and carry a high opinion of them. However, I believe it boils down to profit margins. Some of the tech still being used in their atvs is dirt cheap and been around along time. However, their showroom floor price does not reflect the cost cutting savings of not updating. Honda could own a major portion of the market of they wanted to, but Honda is a huge company with many fingers in many pies. I don't believe the atv/utv market is where the monsters attention is focused. It is small potatoes compared to other segments of their global production.

 

No way to take anything you said wrong. I have no doubt that you are right on the money.

 

318 acres of Texas real estate are about to become one brand's personal equipment playground:


https://atvconnection.com/articles/a...d-you-know-11/

 

I'd love to test out their machines. I tend to be a bit abusive. If it can be broken I'll find it.

 

I've been to a Kubota factory in Japan many years ago. I had a Kubota B7800 compact tractor for 10 years living in Minnesota. I used it to mow and blow snow as well as some landscaping jobs using the loader. It was very reliable and a good machine.

Deere has a similar "proving ground" in Coal Valley Illinois. We attended a "supplier day" there where Deere employees allowed us to operate some of the heavy construction equipment. The motor grader was the most impressive piece of equipment there in my view. That machine can do a lot of interesting stuff with dirt.

Nice Kubota has a Texas ranch. Other than strictly utility UTVs, I don't see Kubota getting into the "sport" ATV or UTV market. I doubt Polaris worries about that happening.

I do use my Can Am to "bulldoze" snow, pull a trailer and skid logs. A "mountain" tractor I figured. The turning radius is too big to be real handy, and the CVT shifting from forward to reverse is clumsy. Backing into tight spots (like getting the trailer out of the shed) is jerky. It is a much better machine on the trails as it was designed for.

David

 

I know a guy who has a Kubota diesel UTV. It won't win any races but it would be nice to see what it can do. So far I've seen it haul and dump dirt. That made the job of shoveling it around a whole lot easier than digging it out of a lawn cart.