Made a short trip to a riding area 1 1/2 hrs from where I live for the first real test of my Kymco SxS. It is an old stone quarry that was idled about 10 yrs ago and some folks leased the property and turned it into a riding park.
Rather than sand like the dunes it is made up of fine crushed rock and very small pebbles. It rides similar to riding the sand dunes but does not bog your machine near as bad. Lots of hill climbing and trail riding but limited area to really get her going. In fact top speed there might be 30 mph on the few good spots but the place is quite a nice challenge to your equipment. With the Kymco broke in now I wanted to run her thru her paces. I was not disappointed....not in the least. Now I am an older gent and have learned over the years it does not pay to take ridiculous chances so the hills I choose to try were not the highest nor the most difficult but those that would challenge this machine. I ran up hills that many atv's had difficulty making, especially those requiring 4wd with mud running down them. Dry hills were a breeze. I was with a young neighbor that is a skilled atv/motocross rider and some of the hills he recommended I not try them, but I had to......and yes I made it with power to spare, even he was impressed. They do have a drag strip from the smoothed out gravel...perhaps not a real good test but none the less it was equal for everyone. Only had two other SxS to run and yep I outpulled both of them. Now there were some high performance Rzr's and a Maverick but I did not bother to even try as they are well out of my class but an import that I believe was an Odes and a fellow with a John Deer I thought were fairly close in there makeup, gave me a run. Both machines had higher CC engines but man that little Kymco 450i really gets it from the start, after about 30 mph the bigger machines would begin to pull away. We ran thru some really tight trails and the narrower Kymco made it thru where the wider machines had to backup, steering was relatively light going thru the trails and this machine has no power steering. After 9 hrs of riding my arms and shoulders were not aching. As I have torn rotator cuffs in both shoulders, the atv would really kill me after a couple hours riding, seats on the UTV are also more comfortable (much more cushion) than the atv had. By the end of the day the little Kymco turned a bunch of heads, had a number of people asking what it was and seemed to be quite impressed at its performance thru out the day. I was impressed also, I think its a keeper.

 

Thanks for that info! I got my 94 year old Dad a brochure , trying to get him to stop riding his lawnmower up on the mountain behind his house and into/onto something more practical and safer. He has a hard time walking, and is stubborn as a mule. But he asked me some questions about it, so, maybe... Also having the Arctic Cat connection gives me more faith, guys seem to like the small AC's with the 450 Kymco motor.

 

I don't think you will go wrong, not only their association with Artic Cat but they also build some of the engines for Kawasaki, Suzuki, and the small Polaris. They also built engines for Honda for many years, that is what got the started in the USA market. Long term will be the real test but if you look back and the equipment that Kymco has built for the past 10 years there have been no real issues. In fact the biggest complaint is lack of aftermarket parts....I am not one to add bling to my equipment and what ever I do need I can build myself, I have been a toolmaker for 48 years, so I can recognize a quality built piece of equipment. Congrats to your dad for still getting around at that age, hope I still can!!

 

If you have a dealer in your area, that's the other complaint too. I do have a couple relatively close to me in southern Illinois but within that same area there are about 8 Polaris dealers, for example. They don't do a lot of marketing and advertising either so people who aren't like us that research and study the market don't even know who they are. I think for the money, the 450i utv is probably the best value available. Other machines of similar price offer less power like the Polaris Ranger ETX and Honda Pioneer 500. Other machines of similar power cost more like the Prowler 500(which has the same engine) and the Gator 590i. I don't add much bling to any of my stuff either. I think the only thing a quad or utv needs is a winch and usually better tires than what the stockers are. Some use them for plowing snow so thats a common accessory and add some extra storage in the form of bags or boxes. Skidplates and bumper upgrades aren't a bad idea either, depending on the type of terrain you ride on. If you ride at night much, auxilary lights are a good idea too. But all of this stuff serves a purpose, its not to make your machine look tricked out.

 

My local AC dealer (30 miles away) stopped selling the AC ATV/UTV's switched to Kymco. Nearest Cat dealer that sells them is 2 or 3 hours away. They used to be everywhere in Maine, used AC's are common, can't buy a new one if you had to.

 

I've noticed, over the past 30 years that New England seemed to go from Honda, then to Polaris, and now Can-Am. I honestly don't see Arctic Cats out on the trail that much anymore. Seems like they are descent machines too. That being said I'm not sure what my next machine will be. I've liked the Polaris machines we've had and the Can-Ams have held up pretty well too. There are so many machines to choose from now it's great for the buyer.

 

I like the Kymco website that gives you a comparison chart to compare a couple different makes to each of their models whether scooters,atvs or sxs models.Pretty nifty little feature.

 

Well, today I thought I would top off the fuel tank after our ride in the gravel pit, I had topped the tank before we left. Checked the odo and it looks like we were just a tad shy of 30 miles of riding. I wasn't expecting real good fuel economy, actually never planned on fuel economy but just thought it might be interesting to watch it for a while to make it easier to plan future trips. We were always changing speeds, hill climbing, running thru some mud, and using low range and diff lock to play with these features and see how well they worked. I topped off my tank today and it took just about a gallon and a half, slightly less without overfilling. Not to bad, that makes an average of 20mpg or slightly better. With that I now know I have a fuel range of 140 miles safely with a smidgeon to spare. It was rather fun watching others fill their tanks thru the day and watching my fuel gage not move at all. Next time I now know that there is no need to carry extra fuel, just one more thing to not worry about....

 

Don't have a Kymco UTV but do have the MXU450i. It is a hoot to drive. I work at a large chemical complex that was using golf carts. After several failures that could have caused injuries they switched to UTVs. For some reason they choose JD Gator 825i two and four door models. I can give a pretty good run down on them a I have many miles through rail yard, gravel, mud and pavement. I would never buy one with my money. Top speed was 44 before they limited them to 30 for safety concerns. The door gap at the bottom drowns you in dust when driving at any speed on gravel. During the summer the floorboards get hotter than hades, almost unbearably so when well over 90 degrees. You averaged around 20 mpg and the unit that I have been using is averaging 10 mpg. They pull good but doesn't seem to take off as fast as the 825i size motor would lead me to believe it would. Some of the more common problems on the first units with the most miles/hours is broken sway bars, electric power steering failing in the four door models that cause them to go into limp mode. I feel they are way over priced for what you get. Just my opinion. After buying my MXU 450 I would be checking out the Kymco UTV hard if I was in the market. Seems everyone that has the 450 UTV is overall satisfied with the power and build quality. Just my experience, I have also had sometime behind the wheel of a Bobcat 570, I preferred it to the JD based on heat control and keeping the dust out of the interior. John Deere should be ashamed! Forgot to mention their tiny 5 gal gas tank on the JD too!