Hi All!
I'm looking to add a new quad to family for the wife and kids...probably the Hawkeye. However, I have horror stories relating to Polaris reliability and dealer support.

What's your opinion, as avid owners of this brand? Are Polaris quads unreliable?

Thanks!

 

2004.5 SP600 with 500 miles/127 hours of mostly farm chores pulling very heavy loads and no problems. engine oil and fliter changed every 50 hours or less, all other fluids changed once a year. so far so good. traction is amazing, starts great, extremely comfortable and easy to operate.

peace

 

2000 sportsman 500 H.O. owned since new, 98 hours, 1200 miles, one thing broke on it, a tierod end, and it was my fault (hit a log at 50mph)

2005 sportsman 800 owned since new 35 hours, 800 miles (60% street use above 40mph, 10% water use above racks, 30% dirt time) had a belt snap at 350 miles, polaris called back as a deffective belt. no problems, worked flawlessly out of the box

2006 predator 500 LE 11 hours, no problems at all

 

2001 Xplorer 400 4x4 with over 2500 miles on it. I replaced the front hub caps and o-rings (less then $15.00 and 15 minutes of my time) and a belt. Otherwise no problems.

 

1998 Scrambler 500 4x4 bought used in 2000 from a private seller. Hours and miles unknown. 2 leaky inner hub seals, 1 bad fan/temp sensor, 1 warped clutch cover, and 1 blown seal in rear brake caliper.

IMO, you are susceptible to problems no matter what brand you buy. I would not consider Polaris quads unreliable.

Are you looking at the 4x4 or 4x2?

 

Looking for a 4x4. I've got a DS650 so I'm good with a 2x4 machine.

 

A Rancher in ND has 25K miles on his '02 Sportsman 500 and 9K on his '05 600 twin Polaris.
Says only thing is U-Joints.

We have hunted on his property the last 4 years and can watch his progress.

On my 1994 400L 2-stroke I put 5600miles on it before selling and only put a piston kit in it and a couple chains and brake sets.

 

The machine will be reliable, the dealer, well that's another story. The dealer I got to has been nothing less than great to me. On the other hand, my nephews have gone to two different dealers and had nothing but problems. When you're at a dealer, ask to speak to someone in the shop. Get a feel for their knowledge and if you can go back inot the shop see what condition it's in. That alone may tell you to shop elsewhere.

 

I have three a 2000 SP 500 A 2003 SP500HO and 2005 SP800

All from new had one issues where I did not have to press my button to get 4 wheel drive on the 2000, this happend after two weeks of use and was olny a loose conector dealer fixed in minutes and even came out to mt house to do it.

I would a will buy Polaris.

The main reason I chose Polaris back in 2000 was I had a lot of freinds that rode snowmobiles, they told my of a Polaris they had that was two years out of warennty and blew the motor. The dealer sent it back to Polaris for inspection and Polaris replaced the whole motor no charge!

 

Like anything, you have to do your homework. The Polaris dealer close to my house sucks, but the one 1/2 hour away is excellent. Obviously I bought mine from the good dealer. I had bought motorcycles from them in the past, so I knew their staff was excellent. You just have to look into it. I bought an '06 800EFI and have been using it for plowing and fun, no problems yet.