If you drive standard Polaris, on a straight pavement road. Who would get farest (if they all have the same size of tank?)

How would the list look if you drive at say 40 mph?

If you tow lets say a 1000 lbs wagoon, would the list look the same?

If you drive the exact same on a moderate mud trail, at the same speed and same tires etc. Would the list still be as above?

Why I am asking this, is because no manufacturer presents their fuel milage on their quads! Why? I know people on these forums says:

-well, it depends on how you run your atv, and it will differs more than driving a car. Impossible to say.

But is it really that impossible, to make 3 tests? One on straight pavement, one when towing a certain amount, and one when doing trails? The car industry managed to make comparments between auto/manuals and it is listed for every make and model of the entire industry!

It would be really nice to see which maker made the most efficient ATV models compared to CC's. Wouldn't you thinkt that? I mean here in Sweden the gas is very expensive now, and I think it will only get more and more expensive, even in the US.

Is Honda the most easy on gas? They have their clutching system. Or is a manual AC 500 the best when shifted right? Or is the Suzuki KQ 450 the best?

Just want to start a discussion about this, if you are interested. I have posted this on multiple forum threads, I hope that it is OK.

Thanks

 

Even on a single trail no two people on any two ATVs will drive the same so that test is completely out. Some ATVs aren't rated to tow 1,000 pounds so those models can't be included in the towing test. As far as just driving 40 mph on pavement I think it would be the 400. I have no idea how much gas a 330 would use at a sustained 40 mph, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be good. A 500 could do it at less than half throttle and I think the 400 would be the best. This is strictly a guess.

My 250 2-stroke got worse gas mileage than my 500 4-stroke and would have been even worse if towing anything or trying to ride in much mud. I was at or near full-throttle a lot more instead of half-throttle. It just wasn't enough power to efficiently handle my weight and speed requirements, so I used a lot of gas. It's the same reason a lot of V-6 pickup trucks get worse mileage than bigger V-8s when towing. They are working beyond the limited range where they perform well and gas mileage drops rapidly. I hear that 800s, which are actually 760cc, also get worse mileage than 500s while trail riding, so the best gas mileage for all around use is probably going to be halfway between a 250 and 760 - or about 500cc. A 400 would no doubt be better in many circumstances such as trail-riding, but I think the 500 would be better in mud and towing.

As long as I have to use 30-40 gallons of gas to drive to a trail and back, I'm not going to worry about the 3-4 gallons of gas I actually use once I'm there. As long as my gas mileage is good enough to keep the tank from emptying on a typical day's ride, I'm okay.

 

First of all, you're talking about ATVs on pavement where in most states its illegal to ride on. Then who actually tows 1000 lbs for miles at a time? And again about mud trails. Yesterday I did 14 miles of rock, mud, sand, uphill, downhill.........there's no way to accurately judge fuel economy other than to average it out per person/ per ride/ based upon an individuals riding style. There doesn't need to be an industry standard by which fuel consumption can be determined, and I wouldn't want there to be such a thing.

 

Hi!

I konw fuel consumption depends on driver and driving style. But they managed to measure on car industry. Why not on ATVs? And I didn't mean exactly 1000 punds or 40 mph... that was just an example from me. Maybe 30 mph and 500 pounds... I don't know. But if the atv industry set up some parameters to test with, then maybe we will see more efficient atvs. That is my point. Fuel consumtion is today a big problem, and (maybe) it will not get any better soon... I think the ATV industrie is to conservative. I mean it took around 15 years(?) to get EFI... how long will it take until they make more efficient engines/clutch system?

Regarding pavement.... in Sweden you can drive on pavement, i know that the heart of ATV industry is in US. But more and more ATV's are going to europe. Volvo ATV anyone? :-)

 

Careful what you wish for.
You want the government to look into that for you??
Seriously, the manufacturers are going to make what people buy, as long as people want 800's and keep buying them that's what they will make.
The market will determine what they will build.

 

w/ every rider being differnt and i would say comparing would be hard and who pulls that much weight very long as it would kill the bike after awhile. imo.

 

I just bought a 500 X2 and so far have about 100 miles on it. I have been getting 20-22 mpg on fairly flat trails running 30-35 most of the time. I have been varing the throttle during break in so I have been doing a lot of speed up slow down. The trails around me are mainly flat with a rock (old railroad bed) foundation.

I did not see a reduction in milage when my wife was riding with me. I was very impressed with the milage as I was hoping for 15, expecting 12. With the 6 gallon tank, I'm sure that I'll have no problem going over 100 Miles in a day without refuling. Most of my rides are 30 miles and it seems like I hardly put any gas in it to top it off.

I've heard that the 700/800 engines get anywhere between 8-15. I almost went with the 700 X2 but the 500 has as much power as I need and if it gets alot better gas milage, I didn't see the need to go to the bigger engine. So far I've been very happy with my purschase.

 

For the Car industry they actually established a branch of gov't to do the measurements. They were somewhat artificial standards in nature but were a consistent set to measure a vehicle against. The trouble was they were just standards Rarely could a person ever actually achieve the posted mileage.
A couple of years back this really came to lite surrounding the Toyota Prius, That care with all the systems was showing around 60 mpg in the tests. But no one was getting that kind of mileage truly more like 45 mpg was the norm. Immediately the governing body said well it is because we dont' account for various factors like Wind resistance (umm, Artificial test measurements comes to mind)

Now for 2008 we have a whole new set of standards to rate cars by, and if you look at the sticker it posts the mileage but also states right below it, that these cars achieve in this range so a Prius is rated at 46mpg with a range from below that to the 60 or so mpg some people claim.

ATV's would really be no different. The tire combinations we run for Dirt would be considerabley different that yours for Street use. Just that alone would really drive the mileage figures crazy.
I say if you want them then run them yourself through a website, I don't want government dictating CAFE standards on my toys. My 800 burns about 1.5-2x the gas of my 500X2 but I also ride the 800 harder than my wife rides her 500. I expect the results would be different if we switched.

The industry will adjust to what the market wants. If that means more fun per gallon or more mile per gallon so be it. I chose the former so long as I am getting a good dependable machine in the process.

 

I just bought a Toyota Yaris last month, which is rated at 29 city/ 35 hwy. Just over 2,000 miles on it this week, and every fill up has been 38.5 mpg, today was 39.9 mpg. If I did strictly highway driving, it would be into the low 40s for sure.

 

99 500 Magnum 4x4 w/K&N jet kit riding on various terrains & conditions & speed, the only thing I don't do is ride with it full throttle its not a race bike and I have been averaging at a low 24.3 and a high of 28.6 mpg--thats keeping track with a GPS. As for industry standards--those government type SOB's got their hooks in us deep enough, lets not give them any chance to put them in any farther the absolutely necessary.