Of the following quads, 94 King Quad, 95 Xplorer,
95 Sportsman 400, 98 Honda 450S, 98 Honda 450 ES,
99 Xplorer, 2000 Magnum 500, 2001 Sportsman 500

The Honda 450 S would get my vote for durability champion.

I did see a Honda 300 4x4 one time with 10,000 miles on the odometer and it was running great.

 

My freind has a 88 250 Yamaha moto 4 which freaks me out how it goes and goes and he does almost nothing to it.Just the other day I asked he where it was parked for the winter on his farm and he pointed to a bump in the snow!We dug the thing out and it was not even covered,then we brought it into the garage.Once the choke lever unthawed we fliped it up and it stared in one pull!I said he should go to jail for atv abuse, but he said with his luck if he decided to change the oil or do something nice the Yamaha may go into shock and blow up.

 

If we are talking about trucks i would also have to go with the Dodge Ram 2500 Sport. It has gone farther down the trails than any of the fords or chevrolets that my buddies drive. It also had the highest ground clearance. But if we are talking about quads i would have to go with my 99 polaris sport i have yet to have a problem with it except i keep losing my friends behind me in the dust.

 

Yeah Honda has the rep for being the most reliable. but my 300 Honda 4x4 was the worst running atv I ever owned I bought it brand new. Just goes to show that they all make a lemon or two.

 

My 2000 Sp has 1800 miles and I tore a CV boot other than that not a thing. It has been my most reliable atv by far, I never owned one that did not need to be repaired in the first 6 months of owner ship some as little as a couple months. my SP is almost a year old and I have used it more and allot harder than my other atv's. I had and early release 2000 Xplorer 250 before that and it never needed a thing. So from my experience after owning brand new Honda and Yamaha machines Polaris has been the most reliable and the most fun. That Honda 300 was horribly under powered , the Xplorer 250 will totally wipe one out in a race. Rode so rough wow!

 

My Nephew's 300 2x4 fourtrax is a '92 and is on it's 4th set of rear tires. Two sets on front. (Countless hours). Has never added or changed any mechanical parts. It has been wrecked on several occasions, though. The fenders are busted everywhere and the frame is bent. It is his only vehicle, so it gets several miles a day on it. Ride'em hard Polcat. (PS, I can out-run him, though. (HIM forward, me reverse, 60 yard runs) LOL, ride safe...

 

easily a honda!!! 300 fourtrax is/was bulletproof fill em up and go!

 

the only problem we have ever had with a polaris was with our 96 magnum 425. the fan kicked in alot, and the hot light came on. it was just the thermostat. after that it ran perfect. (that haappened after over 2 years of serious mudding) the rest of ours have had 0 problems, even my trail boss which ran with almost no for a long trailride. (i thought the red light ment it was hot) our sportsmen have been fantastic.

 

I have a 95 polaris 400 liquid 2 stroke 2x4 that had 500 miles on it when we got it in 98 and only ride it in spring and summer now it has over 8000. The only thing that we have done to the engine is put in one new spark plug, to the rest of it we have had to put on 3 new front sprockets 1 rear one and 2 chains. Still original tires but they are very bald still pushes over 55 miles an hour and can kick my friends 96 xplorer in a race. Way more reliable than my ski-doo. Hope to get a new xplorer this spring.

 

Mostly depends where you post your question. Maybe Honda used to be the most dependable, but I think times have changed like anything else. I think Arctic Cat is just as dependable for this day and time. This is not just from owning one but from what I read from all the post. Actually all atv manufactures have made a giant step towards reliability. If well maintained and not abused most every machine will be a good one. I think in the next couple of years there will be some great advancements with atvs. Making the decisions even harder, but more exciting.