IMO the 550 is the perfect quad. For the guys that like big power/high horsepower then the 850 will make you smile, otherwise the 550 does it all.

 

Well my 500 has a carb has good power,clean burning and sucks in the mileage.It has been a proven fact that in some cases more H/P will improve MPG because the engine will not work as hard you can also check gear ratio of the two and see an improvement. This new generation 550 is far better design than the old generation polaris in the engine,transmission and clutch department. In the electronic dept they have more control of engine management to control fuel mapping and help with warranty problems because it records all data from the ECM. When I got my 850xp I looked for 02 sensor and was I fooled thinking the new machine went from an open loop to a closed loop no cats on my machine there coming though.

 

Our trails are so rought and slow that my dog runs ahead of us and has to wait for us to catch up on many sections and at no point on the trail is there a place a ATV could hit more then 40 mph for long. Guys with 250 2wd can,t be left behind by the big bores.

Milege does matter for us on the trail, you could ride 200 miles in one direction and never see a gas station.

 

How much power do you actually need to go 10 mph on tight or technical trails? My 300CC Hawkeye, 400HO, & 550XP all go the same place, equally as well.

 

Mileage is important to me and should be to all others I like to ride all day and not worry about gas so i went with packs for insurance.Yea the two wheel drive model atv have gone where I have trailed till I hit a long steep snow,mud,rocky hill. You need to know your machine as far as the mileage goes.Never know I might roll up to you when your out of fuel.Having a spare belt is good insurance if you know how to change it in the field when there isn't anyone around to help tow you home. Early belt failure with a new machine needs more input of just what happened. Remember the dealer can look at rev hits from the ECM and come up with his own CONCLUSION.

 

Good post GPCity.

 

IF there is a 27 HP difference between a 550 and 850 then that should be a HUGE performance difference!

BUT last Friday I rode the 550 X2 then the 850 XP around the dealer's parking lot (low speeds) punched the throttle quite a few times on both ATV's and honestly could not feel a significant difference! I wonder WHEN that extra 27HP actually kicks in with the 850?

I sure couldn't feel any difference off the line.

 

Get some room and nail the throttle and you will notice the difference. Putting around a parking lot in a Dodge Viper or Neon would feel the same also.

 

Logically thinking when I punched the throttle I was expecting the 550 to jump off the line with little or no tire spin in AWD.

When I punched the 850 I expected all hell to break loose and have all 4 spinning like crazy. It just didn't happen.

The dealer has a partially paved parking lot, the rest is gravel. Yes, I was on the gravel when I performed this test and took the ATV up to about 25mph.

Does anyone know when that extra 27hp really kicks in?

 

Maybe is was a mis-stickered 550? lol..
Seriously...if you nail an 850 on gravel at low speeds,even in high, and it doesn't just annihilate all 4 tires and throw gravel aeverywhere something is wrong....you should have thrown gravel all over the place and scared the crap out of yourself. No way in heck I would have nailed my 850 on gravel from any less than 10 or 15 MPH unless I was just try to throw gravel all over the place...and even then you better be ready because you aren't going to be getting any traction...
And on pavement from less than say 5 mph...you had better be laying over the bars before you nail it...