Both the 46hp 700 Grizzly and 49 hp 750 KQ have true AWD,a low range and a much more powerful motor than the 39 hp Rincon, its hard to compare them to the honda.

No 500 utitiy ATV comes close to making the power the big bore Grizzly and KQ can.

Polaris 850______69.06 hp
Can Am 800 R____67.05 hp (updated 2/13 to 70.5 hp)
AC 1000_________65.84 hp
Can Am 800______61.7 hp
Can Am 650______55.4 hp
Brute 750 Carb____50.1 hp
Brute 750 EFI_____49.8 hp
King Quad 750____49.6 hp
AC Mud Pro_______49.06 hp
King 700_________48.5 hp
Polaris 800_______48.3 hp
Brute 650 I________46.3 hp
Grizzly 700________45.6 hp
Polaris 700_______44.3 hp
AC 700 H1_______41.4 hp
AC 700__________41.4 hp
Brute 650 ________41.4 hp (solid axle)
Grizzly 660_______40.9 hp
Can Am 500______40.4 hp
AC 650 H1_______39.3 hp
Rincon 680_______38.5 hp
Grizzly 550________36.9 hp

 

dirtdizzy,

Not bashing... just some facts. We had two guys that ride with us that had XP's. They were both gone within 5 months because of various issues. Both guys now have Grizzly's. One's a 700 EPS and the other is a 550 EPS. They have not had any issues and love the bikes and the reliability.

Features, power, and a great ride are nice... but they don't do you any good if your bike is in shop all the time, or costing you a bunch of money, or your worried that the ball joints are going to break at the next bad bounce.

Sites like this are great... do your research (carefully) and come to your own conclusions.

Good luck with your decision.

 

The Polaris 550 is rated at almost 41 HP. That's darn close to the 700 Yami at 46 and KQ at 49.
Much less difference than ~50HP and the big bores at ~70 HP.

I feel Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki should get in the game, and they probably will once the restrictions are lifted on Japanese import weight limits. As for Honda and a performance 4x4, I don't think it's going to happen.

Problems will be brought up quite often on forums, because there aren't too many that say "my machine is running perfect".

The only atv out there, comparable to the XP 850 is the CanAm 800, IMO.

 

Wasn't the weight restriction a 10 year voluntary agreement signed by the Japanese ATV manufacturers? I also thought that agreement was up in '07 or '08.

Whatever the case, I hope you are right. If the Japanese decide to create some true big bore machines with all the frills... Polaris and some other manufacturers will be in trouble.

 

Polaris claims 40 hp out of the xp550 ATV Source - Press Releases - 2008 - Polaris 2009 Rec/Ute ATV Line Up The hp number above where rared by a independent source with there own dyno.

The 500 outlander and 680 Rincon have the same hp but the big bore will always have gops of more torque.

 

That's true. If you ride them, there is a definite difference between the 700 class atv's and the 500's, but they are still far away from the bigger twin engines. The 750 brute has much more power on tap than the 700 Griz or 750 KQ.

Maybe I should have said....the singles are in a milder power class than the twins from other brands. Although, like already stated, the singles seem to be more reliable, but they also give a bunch more vibration. Everything has a trade off, you have to buy what you like. If my brute would have rode and handled like my XP, I'd still have it.

I'd also say that the KQ and Brute have much better prices than the others ~$6500 compared to $8-10,000+.

 

DCT, I read 2011 somewhere on the net, but I don't know for sure.

 

I rode both last year. I really liked the Grizz, but once I rode the XP, there was no comparison IMO. Depends how you ride though and what the local terrain is like.

XP is so smooth and fast. Just a sweet rig..........when the ball joints aren't flopping around

There's more to my decision than the smooth ride, but the XP was an immediate winner. I was moments away from an 09' Grizz 700 and ended up waiting a couple weeks for the Polaris.

 

You could be right Roofer. I've heard some quiet rumors that Suzuki has something in the works for 2011, so that date makes sense.

Again, if the Japanese decide to go "no-holds-barred" it will be GREAT for competition.

 

if you are in low gear do you have to stop machine to put it in high?
same question but in 2 wheel drive to 4 wheel drive? on yamaha and xp?