My 500 has been super reliable and sip's the gas compared to the bigger bore twins. For general use it has plenty of power, although more power is always more fun.

 

If your buying on craigslist I would just save the money till you can buy something good. my brother has bought some stuff on craiglist because he thought he would save some money and he ended up really getting had! To each is own but craigslist is JUNK!

 

Where would you buy used from then? Most dealers are just as bad.

 

Like I say save your money and buy new you would be glad you did! But however if you must buy used go to a dealer. There is a chance the machine has been through their shop and probably in fair condition. Plus there is a chance they might have a warranty of some sort for it and will make it right with you if something goes wrong. Thats just my suggestion though.

 

You just have to know what your looking for and be there at the right time I have bought a lot of stuff off of craigslist and always gotten great deals. When I bought my 07efi in 09 it was 2 years old and had less then 50 miles on it... it still had the nubs on the tires and I only paid $4200 for it. So the deals are out there you just have to be smart, have cash in hand and know what to look for, and yes there is a lot of junk on craigslist as well you just have to be ready to know the difference otherwise you can get take for a ride.

 

I would like to find a deal like that. haha. I have been keeping my eye on craigslist for a slightly used but not abused 550xp or 850xp and there hasnt been much for either. I guess it is the wrong time of year but I'm looking to save a buck.

 

We have a 700efi and 700 carb in our fishing group, I rode both many times ,I can,t tell them apart. Not sure if EFI is that big of a deal. Its just a different fuel delivery system.

Both start both go when you give it gas. I also rode a 500 efi and unless the guy told me it was a efi I would not ever of known,it did not perform any different than my carb 500 also.

 

I use to have a Carb Sportsman and a EFI. I agree with TLC. Although the one thing I noticed and it wasn't much was the EFI had a little less delay if you mashed the gas hard in cold weather VS the carb.

 

I will give a easier cold start to efi, but efi or carb you should let the motor warms it's oil up before riding. Efi does not warm its motor oil up any quicker than a carb motor.

You could take off with a cold motor with a carbed ATV or sled with half choke on and let the motor warm up on the fly, but its still not a great idea.

 

The 500 is proably the best motor Polaris ever made very dependable and decent power. A little slower but no a lot. Comparing a newer xp with the 600 or 700 doesn't make sense. The xp models have so much new technology. I have a '03 600 and it has been a decent machine but if I was going to get something else I would get an xp model.