On Saturday I was informed by Leo's South and the Hitching Post of St. Anthony that they would not be offering demo rides on the 650 Praire.

How do they expect to Sportsman, Rubicon and Grizzly owners to purchase one if the prospects cannot compare machines by riding one?

 

That sucks! I hear you. If all you have to go by is what the dealer tell you, it will be hard to convince a lot of people to trade. There are only about 2 dealers I trut well, and only 1 I trust to be completely honest, even if their machine is second best in some instance.

Among the Dealer BS I have heard

You don't want a Polaris as the PVT clutch must be re-calibrated every month or 100 hours, whichever comes first.

You don't want a 2 cycle engine because they don't have enough power (this from a dealer trying to talk me out of the 400 Xplorer I wound up buying, trying to tell me 'his' brand with a 300 cc 4 stroke will out pull it.)

It rides just as good as a Sportsman

For all practical purposes, this 3004x4 will be just as fast as a 400 Xplorer (same dealer who said their 300 will out pull it)

You will run all day on one tank of gas

This 300 (4 cycle, yes same dealer) will run with an Xplorer down any trail.

Drum brakes are good enough

The little plastic steering bushing should hold up OK (but at least they said if it does go bad they can get the metal one)

You get my drift?? If all I had to go by was what dealers told me I would be really confused, for whatever brand they sell is far and away better than anything else, and some have no ideas of the capabilities of their own machines. And all makes have dealers guilty of it.
I suppose they are trying to keep away all the riff-raff that just wants to hot-rod one around.

 

 

Dealers in the Dallas area will not normally let you demo ride. I did find one dealer but all you could do was go up and down the parking lot.

 

All I had was a little ride around a parking lot.You can not tell the differance between a DS 650 and a 250 recon when doing that.

 

I went Raptor shopping yesterday. The only dealer within 100 miles who actually has some in stock... never gives test rides. I told him that when I come in to purchase a 10,000$ quad that I "do" get to try it. The only dealer that let me try the Raptor is one that had a clients' quad in the parking lot on demo.

I may have to wait a month for delivery but at least I can try it out first! (even if it is only 1st and second gear)

Plus this Yammy guy could not believe that a modded Scram400 could beat a Scram500 and that all Polaris' had front bushing problems and were junk with no re-sale value. He was such a newby. I just love going to the dealer and throwing facts that they do not even know about...then they try to invent an answer! My wife finds it funny too, the way the sales guy squirms to get his foot out of his mouth!

Brian

 

I must have the best dealer around to hear you guys talk. The AC dealer where I bought mine at will take you to either the desert or the mountains and bring along a couple of quads that you're interested in and give you an hour or two to try them out. He does the same thing when it comes to selling snowmobiles.

 

I just test rode a new 400ex in the 1/4 mile parking lot of my dealer last weekend. I could have tested a Raptor, but they didn't have one in stock. At least they let me climb the curbs and parking lot islands, etc., and they didn't scream when I did a wheelie, and went throuhg all the gears fast. I then got to watch the salesman do a 150 foot wheelie, and drive the new quad around the lot on the two side wheels. He then volunteered to let me ride his Raptor up in the woods later that weekend if I wanted to try one out (he was going riding anyway).

Good luck,
Lorrin Lee

 

I rode a Honda EX at one dealer, when I wanted to ride the DS 650 he had, he told me insurance wouldn't allow it. I didn't spend a dime there.

 

Man all the dealers around here dont allow demo rides. It is crazy. SO every quad I have purchased I have to go off of what other people tell me, its a bummer