2016 may be only a week old but the model calendar year is halfway through. Polaris announces its mid-model releases:

Polaris Announces its Mid-Model Year Offerings - ATVConnection.com

 

Great to see eps offered on the 450HO. Cant wait to see that Canadian edition 570, Polaris site not updated yet.

 

looks like to me the atv market has moved all toward the side by side market.

 

They'll still sell atv's, just to many like myself that won't spend over $10,000 on one.

The Ace fits the bill nicely.

 

EPS on the 450 is nice but it kinda pushes it toward the price of other machines that offer a bit more performance. Still, real world pricing is probably under 6K so not bad at all for a 4x4 with irs and EPS. The Ace intrigues me as well. The 900 is way too expensive though, the 570 looks to be the best bargain. The 330 would be ok but I think it would not offer enough performance for me. I've seen Ace 570 models locally for about $6500 without eps and about a grand more with it. EPS might not be that crucial on a machine like the Ace. I'd have to ride both an EPS and non-eps model to see if its worth the extra money. The Ace also interests me as my local township allows utvs to be ridden on secondary streets. According to how the ordinance is worded, the Ace is considered a utv and would be allowed by adding mirrors and turn signals.

 

Im glad they followed Can am's lead with EPS on the base machines, the 450/570L have dps options. The 400-500cc class is the bread and butter of the industry, not the big bore class.

As long as they dont force aluminum wherls and fancy auto paint, the price point will still be quite attractive.

The Ace 570 would be a perfect machine, eps included.

ATV/UTV are road legal here out of the crate, just use arm signals when turning.

 

The 500 cc class now with efi offer about as much power as the older big bore machines. The 570 prostar in non-detuned mode has slightly more hp than my Grizzly 660 even though its almost 100cc smaller. The Can Am Outlander 450 with DPS is a great machine too. A friend of mine has one and unless you want to go really fast or put gigantic tires on your quad, it has enough power for pretty much anyone with a top speed of about 60 mph to boot so no slouch there either. Low range for slower trails and work duties as well. Honestly, I hardly ever get to really open up my Grizzly in the places where I ride. But the big 660 single gives it a lot of low end grunt to give you that burst of acceleration to blast up most hills with ease, even in high range. I believe the 570 in either the Ace or Sportsman 570 would offer similar performance.

 

The 570 gets better mpg than theold fuji singles, which is incredible. All my atv rides involve sight seeing, so top speed is meaningless. My 400HO tops out at 54mph, thats plenty for me.

We have lower speed limits under the ORV road law, and most trails are either crown land or private. Breaking speed records will get you tossed.

 

The big 570 single excels in low end, which is more important than top end speed. I think a Sportsman 570 will run about 65 mph but it has good torque on the low end which makes it a great trail quad. I don't ride at breakneck speeds either but the extra thrust of a bit more displacement is nice when you need it. Just because a quad can run 60+mph doesn't mean you have to go that fast. But a quad that will go that fast is cruising at 40 mph instead of laboring like a slower quad would be. Unlike the Outlander 500 which is a 500cc v-twin that doesn't make as much power on the low end. Its ultimately faster on top end but you have to really get the revs up to get to the powerband. The Yamaha Kodiak 700 would probably be my choice for a budget minded new 4x4 if I were to buy one. I'm used to no power steering so the base model would be just fine. No diff-lock on the base Kodiak is a drawback but most of the time 4x4 limited slip will get you through. The big 708cc single has good low end power that would be great for trail riding and any work you might want to do with it. I wish Yamaha made a 50" utv with that engine in it, they would sell them as fast as they built them. The Wolverine R-Spec is nice but its 60" wide, not to mention much heavier than a 50" version would be.
54 mph isn't bad for the 400 HO, that sounds plenty fast for most. That's right at about what a Grizzly 450 will do and what the Honda 500cc models will do.