I drove the new Cat auto this afternoon.
Very very nice.
They have already changed the cheesey
looking 2wd/4wd lever to the LEFT side,
from the right side location shown
in the ATV Connection review. It is now
kind of a pistol grip, neat looking thing.
It was very fast and the tranny really
is quiet.
I was most impressed with the general
well built feel of it.
I have not driven a NEW SP500 other than
around a dealer lot, but that Cat sure felt
nice.

[This message has been edited by evensen (edited 11-09-1999).]

 

Andy,
Yes you are making me very mad, bad bad Arctic rider. How can you live with your self? All you do is "**** me off".

But seriously. I am just saying that some people do still think differently than you, and I think you will agree

Arctic Cat 500, Better to be "pissed off" than "pissed on"

 

I don't doubt that they do boner. You make an arguement of just about anything. If I **** you off, then too bad. While we're on the subject, I'll say what i think of you. First off, I think you do a little too much Arctic Cat bragging for my tastes. You do a little too much of trying to talk future buyers into getting an AC. Not like Max6x6, but then again nobody thinks that guy is serious. You seem to remind me of a Polaris owner. Only difference is that you're pushing the Arctic Cat instead of the Polaris. I like my 500 AC, but not to the point that I think everyone else should get one. Let them get what they want. You're not thinking that they might get something better by any chance are you? And why did you change your name? Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word Spam wordSpam word ? Do you know what that stuff can do to a boy your age?

------------------
Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*



[This message has been edited by Andy Bassham (edited 11-09-1999).]

 

TATTY;wasn't infering that polaris hasn't had thier problems to,but was trying to point out that this reliability crap is just that a machine is a machine.Thier all built by a bunch of goof ***** that could give a sh#@ less what happens as soon as it's out the door.LATER COB

 

Thats a good point Cob no matter how suggestively explicit it was put. However, Honda is an exception to the rule. Everyone moaned about why they couldn't hurry and put out an automatic. They were keeping their reliability Crown intact, by laying back and figuring a way to avoid a belt driven system that has proven to be unreliable in certain circumstances. The time that they wasted seems to end up being worth the while with the new patented tranny on this upcoming 2001 flagship. Other manufacturers will still have their upsides over the Rubicon, but nobody will be able to claim a better automatic transmission. There will be doubters of it until it arrives, but Honda will once again be the king. I'm not even a big Honda fan either. I'm just not in denial of what is probably going to be the greatest all around big bore 4x4 ever produced.

------------------
Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*

 

I'm just not sure that the Rubicon will be the king of the hill when it comes out. Yes, it does sound very nice, non-belt driven automatic, switchable torque system and everything. But the suspension, AWD system, and simplicity of the thing just aren't up to par with some of the other quads. I believe the Rubicon will be great, just not the greatest. But there you go again, what quad is the greatest now? One quad will always be better in some way than another; so there's not really, and probably never will be, a perfect quad.
Thank you and good night.
BushHog

 

In my mind, the Reliability of Honda coupled with the best auto tranny available will be enough to knock the Polaris Sportsman or Magnum out of the race. The power of the larger 500 compared to the 450 hondas, improved suspension and front differential, along with the other features will take the Grizz, Trax, AC & Suzuki's out of contention as the all around King of the Big Bores.

------------------
Andy Bassham *(1999 Arctic Cat 500 4x4, 1989 Honda 300)*

 

YO ANDY;Guess i don't understand that remark about the belt,speaking for myself I've never had a problem with it.I've heard some talk about getting the belt wet,but running in neutral seems to dry it out.All the snowmobiles run the basically same belt setup,you never hear of any problems with them.As I have stated before I know when polaris,was the only one with belt,alot of ATV pulls would make them pull in thier own class, becuse nothing could hold a candle to them.The HONDA maybe ok,but I have had no problems with my polaris,they have been good to me.I ride with about 10 500sp,4 of which were bought because of rideing with us, and tradeing thier what ever for 500's.My own opinon of HONDA,is that they are to small,but then again I'M big boy.I have followed them through the hills,they look awful rough to me,also don't have the ground clearance.The last guy I followed was dodgeing rocks that never fased me.I was in scrub brush that he couldn't make it through.Maybe just because I'm used to the big fella but I don't like the small feel of them.I've ridden my buddies Kodiak I really didn't care for the shifting,he is always trying to shift up or down when in trouble and seems to get in worse because of it.I really don't understand Hondas reluctance to put AWD on thier machines,I suppose they have a good reason, to them anyway.It really makes no diff what you ride, as long as your happy with it,and it does what you want done.I for one am very happy, with my POLARIS,and can't say I've had any problems,or none of the guy's that I ride with either.Lets just ride have fun,come home get on CONNECTION and bash the hell out of each other!!!!LATER COB Can't believe that I said all that, without really bashing must be getting soft in my old age!!!Guess you just caught me on off day!

 

I am with Bob4x4 on this one seems comparing snow mobiles with atv's is like the famous apples to oranges. I am with Andy on the point of buying what you like best, thats the reason I wrote the article buying what your money buys best if you like the polaris w/ its reliability problems buy it you will be paying the bill goes back to ragging about the foreign bike but I won't get into that I do think the Cat is faster than the sport but that is not what made up my mind on the cat it seemed to be more well built than the polaris if they were to correct the reliability problems and replace some of the cheap parts like the clutch cover I would likely have a sp500 in my drive my buddy has had a lot of problems with his polaris and that combined with horror stories on here made me go with the cat along with the price best I could do on the polaris Mag was 5900 no winch and for the 2000 model polaris wanted to tack on 400 for the ebs the cat was 6100 w/winch and ebs. I must say I am with Andy on the 400 or 500 more would have made no difference to me if it really was what I wanted hell I originally started off going with the 300cc kawasaki and kept adding this like and that like to an atv and ended up paying about 1500 more than I intended kinda went like this, well I could have gotten the 99 400 kawasake for 4550 but wanted bigger, looked at the grizz, suzuki, AC 500, polaris Magnum well the grizz got to hot because on no water cooling and was kinda bulky for the narrow paths in the hills of WV, the suzuki was kinda small for hauling 2 people and no back disc brake the polaris with the price and reliability problem combined brought me (yawn) finally the Cat had disc brakes on the back which I loved because of so many horror storys I have heard and still hearing about the poor sealed drum brakes 2. It had 2 to 4 wheel drive in and out which I think is great, don't use the extra gas which is no money problem but finding a gas station on top of a WV mountain is and the front end is not running wearing out parts for nothing. With the automatic liked the theory of using an automatic for climbing seems to be always just right going up these steep grades in them thar hills don't spin or bog like a standard and I do get this from the old school with me being older than the hills the days when the kawasaki and suzuki were kings with the known as then nobby tractor tires where when riding you had to hit these steep grades with just the right precision of gearing or you crashed and burned and yes have done that a time or two. So with all this combined with the quality and reliability of suzuki (who makes the engines for Artic Cat) lead me to buy the AC500auto. Summing all this all up I am not shoving it down your throat to buy a Cat as I agree with Andy on this BUY what you like...I really wanted to go with the polaris but with the reliability issues and the use of cheap parts like the clutch cover I just couldn't go this way polaris is heading in the right direction as far as the superior riding atv but I feel the quality isn't there and it won't be till polaris cuts its profit putting more money into the atv instead of there pockets and before you start giving me h#ll about this post just suppose polaris done one thing of many and replaced the plastic clutch cover with aluminum they would have gotten rid of a sh#t load of post that really scared people about how the clutch cover melts when it gets hot and stepping on it easily breaks it now how easy or should I say how much more would it have cost to fix this by replacing it with an aluminum cover...I can't wait to here the whys on this. It goes back to fellas and I hate to beat a dead horse to death poor sells improve quality like what was forced on the american cars of the 70's and various other companys I have seen this happen to they bring out a product the public starts off buying the product because it is new or it is a hell of a product but then as soon as the wolf in sheeps clothing shows up and sales start to slow they either improve the product or go out of business I must say this doesn't seem to be happening with polaris with all its buyers defending the product either by pretending it is not happening or by just plain putting up with great riding atv versus poor quality...I just don't think polaris is listening to its buyers and they never are going to as long as people who buy their product put up with the poor quality of cheap parts. So guys with the polaris don't think I am your enemy and I am not putting down your atv, I am your best friend hopefully by me not buying a polaris being the small majority I am will be a wake up call for polaris...please polaris improve your quality so I can buy ANOTHER American made atv...sorry for such the long post but I had to when I read the part about the snow mobiles which has nothing to do with ATV's.

Artic Cat 500 auto...what else can I say

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[This message has been edited by atving (edited 11-19-1999).]

 

Well, I suppose the reference to snow sleds had to do with overall design and the evolution of that design into a more reliable product. Auto trannys are probably more reliable now than they were three or four years ago and they will be better tow or three years from now....AC and Honda's also. Of course there are differences to operating conditions.

I can't speak to the AC Auto as I've not ridden one, but my SP500 is clearly more comfortable, faster on the rocky trails and better in the mud than the Honda 450ES, Grizzly, and Bayou that I ride with. The SP500 is the one that pulls the others out of the mud. It has pulled the Grizzly out three times now. The difference has been ground clearance and the AWD. As far as reliability goes, yep I am more concerned about the SP500 than the Grizzly or the Bayou...but you ought to hear the terrible clunking and jerking that 450 ES goes through on the trial. What I'd like to have is that AC Auto with real awd!