As the title of my post says I got my brand new Scrambler 400 yesterday. This thing is AWESOME!! Driving it around the dealership doesn't even begin to do it justice, I am still breaking it in so I can't go above ½ throttle and have to go easy on it but it still is a blast to ride around. The thing that surprised me the most I think, was the way the suspension soaks up even the biggest ruts and bumps. I also know the meaning of "true 4WD" I took it up some trails that were covered with about 6 inches of ice and snow and was totally impressed with the way the front wheels would claw at the ground, the transition from 2WD to 4WD is seamless. I was worried that I might miss a manual tranny because I have been riding them for years, I don't miss it at all! I found that the PVT was superb at making sure I was always in the "right gear" and was nothing but perfectly smooth, which made for a more enjoyable ride.

I went to the dealership planning on buying a ‘00 model but ended up picking up a ‘99. The ‘99 was brand new out of the crate and it was $600 cheaper than the ‘00, I didn't feel like a different color of plastic and an extra inch and a half of rear suspension was worth the difference. I ended up paying $4670 and getting out the door for about $5000 (tax, license, etc) not a bad deal I don't think.

I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents about this machine for anybody that might be cruising the forum contemplating which quad to buy, like I was a few weeks ago. I can't wait to go back out today to finish my machines break-in so I can see what this thing will really do. I also can't wait to put a pipe on this thing, the dealership says they will honor my warranty as long as I stay out of the engine itself. Sorry about the long-winded, gushing post, I sound like a Polaris salesman hehe

Matt
'99 Scrambler 400

 

Congrats on the new SC400, Mayhem. As you probably know, I have the same one and I really like mine as well. Wait 'till you're able to let 'er rip. My advice - hang on!

Tuesday night I rode with 3 other guys - a SC500, a new Honda 400EX and an older (built) Honda 300. All sport bikes, the 2 polaris bikes left them behind on the trail - they were so busy shifting they had to go slower. On a flat track we Polaris owners were just as fast, and when we got to switching quads, I got the impression that the owner of the brand new Honda 400 was wishing he didn't have to shift.

"You just get on and hit the gas? REALLY?"

I don't think he ever checked out anything besides the Honda.

I think the best part about these quads is that they can compete with the "true sport" quads, and on the trails, you can concentrate on riding, not which gear you are in at the moment. Not to mention 4WD AND reverse! The smaller Honda was spooked by a small animal crossing the trail (we were riding at night) and then had to get off the quad, push it back onto the trail get back on and go. The rest of us just put it in reverse, I think you could see me laughing even with my helmet on...

------------------
Hawk - stock (for now) 99 Scrambler 400



[This message has been edited by hawkman (edited 01-27-2000).]

 

Got to agree I totally love not having to shift. I owned 3 manual shift atv's and to be honest I am not sure if I could ever own one again.

 

mayhem,
the scrambler is awesome, isn't it? i just got mine about two months ago. i also got a '99 leftover. i think mine was 4900.00 personally, i like the '99 better. the '00 is too plain looking with all red. at least the 500 has a black seat to take away from all that red. the '99 also has aluminum rims making it lighter than the '00. i too was skeptical about buying an automatic, but i love it. the thing i love best is that the scrambler is at home in any environment. i can ride coal hills (which there are alot of around here) it climbs great, i can do mud, rocky paths, snow (which we got 10 inches of the other day) i had a blast cruising around the streets during the storm. i love not haing to get off and turn it around in tight spots, like i did on my lt250r. i love not having to kick my leg off. i am so happy with mine. like you, i can't wait to modify. i figure in the spring when the weather breaks, and my x-mas bills are paid off, and the snow is melted so i can appreciate the true power gain, i will give it a stage 1 rcr kit. the only thing i say is watch out when climbing steep hills in awd, the front really starts to grab. well have fun, i know i will.

bigdevil/'99 scrambler 400

 

Mayhem, good choice! My son has the 99 Sport 400 and he just loves the thing. As it has gotton broke in it has reeaalllyy picked up the power! He rides a lot with a friend who got a Scrambler 500 and now he wishes he had gotten the 400 4wd when they go riding up in the snow. Except when they go and ride the sand on the beach, I think he has a wee bit more fun than his friend (but not that much).

Congradulations!

------------------
Donald J. Dickinson 99 Magnum 500, 99 Sport 400L Ooh yeah!

 

Matt,

Glad to hear you like it so much. I became one of the shiftless crowd in 1997 with my Trailblazer. I haven't gone back since.

Don't worry about the lack of oil usage on these Polaris machines. You must remember that the oil tank is huge (1/2 gallon) in compairson to most bikes. Plus the fact that the injector mixes the gas at 40:1 means that you'll only use about 12 ounces of oil per full tank of gas. The Trailblazer is even more frugal with oil.

I think you'll be surprised if you ever decide to hop-up your Polaris. The motors on the 400 are tame in compairison to what they could be with just a few mods.

------------------
Mike Chero 97 Polaris Sport 400L/ 97 Polaris Trailblazer 250ES

<A HREF="http://users.penn.com/~hal9000/mikeetta.html">MIKE & CELESTE'S ATV PAGE </A>

 

Thanks for the congratulations and comments guys, I am really enjoying the heck out of my new quad and enjoy your comments about yours. I have been busy the last couple of days, I don't know if you saw my other post about getting stuck in the snow but I had a run in with about 5 feet of soft powder the other night that forced me to leave my precious new quad on the mountain over night. Needless to say the next morning I was hiking back up the mountain to rescue my new baby with re-enforcements. The thing sat on top of a mountain buried in snow and completely frozen and fired right up the next morning without a problem. Once we got it out my brothers and I (all three of us) got on my quad and rode out in deep snow without a problem. I was impressed with this because I weigh 250 pounds, my 22 year old brother weighs about 220 and other brother weighs 150, it was a tight fit (I had to stand up and lean forward against the handle bars) on the quad but it handled it without a problem.
These quads ROCK!!! I have never had such a fun time on any ATV and have yet to find anything that it cannot do (except for 5 feet of power DUH!!!)hehe. There was somebody else up there riding a SC400 up there that had a pipe on his and I watched him climb this hill that was nearly straight up and about 100 yards long AND was twisty so you could not just get up a lot of momentum. The guy climbed this hill from a dead stop at the bottom like it was nothing!
Some guy on a snowmobile had seen me on the trails ripping around and motioned to me like he wanted to stop. He said "What is that thing? A Polaris??" Wow that is awesome!!" He asked a lot of questions and was so impressed it sounded like he was going to go get one first thing Monday morning. He had no idea that Polaris was putting out a high performance 4 wheel drive quad like this. I am very happy with my purchase can't wait to ride it tomorrow!

PS. It doesn't seem like I have used a drop of injector oil in the first tank and a half of gas. I premixed the second tank to be on the safe side. I know these things aren't supposed to use very much 2 stroke oil, but this makes me worried.

Matt
Scrambler 400 (finally!!)

 

I just bought my Sport 400L last summer and I felt exactly as you do. Ain't these Polaris quads the greatest? Who cares what anyone else says...From experience we know they ROCK! I too have ridden others but none as fun as that 400cc 2 Stroke of mine. Screw the shifting! Who ever wants that again? It is cold with lots of snow here tonight and after reading your comments I wanna get out and ride...Soon....Come on spring!!!!

Keith

------------------
1991 Polaris Trail Boss, 1983 XR350R, 1983 XR100, 1996 Sport 400