GREGSIMS, WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INFO, OR ARE YOU A DRINKER? I WORK FOR ONE OF THE TOP HONDA DEALERS IN A FOUR STATE AREA ACCORDING TO REGIONAL SALES FIGURES.I ALSO OWN RANCHERS 2) 2001 RANCHER S 4X4'S ,WHERE DO YOU GET THAT SIDEWAYS ENGINE NOT HAVING A TOLERANCE TO WATER? MY RANCHER AND MY OLD 99 300 4X4 BOTH WENT FOR A SWIM, AS A MATTER OF FACT ,THE WATER IN BOTH PLACES WAS DEEP ENOUGH THAT I SWAM AWAY BOTH TIMES. OH DID I MENTION THAT BOTH TIMES IT HAPPENED SO FAST AND UNEXPECTEDLY, THAT BOTH WENT DOWN RUNNING ,AND SUCKED IN ENOUGH WATER THAT NEITHER TIME THE MOTORS WOULD TURN OVER, I RAN THE WHEELERS HOME 7 TO 10 MILES FULL TO THE TOP OF THE ENGINE CASE WITH WATER,FULL DIFF'S,FULL EVERY WHERE POSSIBLE,DUE TO LENGTH OF TIME UNDER WATER ---- 0 DAMAGE ---- . ALSO THE OTHER PROBLEMS ,NOBODY ON THE CONNECTION SEEMS TO HAVE, AND WE CERTAINLY DON'T SEE THESE PROBLEMS AT THE SPORTS CENTER. THE OTHER COMMENTS ABOUT THE COMPETITION ARE VERY TRUE, READ THE POSTS, SO THERE NOW I'M DONE VENTING ALSO .............. 2 ) 2001 RANCHER S MODELS 4X4 W/ WARN WINCH AND CYCLE COUNTRY 60" PLOW " HONDA BUILDS 4 WHEELERS AND OTHERS TRY "

 

Good job Greg. I own 2 Polaris currently and will be looking to buy the new sport model when (and if) it comes out. I ride my bikes very hard, and I have 2 teenage boys and a 12 year old boy who also ride them. Needless to say, they are boys and very hard on the bikes. As for reliability, not a problem. We have bent an axle, several control arm bars and many,many bushings. That is standard when you take into consideration the way we run them. I could sit and bitch about how I bought cheap junk or complain about Polaris reliability. The fact is, they are the best investment I have ever made. The boys and myself ride most weekends all year. I take absolute care of them and we always are tweaking them, getting more power out of them. So it comes down to this, if you dont maintain your machine it will break! Yes, this includes the almighty, drum roll please.........HONDA
PD

 

The deed is done. I posted a broken parts list in every forum and as long as bashers don't muck things up we should get a good representation of the reliability of every company's machines. I have a good idea who is going to come out on the bottom and that is the manufacturer that starts with the letter "P".

 

00 polaris sportsman 2500 miles on it. One, 1000 mile trip unders it belt......0 problems. 700 57 miles on it. Will have to wait and see.............but its much improved over the 500..............but lets face it. all brands have service departments and warranties, unless im mistaken. They need em for a reason..........they are man made therefore subject to break..........we could sit at home and look at the walls, I dont think we have to worry about the wall breaking down............. but i would just as soon ride........[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

I doubt that the few replies that you get will be a "good representation of every companies reliability", when there are hundreds of thousands of ATVs sold every year. This forum has roughly 26,000 members (supposedly). Even if every member replied, it would still be a poor way to judge the reliability of a given manufacturer. You need to start collecting stamps, or something.

 

Honran01,
I have only passed along what I have seenw ith my own eyes. In my opinion, the older 300s tolerated ater in the motor better than the new ones. If you got water in your rancher once and cleaned it properly, you may very well be fine. If you really filled the crankcase with water, and rode the bike 7-10 miles, you are extremely fortunate... or it is a matter of time before you have problems.

I know that you among others want Polaris owners to bow down to Honda, and admit that Polaris is junk even if it is not true. I believe that the reason for this is that the Hondas that you own are not comparable machines when it comes to the capabilities and ride that the machine provides... so what do you do, bash the seemingly better machine?

There is not need for me to repeat myself. Some of you will believe what you want to believe. If it makes you feel better, I have no problem with that.

 

GREGSIMS, YOU DON'T REALLY GET IT. IT TRULY IS TOO BAD THAT WE CAN'T RIDE TOGETHER , BECAUSE I CAN BACK MY WORDS UP, SOME OF THE THINGS WE DO ,OTHERS CAN'T SUCESSFULLY DO ,I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT OLD ANTIQUE WHEELERS ,I MEAN FRIENDS WITH A 1999 POLARIS 4X4, 1999 ARCTIC CAT 500 4X4 ,A 2000 YAMAHA KODIAK 4X4 ,A 2000 YAMAHA GRIZZLY 600 4X4 ALL HAVE SEEMINGLY ENDLESS TRIPS TO THE DEALER ON THEM ,MOSTLY PRETTY COSTLY REPAIRS. FACT IS ,AND THIS I AM MAN ENOUGH TO ADMIT,IS THAT HONDA IS BASICALLY 10 YEARS BEHIND ON TECHNOLOGY, BUT WE STILL TAKE 1990 TO 1995 TRADES ON A REGULAR BASIS AND INSPECT THEM AND REPAIR AS NEEDED TO KEEP OUR DEALERSHIP REPUTATION UP, AND THESE MACHINES ARE SOMETIMES PRETTY RATTY BUTSAFE AND RELIABLE FOR OUR CUSTOMERS. AND WISH WE COULD GET MORE TRADES ,BECAUSE THEY STILL BRING $1800 TO $4500 USED, YES I SAID,$4500 USED. HONDA HAS A MODEL COMING NEXT YEAR CALLED THE RINCON THAT FINALLY HAS IRS REAR SUSPENSION . BUT RELIABILITY IS YEARS AHEAD OF OTHERS. YOU WILL SEE MORE 1983 TO 1996 0R 97 MODELS STILL GOING VERY STRONG AND VERY RELIABLE YET, DO YOU TRULY SEE THAT WITH OTHERS? TRULY WE DO OUR AMOUNT OF SERVICE WORK AND OUR MECHANICS ARE BUSY, HOWEVER WE ONLY HAVE ONE FAILURE MACHINE AND THAT IS NOT LOOKING LIKE A MANUFACTURERS PROBLEM ,ONE 2000 FOREMAN WITH ENGINE PROBLEMS(MAJOR).MOST OF OUR SERVICE IS TIRES, ACCESSORY MOUNTING ,OIL CHANGES, TUNE UP'S ETC. WE ARE A NORTHWOODS DEALER WHO SELLS TO CUSTOMERS AS FAR AS 350 MILES AWAY FROM OUR DEALERSHIP ,SO WE HAVE A PRETTY GOOD GRASP ON REALITY. AND I PERSONALLY ATTEND RALLIES ,ROUTINELY AND TALK TO MANY PEOPLE AT THEM AND CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I HEAR SOMETIMES, QUITE SHOCKING ACTUALLY "BEST ON EARTH " ACTUALLY MEANS SOMETHING OOP'S I'M BASHING AGAIN..............

 

Gregsims, Looks like we need to load up the polaris' and take a road trip to Wisconsin and show ole' honran01 "THE WAY OUT"! lol . Lindale is not far from my neck of the woods, maybe we will cross paths sometime and do some rideing together. ......... And honran01, your reply was cut short on your first one, it said "HONDA BUILDS 4 WHEELERS AND OTHERS TRY" .. What was it supposed to say? HONDA BUILDS 4 WHEELERS AND OTHERS TRY NOT TO LAUGH AT THEM! OR "HONDA BUILDS 4 WHEELERS AND OTHERS TRY TO LEARN FROM THERE MISTAKES". I just thought this fire needed a little more fuel. by the way honran01 , have you visited the honda section of this forum? I hope everyone realizes that i'm just jokeing around a little bit. ya'll ride safe [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Honran01 would you mind pushing that little button on your keyboard called Caps Lock please.

It's been said many times before but i will repeat it once again.

Honda's are more reliable,than most quads i will admit that,but don't try to tell me that they don't have there problems.

If you look at the pre 00 models on polaris quads you will see that most of the problems are tie rod ends,but polaris has fixed this now.

Don't try to tell me that you can follow a sp 500 through the ROUGH STUFF with your rancher.If your talking about tight trails then maybe other than that it's bye bye.Been there done it.

Just last winter my 13 year old daughter drove round and round a rancher stuck in the snow with my xplorer.

If you like putting around the trails with your little rancher then more power to you.

I would rather grease my quad once and a while then hear a honda wide open at 45 mph,while i cruise along doing 50 at half trottle.

I geuss it depends what your kick is,but try taking each for a 100 mile ride and we will see who will be more sore at the end of the day.

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I don't understand why so many Honda people have a problem with Polaris people.

I had an old Honda three wheeler that I had thousands of miles on. It went everywhere and I enjoyed riding it. The only thing I ever did was change oil and replaced the distrib. advance piece($50). Very little maintanence. That was nice.

I now ride Polaris. I made fun of them for 12 years. Now I've rode one for the last 4 years. I would probably never go back to Honda. I will also admit that I have put about $1500 into maintanence(not eng/perf. mods) but I like working on my ATV almost as much as riding. I have finally just mod'ed evrything they were having problems with(various steering pieces) and created a very sterdy ride. I have now started engine mods/ performance mods.

I enjoy riding more with my Polaris. It is that simple. I agree I have more maintanence but GOOD, I get to hange out in the garage for a reason. I don't bash any other brands because they are out of my circle of concern. The only quad I really think about is the one I ride, Polaris.