First off i just want to say that i am not intending to start a war or flaming. i am asking just becasue i'm curious. where is the question:

i recently went to the dealer to look for a new, smaller quad for my dad. when talking to the dealer about the diffrent models and brands he told a little about each one, yada yada yada, he got to polaris and soon after we got talking he said that polaris is the worst as far as maintinece and repairs. he told me that there are some brands that once he sells them he never sees them again, but the polarises come back a lot more often.
i talked with more than one dealer about this and many people have said the same thing. all the dealers i have talked to deal polaris. so why do so many people buy polaris. i live in polaris-ville and most of the people around have them. but why. if they are life long polaris people and know the problems, why do they keep getting new polaris machines? I cannot understand it. again i do not want to start a war and it has nothing to do with the machines i own. just wondering.

 

Well, to be honest, I haven't seen all those breakdowns on my machine. Yes, I have replaced some parts, but keep in mind my machine has over 6900 miles right now. I don't think it is too bad of a deal. If I remember right, I replaced the brakes, belt, rear pulley buttons, outer tie rod ends, rear tires, and front sprocket due to wear. To be honest, the belt & buttons are as much to abuse as to wear. I also snagged a CV joint boot on a wire & tore it. Otherwise, no problems.
NONE of my repairs have been due to a breakdown that would have left me stranded. I noticed it didn't shift like it used to, hence the belt & buttons. Steering got a little loose, hence the tie rod ends. Brakes started squeaking, etc. However, had I let things go too much longer, until a part actually failed, it might have broken more parts.

I think the vast majority of Polaris problems are due to improper maintanence. The most anti-Polaris person I know who actually owns a Polaris has over 6000 miles on it, and as far as I know has never greased it yet. The 4WD system started acting up, and instead of changing the fluid, he took the hub apart, put it together wrong, and it hasn't worked since. To be honest, though, the Polaris machines, the older ones in particular took quite a bit more maintanence than the other makes. For example, my Honda just requires an oil change every now and again, as well as a rear differential oil change every spring.
My Polaris requires (every spring) oil changes in the counterbalance, differential, hubs, transfer case, as well as a chassis greasing every 250 to 500 miles. I didn't even get to the chain adjustments.
With the Honda, as long as I change engine oil, all that gets neglected is the differential. Everything else is lubed for life. See how much more gets neglected on a Polaris?

Now why do so many people have a Polaris? That answer is quite simple. Up until very recently, they had no competition. When I got my Xplorer in 1999, I had to put up with the usual questions of why I bought a Polaris. I challenged everyone who said that to follow me. Guess what, I have yet to find a non-Polaris that could keep up. No other utility could keep up out in the open, no sport quad could follow me off road. I thought for a while I might have to eat my words when a neighbor got a 600 Grizzly, but in the mud & snow, he had only 3 wheel drive, while I had all 4 pulling. Now however, I don't make those challenges anymore, as the competition has passed my old machine. Polaris also seemed to be the first to come out with the features that the general public wanted. First with an auto, first with floorboards, first with an IRS system that truly rode smooth, first with a locked front end in the 4wd models.
Only time will tell if they keep their lead in innovation.

 

When my parents bought our '85 Polaris (in '86) I was 11. Late we found out it was a demo unit.
I rode it hard though my teenage years and in '96 I got in some deep water and due to belt lippage it submerged. It ran fine up until that and now needs rebuilt. I plan on doing it this winter.
It lasted 10 years of abuse and had no problems, and it was a first year model.
Not too bad...

 

You are only going to get opinions with a question like yours - and here's mine. I got into 4-wheelers as a way for my family to have something to do together. With that, Polaris is widely known for its convenience and riding ease... one brake lever to operate all the brakes, easy reverse, automatic tranny, real 4x4, full floor boards, etc. Plus I like that fact that they are made by those freakin' crazies in the great white north, eh!

All of these features make it the one brand that my whole family can enjoy. My wife and daughter can gear up and go - we usually do fairly mild woods trail riding in TX, Arkansas and Oklahoma and they can just enjoy the experience without a thought about the technology or mechanicals behind what they are doing - VERY enjoyable for all of us. No drag racing or MX, just trails, hills, and mud - love the mud. Polaris perfected the utility ATV class and they have done a lot to promote the sport over the years. My son likes the speed and slide-ability of my old 2-stroke 400, my wife likes the comfortable ride of the Sportsman 500, and my daughter likes the easy-steering 325 Trail Boss. And I'm looking for another 2-stroke 400 to round out the stable or wait for a Predator to show up at the dealer.

As far as reliability goes - my experience with Polaris owners are that they are pretty mindful of routine maintenance and are pretty knowledgeable about machinery so their rides get checked and repaired as required. Of my three Polaris machines (all stock) I have only had to replace a starter, so my opinion is that they are pretty solid.

Now... my 14 year old son is lobbying hard for a Predator and from what I can tell the 'woods' version would be just about right... yeah, that's the ticket! A Predator... with nerf bars... and my wife, Morgan Fairchild...

 

Just my .02,

I joined the Polaris cult '01 and in an instant I went from being a big Honda fan to Polaris lifer. Now you asked why so here goes...First off, look at the competition in '01. You had Polaris on one side and every other company on the other.

1. IRS. Polaris had been working IRS for a while while nearly every other company that counts (sorry A/C fans) was still getting their feet wet to the idea. From the moment my a$$ hit the seat it and my kidneys thanked me for the most comfortable they've ever had. The ground clearance also ment fewer moments wondering whether or not you broke something when you hit that last rock or stump(my honda).

2. Polaris had shift-on-the-fly true 4x4. No one else came close to this set up for ease and convenience. Most rigs were still full-time 3-wheel drive(honda, kodiak). The 2-wheel drive option, as you well know, adds a lot to the fun factor of riding. It's killer in mud and, to be honest, I still think it is the best 4x4 system on the market today.

3. Power. This does not apply to anything under the Sp 400 those quads are too over weight. Bone stock my Sp 400 could beat my 450ES in a drag until about 50mph when the 450 would top out better. Not bad for being 120+ lbs heavier and having a smaller engine(8cc's). Also my Sp would pull the socks off the Foreman...literally drag it down the road. (did I mention I like the 4wd system)

4. Weight. Ya yur readin' that right, the weight. I like the extra lbs. where the honda would get hung up on a tree or not have enough weight to put enough traction to the ground(winter) mine would snap the same tree off(sorry treehuggers) and tread right through the same snow drifts. (tell me if I forgot about the 4wd) The only time it bothers me is in the corners, but it still corners a lot easier than the 450.

5. Maintenance. Yur readin' that right too. To date '00 450=$900 in repairs(mechanical errors), $800 of that in the first year and 1/2. '01 400=$0 in repairs that weren't caused by my stupidity $80 that were(drove up a small beaver stump and when I came down it speared right thru my floor boards)

6. The racks. Its nice to have a flat surface to be able work on, plus its more stable to tie stuff onto than tube rack. And don't let people tell you their worse than tubes. If you break one odds are the tubed ones would be severely bent(ruined) in the same situation. No rusting.

Ok, that was more like a $1.02. I could continue but I'll stop there. At the time there was no comparison. Today some of the others are catching up a little...hell even honda has IRS on their flagship 4x3(hehehe), but my loyalty has been set in stone.



-SprtsmnFan

 

They used to and say the same thing about Harley Davidson's. The old harleys like the old polaris's suffered from quality control. And just about no one maintains them like they should. IF you want to ride a bike that you just gas and go then go with the honda it's a great machine. But, it has it's draw backs as well. Underpowered, lower ground clearance ,three wheel drive and the ride just plain sucks. My buddies who bought a honda when the rest of us bought sportsman's are crying now. They're just plain slow, the racks suck, the oem tires wore and flatted leaving him stranded. THey can't keep up and we have to tow them out of the mud so often the don't even go into the holes anymore , they go around. On long rides they complain about the pounding they take.

Old reps die hard. Our quads are about a year old so far and here is the repair costs so far.

Sportsman 700 - 0$
Sportsman 500 - 0$
Honda rubicon - $200 worn out tires
Honda450- $200 two flats

Note polaris cost was a total $3 for both machines for preventive greasing for both machines with plenty left over. Polaris needs more greasing.

Reasons I bought Polaris

Power, speed, ride, IRS, highest towing weight, true four wheel drive , racks and Polaris people are just plain nice. The honda camp is just obnoxious. When we ride upstate and honda guys pull in(and there are tons of them) and they immediately start with the insults about polaris. Jeez, we're just there to have fun. THEN when they are stuck we tell them it's $200 for winch time and $400 for a tow back to camp. This past trip we earned, which is still owed, $400 for winch time and $800 in tows. LOL No polaris's were towed or winched out.

Honda has it's pros and cons and a great rep.
Polaris has it 's pros and cons as well as an old rep to kill.

The salesmen are bias as most people are. Just about everyone makes a good quad you just have to find one that fits you after weighing the pros and cons of each one.

Honda and polaris aren't #1 and #2 because they make crap. If they did people wouldn't buy them.

 

I never owned a quad and I wanted something in a small utility that I could trail ride with my buddies. I looked at every quad under $3600: Recon, Bayou, Beartracker, Trailboss, Trailblazer, Artic Cat. After looking at all of these and riding them I decided for the Trailboss 325. I have had it a little over 2 years now and have only had to replace things that I have broke myself, and it has been in the shop once to fix the oil line recall and to have it jetted.


#1 A-arm bushing & handle bars( going uphill at high rate of speed and clipped a tree with FR wheel sending the quad and I back down the hill)
#2 Going to replace chain(high center on a log right after I got the quad, I kept reving it and it would not move, smoothed the humps on the chain. My stupidity on this one)

Everyone that I know of that owned a Polaris that had problems with it ran the dog crap out of it and never maintained it. I know 2 guys that have Polaris's broke down in there garage due to poor maintanance and neglect.

I would not have a problem of buying another Polaris product, just not from the dealership that I purchased my Trailboss from. They are complete idiots.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

by they way another dealer gave me a new bushing and installed it for free. They said it should not of broke under normal conditions. I did not elaborate on how it broke[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I would love to reply here, but everyone else already listed what I had to say.

 

Just my .02
I think part of the reason that Polaris has gotten such a bad reputation over the past few years, is that with their innovations, they tend to be abused a bit more than their competition. I would be scared to think of the number of times I've seen Polaris' blast by us on derbies or trail rides. They tend to go a little further into the mud before they get stuck, are smoother to ride over the rough stuff, etc, etc. Consequentially, they are rode harder. Now I am sure that saying this will cause more than a few flames, but speaking form my experience, they all break down. The last quad I owned was a '96 foreman. It was no prize when it came to repairs, it also could not go as far as my polaris will go now. I won't even try to compare the 2 because of the four wheel drive and the ground clearance difference. Truthfully the toughest quad I have ever owned/saw was the King Quad. They ride like a lumber wagon and have no ground clearance, but there were no problems with them. The only other thing I can mention in the pro Polaris camp is that the parts are cheaper. Everytime I need parts for a Polaris, I am amazed how cheap the bill is compared to what my old honda was.

 

I really have to wonder if it's the best 4wheel drive system around when I've read about the speedo going out and bing... no 4wheel drive, that and no 4wheel engine braking. I still am thinking of getting the new 600 but these two issues have me worried.