I guess it's always gone on, I just notice it more since I now own one. From what I've read, everyone seems to think they are the most unreliable quads out there, prone to endless belt trouble and other break downs. Someone, please SAY IT AINT SO!

Maybe some of the people got lemons, maybe some don't know how to treat their machines?

 

Except my Xpress 300 motor blowing up, I have had no problems with mine.

The Sportsman 500 was assembled wrong, so the belt would burn up or start slipping withing 5 hours of riding. Once I realized what was happening, the dealership fixed it(under warranty) and have had no problems with it since. The Xpress? Low battery, 2 pulls on the rope and it cranks and runs til I turn the key off.

In my opinion, Polaris are some of the very best quads you can buy. But just like everything else, if you take care of it, it will take care of you.

 

I've got a 400 Sport. That has been the best machine I've ever owned. I had a problem with the transmission slipping. The dealer gave me a bogus reason for it happening, but two days later, I'm back on the bike again and ready to go. Other than that one little thing, it's be an excellent machine. I agree with lonestarbanshee, if you take care of it, it'll be a great quad for you.

 

Polaris was plagued with reliability problems on early models, and it has been hard to shake that stigma,no one wants to hear how good you are now, they just remember the bad from the past. I've seen both sides, old Polaris quads that are so old, they've lost the color on the plastic, and still run every day around the farm,or on the trail, and new ones with less than 100 miles that practically fall apart,little by little. ALL quad brands have had problems here and there, design or quality wise, the reason Polaris seems to get the brunt of the 'crap wheeler' complaints is just by sheer numbers- look how many are out there, they probably outnumber the other brands by 3 or 4 to one,depending on the are you live. If the failure rate on a quad averages,say,just for argument, 15%, if you have 3 times more product out there, it makes it look like 45%, or almost half, are having problems, when actually, it was failing at the same rate as all the rest. I know this sounds dumb,but think about it, that is what everyone sees, and forms an opinion on.
I only posted this to give an unbiased opinion, I have never owned Polaris, but I have driven them, lots of my friends drive them, and many other brands, as well. I have seen Hondas lying at the side of a trail, as well as Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki. As stated in other posts, a lot depends on the rider, and how he maintains his ride, and what it is used for.
Sorry for the rambling, but even though I don't ride or own Polaris, I think a lot of the bashing that goes on here is unwarrented, and based on a lot of "well I heard my buddie's cousin's uncle had a bad one"
stories. Let's all just RIDE and have fun !! and run what ya brung !!!!

 

Always remember there are lots of people on these forums that think whatever they have is the best and yours is the worst, if it's not like theirs. Take everything with a grain of salt, Polaris is a good machine.

 

I agree with shotgun, If it is not there brand of machine it will never be as good.
Somepeople do not have a open mind and always think what they have has to be the best and everything else is junk.
I do not own a Polaris , but have riden a few and enjoyed the ride.

 

Shotgun, is that pulling truck tires on your quad? It looks wild!

 

95wolv:

Well stated. Thank you for your unbiased input. You brought up some very valid points.


I agree with the statement that if you treat your equipment well, it will treat you well.

Ride on'

Kevlar1 02' SP700 twin --- (soon to add hand and thumb warmers)

 

95wolv- i agree with you. old polaris =crap and the new ones are very reliable (besides the odd lemon) and if they have a lemon polaris will gladly fix with no questions asked!

 

I had a Polaris Sport that was modded slightly with the RcR Stage 1 kit and a 42mm carb, and a couple other little goodies. I primarily rode with two other guys...One on a Banshee, and the other on a Warrior.

I got ragged on all the time because my quads was heavy, and an automatic with a belt.

This is the funny part though....

In woods riding when the trails got rough and muddy, and rocky, my Sport went through most anything with ease, while those guys stuggled in a lot of places, often getting stuck. I'd ask...what do you think of my Junk Polaris now? And they would reply:

"Yeah, it's not fair because that thing is an Automatic and you get a lot of traction because it weighs so much."

OK

In drag races, I would completely kill the Warrior, and I would also beat my buddies Banshee for quite a long ways (I'd say 300ft or so...maybe more). When they were picking on me and I'd ask them if they wanted to race they would reply:

"No, it's not fair. Yours is an automatic and you don't have to shift."

OK

Climbing up really steep hills they would say:

"Well you have an automatic, and the front end is so heavy you don't have to worry about flipping"

OK

When we were out jumping, I'd be the one hitting the jumps and they wouldn't. There reason:

"You have an automatic so the powerband is always there. We have to hit it at a certain speed."

OK

When doing wheelies farther than either of them could ever hope of going they would say:

"We can't do them because we have to shift. Yours is an automatic so you don't have to worry about it."

OK

Now, as I said...these guys were constantly ragging on my about having a big heavy automatic quad. However, when it came time to put up or shut up, they always had some excuse. They are my friends, and friends tend to give eachother a hard time just for fun, but one day I got sick of hearing how crappy my quad was. I listed off an number of things (like above) and called them out. I asked again, why it was such a junk, and they said "cause it's an automatic and it's heavy". Then I said "Well you guys seem to think that an automatic is an advantage in almost every riding situation we encounter, but yet you still rag on me about it...GIVE ME A REASON WHY YOU DON'T LIKE THE AUTO!". Then one of them looked at me and said "Well, because you can't downshift". I just laughed and laughed because I knew there was no way I could win. These guys simply had no clue.

The things that really make me laugh are the comments about the Jumps and the Wheelies. Yeah, like my Polaris has an advantage over two pure sport quads in either category. Fools.

I now have two quads with manual clutches. It's funny when I can now ask them why they can't do certain things. But that's for another post.

-Josh