The mid size 4X4 Shootout in the May issue of Dirt Wheels seems to re-enforce the opinions given on this forum a few months back regarding the magazine’s credibility.

The article rates the Outlander tops in almost every category, but gives the overall title to the Eiger because of the lower price tag. The Sportsman, Prarie and the Kodiak followed in the ranking.

According the article, the Sportsman 400 has a limited slip front differential; the Prarie was best for mud and rocks; and the Kodiak wasn’t able to run with the rest of the “big boys”. In fact, the Kodiak was rated a distant 5th due to its poor handling, poor suspension, too narrow and too short chassis, and generally bad performance (except for the engine).

If I buy Dirt Wheels again, I think I’ll just look at the pictures.

Ebel

 

Do like I do pick up a copy while shopping (grocery or wally world or whatever). Read it while you shop for the good stuff and save your 5$. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I'm not sure why, but I think that is funny as hell.

 

lol, sportsman front differential

 

Most magazines give the best ratings to which ever company buys the most advertising with them. My experiece with dirt wheels is that they are very good at this policy. I don't even look at their pictures.

 

I second that pallywally, whoever spends the most on advertising usually gets the most pub.
I read the article, and feel the same way, you would at least think that they would get the facts right wouldn't you. I'm sorry, and don't mean to be ugly but, that Outlander has to be the uglyiest thing I've ever saw, and the eiger, while it is a good 4 wheeler, is kinda homely looking.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I read that article, totaled up the points (yes, that included price) and the Outlander came in first followed by the Kawasaki Prairie then the Suzuki Eiger. Blatant editorial bias at it's worst to pick the Eiger as first place when in reality it came in third.

 

i know. i laughed soo hard when i read this from the article.

"Here is where it gets a bit dicey. While the bombardier won more categories than any other machine in our shootout when it came time to pick an overall winner something strange happened. Four of the five test riders said that if they were goings to buy a new machine they would most likely pick the suzuki eiger. When we asked them why, they responded that while it did not win any of the top categories in our shootout, it was always in the hunt in virtually every category. The final draw for all of them was the over suggested price of 5119. This clearly made it the undeniable bargain of the field."

come on, the bombardier shoulda taken it, since it actually did the best in most of the categories than the other ones, and also how they mentioned the sportsman front diff. I got a real good laugh out of this article.

i think the only reason i buy the mag is to read the readers ride stuff. etc... and the pictures are nice. lol

 

Didn't they do that to the Cannodale a while back also. I think Mike had the quote on that one.

 

I felt the same way when I read that article. Dirtwheels at its finast. Since when does a quad win a shootout because its " a bargain". What the F... is that crap. Everything in print in that mag has to be taken with a grain of salt including the letters section. They published my letter last July and it was completely taken out of context thanks to the editor. That really hit me below the belt!