Who do you think makes the best engines?
Suzuki
Yamaha
Kawasaki
Honda
Polaris
KTM
Arctic Cat
Bombardier


My say is suzuki
ive had my zuki for 3 years and beat the ballz off it
but yet the engine still goes strong
(I wish the rest of the quad would hold up like that )[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Honda and bomb(rotax)

 

Honda (400ex)

 

Power wise through powerband, Can-Am and Kawasaki, with the V-Twins.

Workhorse lowrange power, Honda, Arctic Cat, Polaris

I dont have much experience with Yamaha, or Suzuki.

 

for longevity I'd say the Yammi 350 thumper found in the warrior, bigbear and wolvy (and raptor 350)

I do have to give props to Suzuki though. My father has a 1982 (83?) Suzuki Quadrunner LT125 that still runs like a camp and it's been beat on pretty bad by me and my cousins. He's just picked up off a late (read deceased) friend, an 88/89 Suzuki 250(?) 4x4. Far as I know it runs pretty good too, but will hear more from him soon.

Cheers!!

 

Bombardiers 650 rotax engine found in the DS.

 

You did not qualify your question, so I will say engines in-general for the manufacturers mentioned. I am not talking about as-delivered power output, because factory tuning is usually conservative for the Japanese manufacturers, but arguably it's Honda, then maybe Yamaha. The rest follow or try to catch up. They try to win by total focus on one sport (or perceived weakness) or brute force and ignorance. Hate Honda for it if you want, but I think it's true.

This does not mean that I think others make bad engines, but who can make so many different types, be competitive, and keep such a reputation for value and reliability? Or have so few new model issues?

I love Yamaha 2 strokes and they were right there with Honda before they were banned from F1. Yamaha also made an automotive F1 engine and the heads for the Taurus SHO. Suzuki rules superbike (now), but Honda doesn't seem that interested. Not sure how that plasma is going to hold up in the ATVs. Rotax may have the ute ATV power now, but I don't think Honda is really interested in competing with a 50+ HP ute that's an overkill.

I'd put one of my XR engines up against anything for durability and reliability.

F1 automotive, F1 2 stroke and 4 stroke bikes, aviation jet, MX, ATV, Street Bike, automotive, Off-road. They do it all, and well.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not coming in here to stir up trouble. I'm in the Suzuki forum keeping tabs on the King Quad. A nice package.