I'm posting this for a friend who does not have access to the internet. He is in the same boat as me, ready to buy a new machine but hes tossing the King Quad and BF 650I back and forth. He has been told and thinks the Suzuki is a more reliable machine and the chances of running into a problem are less than Kawi. The local dealer who sells Suzuki and Kawis said that he sees more Kawi's come in for repair and warrenty work than Suzuki's which I heard him say with my own hears but I can't believe it. Just shed some light on what you guys, and which machine he should choose and any Pro's and Con's. I will give him a print out of all your postings in a couple days.. CHEERS!!!

 

Dude, the best thing to do is research and ride, find someone with both and ride, they are apples and oranges, but it's all in what you like, try powersportsnetwork.com under atv's you can compare the two side by side and read owner reveiws and pro rider reveiws. You have so much to compare, fuel injection, single cylinder vs. carburated twin cylinder. I have the KQ 700 and love it It's not perfect, but after much research, I preffered it the most.

 

man i have a king quad 700 i bought in february and put a few hundred miles already on it and love it .my first bike was a 1997king quad 300 4x4 and i never had anyproblems with it at all except for replacing the battieries over the years i just sold it when i bought my new one and it still ran as strong as the day i bought it .

 

I can speak to both w/in the last week and i do have an opinion! I have been saving for two years and was ready to buy. My top two choices were KQ 700 and bf650. I chose BF650 because i thought it might be a little racier and i like the longer seat( my wife likes to ride along w/ me sometime). I brought it home last Friday and it ran terrible! i know there is some break-in that has to happen and the carbs need to seat but it was far from right. At one point it hiccuped and sputtered and started pouring smoke. I was 1/2 mile from home and could look back and see my smoke cloud the whole way. I loaded it back up and took it back, got my check back. I went strait to the suzuki shop and picked up KQ700. i've riddeen for three days now and love it.

Bottom line, i like the fuel injection much better. Besides i won't need to re-jet before going to the mountains. I also like the fact that it has been out long enough to get the kinks worked out. This thing is fast enough for me too. I am still breaking it in so i can't yet vouch for it, but all over the web these guys are saying it will do 72-73 stock. Two criticisms seem to be out there for the KQ, the air filter and reverse. My dealer, w/o me asking, put in a foam air filter in place of the cheap paper one that came with it. I had planned on putting a K&N or comparable, he saved me the trouble and $. Reverse... it gets some criticism, but someone said they have fixed it, i'm keeping my fingers crossed. i paid $6599 out the door.

 

Had my King for a long time, love it, you've got to check out nyrocatv, for the upgrades and info very imformative, friendly site, I like this site too, but there is already some serious tech info that you need to know over there.

 

That was the most random and isolated thing ever with your 650i. Instead of even finding out what happend, when things like that can happen on any brand atv, you think the Suzuki is better because that single kq you bought didnt do what the 650i did......lololol. I think the KQ is a nice machine have ridden with one several times, I would definitely not place its reliability above my 650i, which has less technology and less complicated moving parts, a very proven 633cc engine. With proper maintenance both atvs would prove plenty reliable in my opinion. Of course I am going to recommend the Kawasaki, seeing as I own one, but I also thing the KQ is a nice ride, It simply comes down to satisfying what you want in your ride, i wanted more power, better looks (in my opinion), efi is not that special to normal riders who dont travel much, my brute has excellent response and the worse fuel economy is not that big of a deal for the way way better performance. Its all in what your want [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] gl to ya

 

Personally if I were choosing between those two I would choose the King Quad 700 probably. I think it is probably the most refined and comfortable of the two. The KQ is just a pretty tough machine to beat. I really enjoy riding the KQ. A real joy to take out on the trail. Just does everything well. However, what would make me nervous is the poor customer support from Suzuki as far as warranty if any defects or anything came up. They have a documented history of denial, obfuscation and outright lies when it comes to such matters. I'd go into buying one with my eyes wide open to that issue but if I wanted one I'd go for the KQ. It's a sweet ride.

However if I were opening the field up to any 700 class machine I think I'd probably go with the Grizzly 700. Had some seat time on it recently and I think I like it even better than the KQ on the trail and in rough trail conditions. Really a great, great machine on the trail. May be a bit faster too I'm not sure. Felt like it had more power to me.

 

Research, research and more research, that is what the big boys do each model year to improve on what the other guys have done. That is what you as a consumer should do before buying an atv or anything for that matter. The biggest thing is a test ride, there are dealers out there that WILL let you test drive the atv you just have to look for them or do some talking. Next of course is owner/rider feed back. I think anyone that buys an atv and returns it after riding it for the full price is pretty damn lucky .

 

Just go ride them and decide.I have a 2002 prairie with almost 3k miles and it has been rock solid!!!!!...I remember one time talking to Mike Penland when he raced them and he said he NEVER lost an engine racing them.No way you will run one like that. I have ridden both and I have to give the edge to the KQ for handling but the power edge to the BF650.EFI would be a nice option for sure if you ride in diff altitudes and or cold weather although my carbed 650 has been just fine.The one thing I will say is that if you buy the BF you will not have to then turn around and buy an approx $100.00 air cleaner becuase the stock one is not any good.The other complaints on the KQ is they take on water in the belt from the rear pretty easy.Good luck with your choice and try and pick your way thru biased opinions on this forum.
02 650 camo

 

Not arguing, but the air filter is only $40.00 with oil and is something you would usually buy for atv or even a vehicle anyway. The other bigggest pro for efi is it's fuel economy even on a twin Can Am or Polaris the EFI gets a lot better mileage than their carbed counterparts. There are pro's and cons either way with carb versus Efi, but carbs are on their way out, just like in cars and trucks, Kawasaki really needs to step it up and start putting in efi, they are kinda dinosaurs anymore, but they are still proven machines that like abuse.