I am looking to buy my first ATV. I need it for: clearing driveway snow (blade to be added), pulling a 14ft Al boat and trailer (launching etc), dragging ice-fishing gear through snow. I have been told the Honda 500cc models are the best...by the Honda dealer of course. Any other suggestions for me?

 

i am a first time buyer too. thats true. hondas are very good-i was looking at the rancher AT or the yamaha kodiak. if you're going to get a honda, just watch your budget.

 

You can't go wrong with honda, kawasaki, yamaha, suzuki, and artic cat quads. They are pretty much bullet proof. If you are going to pull something small like your 14' aluminum boat, I would suggest at lease a 350cc, but more in the range of 400cc or greater. Since you mention pulling stuff through snow and ice, I would also make sure it is a 4x4. SRA or IRS will both do fine as well and a front diff locker would be helpful. I believe the following would be good for you.

Kawasaki: 360 prairie & 700prairie
Honda: Rincon 650, Rubicon 500, Forman 450, and Rancher AT 400
Suzuki: Vinson 500 and Eiger 400
Yamaha: Grizzly 660, Kodiak 450 and 400, Big Bear 400 and Bruin 350
Artic Cat: 650, 500 and 400

Polaris has come a long way in the last 4 years or so and their bikes are good as well. You might consider their sportsman 700, 600,500 HO and 400, or even their 330 and 425 explorer. I don't know anything about bombardie.

Good luck[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

get a rancher 350, you won't be disappointed.

 

I have a Honda 400 AT and it easily pulls my 19ft aluminum with a 130hp motor through beach sand!! It will more than pull your boat, the automatic tranny is awesome but for pulling I change to electric shifting mode.

 

You might want to consider the transmission on the machine while you are at it. Now I am not plugging Honda here, but I have to say the automatic/hydralic auto type transmission that Honda has on several of their models are a fresh idea over the belt drives. Now I have no experience with a quad with belt drive tranny's, but I do have some experience with snowmobiles, and they used to take a lot of maintenence. Only time will tell if the hondamatic will be the same. I can't help but think a torque converter and hydralic fluid design should hold up longer, but I am not an expert by any means, nor am I a mechanic or one who likes to do a lot of extraneous fixin and tweakin... Load them up, put gass in them, once in a while change the oil, and fix them when something breaks.. and not before then.

 

my uncle bought a prarie 650 (before it became a 700) and he was a fist time buyer also I talked him into the bigger bike and he loves it now.

he tows a trailer for yard work. trailer and supplies is about 200 pounds it tows that like its not there.

he is a hunter. he has towed a trailer with a 350lb animal and a 500lb animal and all his gear through the woods and again towed it like it wasn't there.

I've ridin it a few times and it has a lot of power.

I got it up to 50mhp on a dirt rode.

 

I perfer the CVT tranny's. I don't know about Dragginbutt, but I put thousands of miles on my snowmobiles and never have a problem with them... I didn't even know Virginia had snow... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] Even cars and SUV's are starting to us the CVT's.

By the way, this guy "redfin" hasn't logged on since his post, I bet he isn't going to be coming back to check our advice!

 

The big differences are
1 automatic or shift your own
2 irs or solid axle
3how the front differential engages.
4 styling or appearance.
these are the 4 big differences in the 4x4 quads, all are dependable if you buy a new one.
After you decide on those 4, you wont have many choices left to make.

 

catterman, I didn't always live in Virginia. I spent my formative years in Northern Illinois, and Wisconsin. I have to admit, my snowmobile days were in the VERY early years of the whole industry. Machines these days are very different, and that is why I prefaced my comments. I just don't have any experience with the new fangled stuff. I have heard all the horror stories of belts getting wet and slipping etc, and still others of breaking a belt and leaving a person stranded... but I have to admit I have never ran into a single person that can make those claims personally... it has always been second hand friend of a buddy, third cousin to my 2nd wife sort of thing...
I have great confidence that today's machines have been run through the ringer enough that I am sure the factories have worked out all the kinks and reliability is probably just as good as the hydraulic types...

The point I wanted to make is that there are choices, and if the machine is to be used for heavy pulling and such, they may want to consider the options. Now to my own way of thinking, I still think I'd prefer the fluid type, because I understand it... and deep down I would sleep better knowing I am not going to worry about it... I have no scientific data to prove my thoughts, it just makes me feel a little better inside. I am sure no matter what they decide to buy, they will get great service out of it....

Today's machines are so much better than the stuff we had when we were young.. back then, you had to be a mechanic, and you planned on spending a certain amount of time doing maintenence for every hour you got to ride. It was a given. I remember my first Maico... handled like a dream, but you had to constantly tweak it to keep it going. I then bought one of the first Honda 250 Elsinores in the midwest, it was like a dream come true... Heck, you didn't even have to clean off the mud from last week to go racing. Just gas her up, and clean up at the track. All my Euro bike friends used to chide me, but at the track, I'd grab a cool one, sit down and rest MY butt for the next moto, while they were all tweaking. By the second moto, they were already whipped, and I would go out there and whip their butts.