It's a good ATV but lets not get carried away.

 

Outrage, try the Suzuki dealer out in Wasilla, I believe it is called CC. Another member bought one from them and I think he said they were very nice not sure about knowledgeable.

If you are ticked about the sales wait till you have to deal with parts and service departments, learn to right 850 dollars alot in you checkbook, they are the reason a I bought a manual and started working on my quads.

As for suzuki4ever's comment about not seeing them again or much after purchase I have to say all things eventually need servive or parts and if you do not know how to do it yourself you are in trouble. I have been using the parts counter at Yamaha long before I bought a Yamaha for my brother-n-law who lives in the bush and they have always had what I was sent for and the price is what you expect for a dealer(high) but it is in stock when it is needed. I can not say that for Suzuki as they only know to say "nope, do not have it in stock but I can order it for you and it will be a couple of weeks unless you want to pay to have it expresse shipped" and again that is only for that particular dealership I have not tried the one in the Valley. I bought my King Quad and Katana from Steve at Yamaha when he worked for Suzuki and I have found him to be very truthful and holds nothing back about the a machines lesser points. Either way I do not think you will be dissapointed with either machine it will just boil down to price and how the dealership treats you now and later when you have to work done on it or if you decide in another purchase.

I have been treated great by those two salesman and will continue to buy from them. Good Luck. AlaskaBoy.

 

AlaskaBoy thanks for the info. I understand what you are saying but I think the Vinson is the quad for me. No I don't currently know how to do major work on ATVs but if it comes down to a lost of $$$ I guess I'll learn. Both my Dad and my brother are pretty good at working on theirs so I'm sure they can help out. One good thing though, since I'm in the military I get to move again in about another 3 years. The Suzuki dealer here may not be the best here but they can't be bad all over. To bad Suzuki didn't have the Yamaha's staff, it would be a perfect world. I still can't belive how nice they were. I went there when they were busy but they still found a way to come over and help me out without me waiting to long. When I went to the Suzuki dealership it was the opposite. I was the only one in the shop and it took the guy over 20 min. before he came over and told me everything I already knew. I asked him a question and he didn't even have a clue. If only I could have my cake and eat it too.

Off the subject. Do you know where I can get an ATV trailer around here? I called a few places today and no one could help. I guess if I can't find one or even a used one I'll have to get one from your guys at Yamaha. I just got a hitch put on my van but they didn't have the wiring harness but said they would have it this week some time. Once I get that fixed I can get a trailer and I'm almost there.

Oh yeah, one good thing about Suzuki they said they had two 2003 models left and that they would cut me a deal. He said $600 off but I think I can get him to do better than that once I'm ready to buy. I guess I'll get the trailer from Yamaha and drive to Suzuki to pick up the Vinson. Kind of stupid huh?

Okay, since I'm asking all these questions here's another. Do you know where I can get a good helmet or a good price? There's some cheap ones here on base for $89 but they feel a little heavy.

Last question. Where's the best places to ride? I drove around Sunday to look at places but most of the places seemed a little flat.

Thanks again Alaskaboy.

 

creaid someone seems agree with me. Take a look at the out come of the comparison below.


http://www.atvrideronline.com/tested/100_0306_showdown/

 

Outrage,

If you are only going to be here for 3 more years I would go ahead and get the Vinson from them but I would see about getting some more off the price as the 2005 comes out in a couple of months or so. The reason I say this is because even though the customer service sucks you will not have to see a dealer again for along time as every manufacture builds quality quads and if you take care of them they will go along time before a major work is needed. Yes, SUZUKI4EVER, that goes for Yamaha too.

I found Polaris has KBC helmets that are 40% off and I picked up one for 78 dollars, it is a MX helmet and it says Polaris on it several times but I do not care. I am trying to get my son to wear a helmet all the time so I bought it, goes with my snowmachine in case people rag on me about riding Yamaha and wearing Polaris gear. Even with the discount Yamaha gave me there it was still going to run me over a hundred for the same helmet except it said KBC.

Trailer? Did you try SAM'S Club? They sell 2 place trailers off and on. Priced around 700 to 800 the last time I checked a couple of years ago. What price's have you been quoted so far? White Spruce has trailers too.

Riding areas that are not flat? Yes I do know several and heard of a couple of others that I want to try. The only thing is all the trails that are not flat are covered in deep snow, these are the ones up by Eureka and Petersville and off the Denali highway. This last one has lots of trails you can go on and go for miles and miles and see not a soul. Lots of scenery and Caribou, Moose and Bears to look at and in September Moose opens up Brown bear is open year round i believe now in Unit 13 and the Caribou are by permit only and you have to live here for ever and a day to get one now or just be a real good liar on the application [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]. There is some lakes up there that have fat Graying and Rainbows that I want to go after this summer. So, until late may to the first of june it is Jim Creek, I am assuming this is the area you checked out? After you cross the river and head back towards the glacier there is trails that cut off to the left and go up the mountains. Other then that it is mostly flat with swamps to cross and rolling trails thru the woods, it is a nice outing when you do not have alot of time to go further north. There is trails down south but I have never rode there or know anybody down there to show me.

You mention about Suzuki not having Yamha's staff, well they used to. But now they work at Yamaha. Let me know what you think and like I have said several times I am open to go riding and I usually have the weekends off( i work nights and get off at 6am on saturday but I make it a full day before I pass out of exhaustion). AlaskaBoy.

 

Suzuki4ever,

I went to that site you listed and what is it I am supposed to be looking at? I saw they tested the Bruin and when I went to the Suzuki reviews it listed the Vinson manual shift. Was there something I missed? AlaskaBoy.

 

Deff get the vinson 500. The kodiaks have been having many problems with the cluches. Also the four wheel drive on the 500 is much more reliable. So I would get the 500. good luck

 

Racer154,

I have not heard of any clutching problem other then the occasional wet belt to the breather tube that was an easy fix. What have you read about them that I am missing? AlaskaBoy.

 

alaska boy the artical is called the smokey mountain shootout. But if you copy and paste that address it will take you right to it. There is a copmarison of 5 open class quads and the ac 500i and the vinson. OUt of the 7 the vinson came in 3rd and the grizz 4th. Thats all.

 

Racer where are you getting your info from? Do you know what you are talking about?