I don't know about the magazines, but the one mud shootout I saw an Arctic Cat 650 with the Kawasaki V-twin engine won. Can't beat 13" of ground clearance for that. It is true that those things can't handle the fast turns like a Prairie though, but everything is a trade off.

 

People of the mid west polaris arctic cat and bombardier are like a 3rd world countries they are at the bottom of the food chain. Do you all favor them because they are the home team or is it that they must be practicaly giving them to you . Also not that I am a huge yamaha fan but even the grizzly is twice the quad that the 700 pooplaris and at least 5 times better tha a/c and those canadian bombers. Also the A/C 650 is the OLD prarie 650 motor and the rest of there motors are suzukis old ones that are in bad need of of fine tuning.

 

ok i never herd of pooplaris... ok mdewitt71 you should agree with me on this y buy the japs quads? buy polaris there mad proudly in the USA!

 

american made piece of ****

 

Do you really think that Jap quad as you refer to is made in japan some of it yes most of it no and polaris even imports some of its stuff from overseas. My eiger was put togeather on the east coast so keep supporting an inferior product. my BIKE COST LESS TO BUY AND WAY LESS TO FIX SINCE IT NEVER SEEMS TO BREAK DOWN.

 

i'm not saying anything bad about the foreign makers. they make good bikes, all of the companies make good quality bikes. i don't know how this got so off topic. i grew up riding honda's, and used to bash polaris back when they were mainly 2 stroke chain driven machines. then they came out with the sportsman in 96 and revolutionized the utility atv market. whether you like polaris or not you have to admit the sportsman changed things. we got one 2 years later and it's an awesome machine. great power, smooth riding, and very sporty. i'm not dissing kawi i am actually hoping my dad gets a Brute Force here soon. i just don't understand how prairie owners can sit back and bash IRS machines. about the only advantage the SRA has is being able to take turns quickly and slide the rear end around. I'm a big fan of IRS and unless i get a pure sport quad in the future i'd have to have IRS for my utility quad, it's so much better than SRA, as has been proven by all the makers now offering it.

i rode a new 04 AC 650 LE recently and it's an awesome machine. didn't think the motor was that impressive when i rode it, but it only had like 100 miles on it and wasn't broke in yet, i'm sure it'll wake up.

 

I am about as "MAD PROUD" of being an American as you can get after all Im fighting a war in Iraq for my second time, but I still dont really like the Polaris Sportsman. I have 2 of the 500 HO right now here in Iraq. I use them for pulling security around our Forward Operating Base (FOB) at night. It gets stuck pretty easy in sand and we have a good size gravel pile here and it got stuck there too. Seems a little low geared to. Plus the carbs on both are always flooding out. Im not sayingthey are junk, i really like the way they look and ride but I think I will stay away from Polaris and go with either Kawa, Yamaha, or Honda.
I appreciate all the insight, I read these every chance i get and am looking forward to getting back to the goods ol USA and getting some for my wife and i to play with. Plus Im am gonna use mine for hunting as well.
THANKS and keep the reviews coming.

 

Yeah this did get off topic but as long as we all stick together in the end and defend each other if need be then IT REALLY DOES NOT MATTER! Even though I am guilty of being involved in this threads off topic argument I would probably still like almost all of the people on this forum. No matter what we ride as long as we can agree that riding itself and the friends and family that we enjoy it with is truly what makes spending a majority of our time and money doing what we love to do worth it.

 

Regarding magazine reviews:

The manufacturer who made the biggest ad buy/equipment loan/free trips and stuff with said publication will get the most flattering review. The manufacturer who made the smallest ad buy/equipment loan/free trips and stuff will get the less flattering reviews.

Unless the publication takes no ad money, free stuff or test items from the manufacturers the review should be taken with a HUGE grain of salt.

You honestly think a mag will give a bad review to ATV Brand A if Brand A has just made a huge ad buy in their publication?

Do your research, ride them and pick the one that best fits your needs.

 

They are years behind the Japanese manufacturers in reliability and quality. Right now as far as quads go, American-made doesn't mean anything good.