I thought one would be good, until I saw and diesel Polaris, about 6 years ago. It was an absolute
dog, and a noisy one at that. It had lots of diesel smoke to go along. After that I decided that would
be the last machine I would ever buy. The guy that had it hated it.

 

My Ute has independent suspension, and it works great in my opinion.

 

18hp is correct according to this artical. It sounds about right for the size and you must remember that with diesels it's the torque that counts not the bhp.

My Polaris is based on a Sportsman and has indepent suspension! It is also capable of 43mph top speed (that's when the rev limiter cuts in) so I don't know what was done to the diesel Polaris' that were sold in the US to make them so slow.

At 60kph or just over 37mph these new diesel quads don't seem to be as fast as my old Polaris!

 

INTERESTING

 

That ones a bit "kit car" in appearance.

This looks a little more professional.

 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ranchers and Farmers are advertising all over the place looking for some of those older Polaris diesel ATVs (offering top dollar) and will be the ones who will buy the new Diesel Arctic Cat when it appears - just because it uses a type of fuel that they already have - non taxed off road diesel (red dye) for their tractors and other farm equip. If you have one, just try advertising it in a local paper (if you live in a rural area) or on the Internet. You might be shocked by the $$ you are offered.

 

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Ranchers and Farmers are advertising all over the place looking for some of those older Polaris diesel ATVs (offering top dollar) and will be the ones who will buy the new Diesel Arctic Cat when it appears - just because it uses a type of fuel that they already have - non taxed off road diesel (red dye) for their tractors and other farm equip."

I have never seen this happen in my area and I'm a farmer myself. Polaris had a tough time moving these things when they were new. There was just not enough people that wants a straight work quad. Look at Bombs Traxter. A SUPER work quad and nothing more. They dropped the line because not enough people were interested in a straight work quad.

IMHO, Polaris had a GREAT idea, but it was a **** poor design. Is AC going to be any better? Lets just say I have my doubts. If I don't see a snail hanging off of the exhaust pipe I will really have my doubts!!!
There just isn't a big enough market for one of these things in the US. World wide? If they do it right, you bet. I don't think they will get it right though.

 

I was wondering when Harley Davidson is going to make an ATV with their new 96 V Twin motor?

 

My home town is in the bread basket of farming and ranching, although I am not a farmer or rancher, nor do I have any experience in these areas. The local Polaris dealer has been swamped with calls from farmers and ranchers begging that Polaris make a diesel powered Ranger and pestered for used diesel Polaris ATVs. I searched and found one Polaris diesel ATV for sale on the Internet (Nebraska - a used 1999 model for $3,000) and none on Ebay. There were numerous hits from both sources for all other types of "gas powered" Polaris ATVs.

Granted, they are not sporty or fast, but since they can run on non-taxed fuel (and, according to one post above, run 'forever'), someone must consider them valuable. I don't know how many were produced or sold, but there doesn't seem to be many out there available.

 

Seems like a natual progression to me [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]