We lost 80% of the good jobs in my whole county, because people weren't buying American. Every quad I ever bought was American-made and every car I ever bought was American or Canadian.

 

I like buying from amaerica to but the quality is worse then japan because it costs more to build. Japanese cars and atvs always outlast any american made atv or car. I like fords but i do see problems with mine and the new turbo diesel has let me down it takes off out of the blue. And my old popos were bad and i didint even abuse them that bad. Every atv i have owned has done better when i beat on it. When i drove like a baby on the popo it kept getin f ed up but when i rode it like i stole it it didint hav many problems. their made to be beat up so iduno.
ANd yes every brand has its ups and downs so people who are brand snobs are just ingnorant.!

 

Saying which quad is 'better' is purely subjective. Each one has its own strong and weak points. I have had bad luck with Polaris in the past, but there are plenty of ppl who swear by them and I would not hesitate to buy one today if I thought it was the best quad for me. I think all of the brands have good quality these days, and all of them can also give you a lemon from time to time, just happens.

That whole deal with Polaris challenging the competition, and no-one accepting, there is a lot more to it than most ppl think. The main reason no-one accepted was because Polaris wanted full rights to publish the results, and have control over what gets published and what doesn't, so basically they wanted to be able to avoid putting up results that had their quads failing or behind other manufacturers. Complete BS in my book, if you want to challenge the others, at least be honest about it, I can completely understand why no-one accepted the challenge. Polaris had it completely biased towards themselves.

Anyways, back on topic, all of them are good for different things, and for different ppl, generic questions such as which is 'better' is hard to answer.

-Krait

 

Where did you hear about Polaris wanting the rights to it? That wasn't in the copies I saw of the letters they sent to the CEOs, or anything else I read. I'm not saying you're wrong but this is the first thing I've heard like that in two years.

I agree that "best" is VERY subjective. Mine is the best for me and yours is probably the best for you. The only comparison I can make between brands is Polaris and Yamaha because almost everyone I ride with is on those two. We've had a lot less problems with our Polaris' than the Yamahas. The one exception being the 2-stroke Trailblazers where no-one ever checks the air filter, injection oil, or anything else all year. I blame the operaters not the quads, when they lose power and the engines crap out, but they blame the quads. The best quad for all of them would be the kind where they just sit on the back and don't wreck anything.

I hear good and bad about evey brand. Some people say Honda is the best, and other people say they're underpowered, among other things. Every brand is like that, but a lot of people cutting down certain brands have never owned them, or even ridden them. They just repeat what someone else says, true or not.

 

Yeah I hear that, also sometimes ppl get lemons and blame the whole design. It is rough getting a bad quad, but sometimes somebody forgot to tighten a bolt, or put loctite on. Just happens.

About the whole Polaris challenge thing, I knew some-one would ask where I heard, sorry to say I don't remember, it was a couple years ago so I don't really know. I do know I saw copies of the forms posted online, but yeah I can't prove where I saw it, so take it as you will, believe it or not. I don't think it really matters anyway, like I said I think all the brands have good quality and can also throw out lemons from time to time.

I have nothing against Polaris, I think they are great quads that have put out lots of innovation over the years. And the 2 Polaris's I owned, both of them were old '85 & '88 Trailbosses, and I bought them used, so yeah I don't exactly blame the quads. They were just old and getting worn out, altho I had much better reliability out of my '82 Kawasaki 200 trike. That thing was practically bombproof.

-Krait

 

Not knocking Polaris one bit, but that is the manufacturer that I have seen take the most abuse on other ATV forums for not being reliable. I've only ridden w/ one Polaris, and it has survived many roll overs/ and flips.

Buy whichever manufacturers big bore ATV and you should be fine. Many are aimed at particular things, IMO the Grizzly is the best all around, where a Can AM will excel in speed, a Polaris in comfort etc.

 

Very true, Polaris' are known for a very plush comfortable ride. Can-am's have a very potent motor with great high speed IRS handling to boot. Kawasaki has great power, at a much better price point than the Can-am's. Honda's are known for simplicity, durability and reliability, as well as great handling. Yamaha is known for reliability, with one of the best belt drive transmissions, 4wd systems, and diff-lock systems around. Suzuki is known as being similar to Yamaha feature-wise, at a better price point...also as creating the original '4-wheeled' atv. Arctic Cat's are known for being great offroaders, with tons of ground clearance and suspension clearance and great articulation due to no anti-sway bar.

Every one of those points is subjective tho, and one defining characteristic for one manufactuer does not mean that another manufacturer can't display the same traits. Just what I've seen and read and what ppl in general seem to view them as being.

-Krait