I see a lot of people in the forum saying to buy anything but Polaris because they aren't any good. Even with so many people saying that, 1 out of every 5 sold in the whole world is a Polaris. They can't be <u>that bad</u>! Since I have arthritis in almost every joint in my body I need the Cadillac ride I get from a Sportsman. That doesn't mean it's the right quad for everyone. It's just first on my list.

It's refreshing to hear the truth for a change. Brand isn't that big of a deal, but I like to buy American which limits my options. Some Japanese brands are made here too and if they meet my needs I'll seriously consider them. Every major brand has good machines and an ocassional lemon. If they make a million good ones and ten bad ones, you're going to hear about the 10 bad ones. I think that if you can find the options you need, buy it. And do your maintenance if you want it to last. I see a higher percentage of 10-15 year old ATVs in service than I do cars. As long as it's not a Chinese POS, there's no reason why it shouldn't serve you well for years.

If I sit on an ATV or test ride it and it just doesn't feel right, I know I won't be happy riding it all day. People rarely mention how an ATV feels, or if it fits them physically. The replies in the forum are usually just something like, "A 450XXX is the best possible quad in the world and is the most perfect one for all trail conditions. You should buy it." If that was true they wouldn't make anything else.

I agree with the Cliff note: No one can decide for you.

 

My guess would be for polaris then Arctic cat.

if you look on every brand forum on this site, you'll see that every major manufacturer has problems. Can't figure out why people dog the Polaris out so much, must be jealousy

let see...i'm faster, stronger, heavier, i pull more, i haul more, look pretty ugly from the front but bad azz from the back (which is the side most of you will see)

if i was on an inferior bike, I'd probably dog em out too!

 

Jumbo... can you give us some links to all of these quotes? Are they on the Polaris website or some place else... I'm curious to see the statistics on all of the other brands.


Polaris has only been makin atv's for 23 years... so yer close on that one...

They've only been putting automatic tranny's in their atv's since 1996... (they were the first with IRS, EBS, FI and auto tranny's btw...)



It's nice to see the good ol US of A leading the pack when it comes to inovation... but it just plain sucks that a lot of our parts are cheap and we usually just stamp "Made in the USA" to get people to buy them...


All quads have their issues... Find the best deal for your money with the best dealer in your area, and if you're not happy... or it turns into a lemon... All I can say is... meh... you tried... not everyone wins...

 

Polaris has had auto tranny's in their quads before 1996, I believe 1985 was the first year of their Trailboss 250 which was fully auto. Kawasaki followed in 1996 with their Prairie 400 4x4, then Yamaha with the Grizzly 600 in 1998.

-Krait

 

yeah, you're right... Damn wording on the Polaris site confused me. When they stated that they came out with the sportsman in `96 they made it sound like it was their first atv with the PVT... I see on a different part of their website that they started to put the PVT on their ATV's in `83 and the first production ones came out in `85. (kind of confusing... )

"1983
With their background in snowmobile design, Polaris incorporated familiar features as two-stroke engines and the Polaris Variable Transmission (PVT), an automatic transmission. The PVT gave the Polaris ATV an advantage over competitors because it was simpler to handle. The engineers also added unique features, including floorboards (instead of motorcycle-like foot pegs) and MacPherson strut suspension.
Dean Hedlund, ATV development supervisor in charge of trouble shooting new products, explained hot the floorboard innovation came about. "we developed a full floorboard concept because a couple of guys were out and they happened to slip off the conventional floor pegs that everybody else was using and hurt their ankles. So we said, this isn't right, so we put a big floorboard on it and since then, the industry has followed our lead".
In March 1985, Polaris's first production ATV's started rolling off the assembly line"

 

Ya, no worries I had one of those 1985 Trailboss 250's back when, what a pile. But I bought it used, and of course it was OLD, and most was just maintenance stuff. Not much fun tho, heavy, weak, no low range, I had much more fun on my Kawasaki 200 trike with no suspension, LOL. That thing was a blast, manual clutch, lightweight, no brakes. Good 'ole days when a poor country kid had fun on anything with a motor that wasn't a tractor...lol. Heck I would have fun driving the tractors pulling hay wagons @2mph lol.

Geez, I make myself sound old. Not there yet...

-Krait

 

heh... I had a beat up old `78 suzuki 125 dirtbike when I was a kid... the air filter was kept on with the bottom of a pop can and 2 wires... I use to jump that thing like it actually had a suspension... my ankles were always sore...

same as you... poor country boy that wanted to drive anything besides the tractor... Heck, I use to run our International lawn mower around like it was a golf cart lol... that thing was fast for a lawn mower...

 

Lol, I used to have at the same time as the Popo a '79 Yamaha DT250 'enduro' dirt bike, the carb was a piece together from various other carbs, leaked like a sieve out of a couple vents that weren't supposed to be there, had dirt tires on it, no rear brake, bearings in hubs were shot, so every time I rode it the front tire would rub on the fork shaft, which was alum so it slowly wore a groove in the fork shaft. 2-stroke tho, that thing was fast, I never had it up to full speed as the handling couldn't keep anywhere near with the motor. Traded the Kawi 200 trike for it straight up, sold it for more than I paid for the Kawi so I did good I think lol.

Oh, and the Kawi had no brakes either, used the tranny as a brake, 5th gear tapped out would pull the clutch, shift down to 2nd, drop it listen to that tranny complain...no air filter either empty airbox lol. No wonder water/dirt would get in the carb every winter and clog it up...

-Krait

 

I had an 86 honda atc 200s that i rode for 3 years w/ no brakes. Eventually you get good at riding w/o brakes. The last year that i rode it the starter rope assy. was broke and rather than fix it i just push started it and hopedth at it never died in a bad situation.(Kinda hard to push start in really muddy conditions!LOL)

 

Personally, I think all of the manufacturers have great quads these days. (Major manufacturers that is) Yamaha has power steering, Honda great reliability, Kawasaki massive torque, Suzuki's new King Quad is a great all around machine, Arctic Cat has the best clearance, Can-Am the fastest machines. I got the Polaris Sporstman X2 as it was, for me, the best all around machine to meet my needs. It's been very reliable, has great storage under the front rack, good ground clearance, towind, and weight carrying, excellent AWD system, and was a couple grand cheaper than the Can-Am at the time. To each his own.