In Sept. issue of ATVAction they mentioned that in a short drag race that they were basically tied, but on the stat. sheet it reads;
Banshee 8.80 sec. Raptor 9.79 sec. I don't know about you, but that doesn't seem like a tie. I guess the customers won't ever get the truth.

 

Yes....very odd...and the numbers for the long run show the Raptor being roughly a half second quicker. Get this...the long run is just 2 seconds (roughly) longer, so the Raptor made up a second from the first timed point and even pulled away by another half second by the time it crossed the last timed point. 65mph (Raptor's conservative average speed assuming accelerating from 60 to 70 over the last part of the course)=343,200 feet traveled in 1 hour or 95.33 feet per second. So in the last 2 seconds (roughly) of the drag...the Raptor actually travels 143 more feet (remember 1.5 seconds) than the Banshee. Seem realistic?

 

well who gives a **** whos goes .3232 seconds faster....if your not going to drag race it then it realy doesnt matter...so much talk about this and its pretty stupid. i think the raptor should get a prize for the best looking quad out there....that thing is wicked looking

 

I also question the magazines saying they have not had enough area to "safely" test the Raptors top speed. Thats crazy, did you you the riding area they had? It was huge! SO maybe it is not the fastest quad after all. One thing though, we are going to know for sure in a month or so!

RoostKing...

 

yep, the reviews are all a bunch of bull, either way.

I don't know how to take it. It could be that they don't want to say that the Raptor is much faster in fear of hurting Banshee sales, or say that the Raptor is not much faster which would make all the Yamaha hype look stupid.

I'm sure that they could get an E'ton up to full speed just about anywhere that they tested, so I guess that you could be optimistic and say that it is so fast, they need a really good place to test it.

Has any of the magazines claimed to have checked top speed with a radar?

 

The latest shootout between these two show that the Raptor is only 1mph faster that the Banshee. WOW! Big deal! For the money you save by buying a Banshee you can turn it into a real screamer alot easier than it would be to hop up a 4-stroke. This is just another lame attempt to try to dethrone the Banshee as the king!!! For an 80's design it can still hold it's own with any quad made today and that is including the Raptor!!!

 

Yep, It sounds to me as though the magazines are trying very hard not to show that the Raptor has no real performance advantage over a Banshee or DS650 for that matter. Not good. I'm glad I didn't hop on the band wagon and sell my Banshee to buy a Raptor. Honestly, though If I were buying a quad right now it would be the raptor. Like the 4-stroke and reverse.

 

JY2276, you still don't get it do you?

Why would you say "This is just another lame attempt to try to dethrone the Banshee as the king!!!", when Yamaha builds them both. Yamaha has openly stated that they have no intent to discontinue the Banshee. They did realize, however, that the Banshee has limitations, especially in trails, woods, etc. They wanted an all new product that would appeal to a wide variety of riders and terrain. This is a line extension, not a replacement. It is intended to grow the ATV segment by selling to more consumers, perhaps even potential Polaris buyers.

Honda had the best all around quad in the 400ex, but the Raptor was designed to dethrone HONDA, not the Banshee.

 

I just can't understand all you guys on each others throats over who is better, the raptor or banshee. By the end of next month I will own both machines (Ordered a Black & white Raptor)And I can tell you one thing, Yamaha has been doing some great thing with the yz426's, yz250 etc. they are not going to let us down with the Raptor! Remember, it seems like Dirt Wheels & ATv Action are own by Honda. If it isn't red it's second rate. Look at the big joke 400ex (hi pro of the decade?)Lets be happy that Yamaha has two top rated high performance quads in there stable

 

Hey, where in Tucson do you ride? I have been to a few different areas and am always lookin for a riding partner. I live up north and ride along the Santa Cruz river.