I have a duramax diesel in my truck. 310hp/605 lb/ft of torque. I love the power but I agree with those who say they're not practical for quads. Without the turbo it would suck. They are heavy- mine has aluminum heads and it's still heavy. My truck will take off pretty good but only after the turbo winds up. It's a little better if you brake stand it but I didn't buy it to go fast I bought it to haul-which it does well.
I'd rather have the instant power of my gasser in a quad. I also think the gasser quads have plenty of pulling power and that they'll run out of traction before they run out of torque. If you need more off-road pulling power get a tractor. That's my opinion.

 

They would be great for desert race and cross country if they spent some money developing the engines. Go read about what happened before they banned them from indy lol. They didnt win but only because of a caution or restart something right before the end of the race (they werent good at taking off).

 

The polaris diesel quad was speciffically made for farm work , people tried to ride them on the trails , If I ever came upon them I would pass them and roost them with mud for making me smell thet diesel fuel JUST JOKING! But I do hate riding behind the 2 strokes , must be the polaris diesel didnt pan out too well. Does anyone have one and how did it hold up?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

in regards to the deisel atv the polaris sportsman is the only one i know of.....i got the chance to ride one...34 mph flat out.....if speed is a factor one could have gotten a regular sportsman 500 then...the deisels were built to withstand a bomb attack...the rear driveshafts are like that of a fullsize pickup truck with u joints slipjoints and about an inch or more in diameter...the deisel sounded like it was going to fly apart which isnt to surprisiing considering its only a single.....its sounded like a piped snowmobile at idle...pretty cool but stinky

 

after writing my reply i read the others...the one i rode is my neighbors..it has 3500 miles on itnothing went wrong..just routine maintenance fluids grease and one drive belt at 3000...it is definitely a unique quad....it pulls like hell

 

COMPRESSION is a major shortfall of the diesel ATV engine. Diesel Engines run much higher compression then gas engines and With a smaller engine theres less metal around those cylinders which could cause reliability issues. Ive heard mixed reviews about the polaris diesel. Heard when it runs its a hauling work horse but a few people I've talked to said it had serious reliability issues with the motor.

 

Special Forces, Recon, Seals and the like are experimenting with different ways to do business. They need small, fast vehicles that can be stuffed into a helicopter or C-130 and taken anywhere in an instant. Sure, they'll start out with what ever is available in the civilian market, then start looking for ways to further improve and tailor to what they really need. The KLR-250 was used before the KLR-650, and now the quads. The 650 is just now getting the make-over. I'm sure there are more to come.

The last thing you want is to run out of fuel far out in the field, surrounded by diesel vehicles....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img] The ultimate goal is not to carry extra fuel, but to carry a syphon hose instead.

 

I seen a diesel Polaris on ebay onct. It's top speed was right around 25 the guy said. That would suck.

 

The march dirtwheels had a shootout between the Polaris MV and the little dune buggy the military uses that is basically a re-arranged grizzly with a roll cage and steering wheel. . It was a good article.

 

theyre generally not high horsepower, just really, reaaaallly high torque. like a HP to torque ratio like 1:3