Recall on the Rancher it was for a weld. Look at the New Raptor, bent axles & a-arm problems & they have only released a very limited number of these quads. Polaris finally wised up & put good brakes on the new sp500HO.

One thing you can't dispute is who has the best resale, Honda. That might have been one reason your friend opted for the Rancher over the Kodiak.

 

A bent axle and bent a arm. there has not been many of these problems on the Raptors and no telling how they did it. Thje Raptor is awesome

 

My parents own 2 Honda trx-250, 1985 and 1986 They have never been back to the dealer once. The only repairs, a couple of batteries, tires,oil and filters. They have never adjusted the valves,cluthes,etc. The weakest point has been the front brakes. They never worked good after the first time the got wet. The older machines i believe gave them the rep. for realibity. All the Quad manufactors don't build that simple anymore. The more bells and whistles they put on them know, the more chanches something will break.

 

If the Kodiaks sells for $5600 what does the 400 Bigbears sell for down there?I know because they are air cooled,full time 4wd and gear shifted they do not cost as much as the Kodiaks up here.

 

Both are terrrific quads...I own a 00 Kodiak 4x4 and I've had the chance to ride a Rancher and I really liked it. The ES does seem like like it could be designed a little better, though. I hear of many problems that people have with it.
The kodiak has more power, great suspension, easy steering, and is 2 or 4WD at the push of a button.

The only problem I've had with the Kodiak after 7 months of hard abuse is a bad rear brake pad...twenty bucks and twenty minutes of labor fixed that problem.

As far as Hondas being more reliable than Yamaha...Nonsense. They are pretty much the same in my opinion. You should just try to ride both and then make your decision, They are both fine bikes. It really comes down to what features you like the best and which one just feels right.

 

There is no doubt out there that the Raptor is the new KING of the HILL in the sports quad catagory.

I would love to have one of those, maybe someday. Yamaha makes good stuff, not only quads but PWC, & snowmobiles.

Every new quad that comes out has some bug or defect that need to get worked out, some large some small.

If Yamaha was selling Kodiak for $5599 in March of this year, I would have one in my garage right now.