Just wondering how much of a performance difference there is from the Grizzly 660 and the 700. I am looking at a used 660 or a new 700. Any thoughts would be great!

 

well I dont think that there wwill be a lot of performance difference between the 660 and 700 but with a new 700 you can get the power steering which would be nice on a big bore ute because of the size difference. Plus the fuel injection would be nice in the winter months especially.

 

We have owned three Grizzly 660s, and now own two Grizzly 700s. The short answer for performance difference is ... 26cc worth.

The 700 is not a lot more powerful than the 660, but it is a much more refined ATV than the 660. The engine is a lot smoother than the vibrating 660 was, and feels torquier. Center of gravity is lower, and stability is much better on the 700. Handling is better both because of the lower center of gravity, and because of mass centralization. Suspension performance is about the same. Steering on the 660s was really quite good, ... until you rode a 700. The Grizzly 700 just plain has the best steering of any utility ATV. Overall the 700 is a significantly better ATV, but if the difference in cost is a deal breaker the 660s are still better than most other utility quads.

DV

 

The ground clearance is better on the 700s as well because of the new a-arm design... With the stock setup you can go much deeper in water than the 660... Over all perfomance wise though... the 660's will keep up with 700s with out much trouble... You're arms and shoulders will be a lot more sore if you're doing the 4wd on the 660 instead of the 700... Power Steering makes all the difference...

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Hebs

The ground clearance is better on the 700s as well because of the new a-arm design... With the stock setup you can go much deeper in water than the 660... Over all perfomance wise though... the 660's will keep up with 700s with out much trouble... You're arms and shoulders will be a lot more sore if you're doing the 4wd on the 660 instead of the 700... Power Steering makes all the difference...</end quote></div>

They seem to have the same 11.8 ground clearance 660 Grizzly vs 686 Grizzly specs.

Never rode "any" ATV, even the older full time 4x4 models that could make my ams or shoulders sore, but I rode a few that would make my rear end feel numb,thats for sure.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

 

The clearance on the web page/spec sheet is down the center. The A arms have more clearance because of their J design. I don't think its much...
I love the response of the 700..I only had the bruin 350 before and its like upgrading from a mobile home to a mansion lol

 

The maximum ground clearance may be the same, but the 700 has better ground clearance because of the shape of the A-arm design. The 700 looks sort of like an upside down wide "U" because the A arms are curved. The 660 has traditional straight A-arms so it's like the bottom of an "A". Having those rounded corners gives you a little more ground clearance past the center of the ATV, between the center and the wheels.

Once you spend time on a 700 you will understand what we mean by ease of steering. I used to have a Brute Force 750 and although it didn't seem like it at the time, the steering on the Brute was very stiff compared to the 700 and that does add up to less fatigue at the end of a long, hard ride over rough terrain.

On the other side of the coin, comparing the 700 to a 660 or a King Quad 700, both the 660 and the KQ steer easy (in 2WD) on flat ground but over rough terrain they are very susceptible to bump steer, where hitting a rock or root wrong with one wheel could jerk the bars hard to where it could hurt your wrists or cause an accident due to the sudden change of steering direction (I know two people who crashed 700 King Quads on different rides, different trails when going downhill and hit a large rock unexpectedly with one wheel). In both cases the machine steered full lock one way and they flew off over the front the other way as the machine turned suddenly and rolled over. BTW, neither one of those guys have their KQ's any more, one now has an 800 Sportsman and the other has a 700 Arctic Cat.

Since they steer so easily one tends to lighten up on their handlebar grip but when you hit that obstacle on one side of the machine unexpectly if you aren't holding on tight you might have a problem. The electronically assisted steering (EPS) on the 700 Grizzly dampens that effect significantly while keeping the machine easy to steer (not just on flat ground but on any kind of terrain)...

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: TLC

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Hebs



The ground clearance is better on the 700s as well because of the new a-arm design... With the stock setup you can go much deeper in water than the 660... Over all perfomance wise though... the 660's will keep up with 700s with out much trouble... You're arms and shoulders will be a lot more sore if you're doing the 4wd on the 660 instead of the 700... Power Steering makes all the difference...</end quote></div>



They seem to have the same 11.8 ground clearance 660 Grizzly vs 686 Grizzly specs.



Never rode "any" ATV, even the older full time 4x4 models that could make my ams or shoulders sore, but I rode a few that would make my rear end feel numb,thats for sure.[img][/img]</end quote></div>


As the other guys mentioned... I was referring to the a-arms when I said better GC... (note how I didn't say more. )

As for never riding to the point that your arms and shoulder muscles are sore the next day... all I can say is you definitely weren't riding hard enough... (not to mention having to get off and push and pull those big bores when they get stuck... ) Then all I can say is you haven't ridden hard enough... Just 20 minutes of straight wrestling the handle bars in 4wd dif-lock, hopping back and forth over your quad to switch directions if which way the tires point and pulling the quad towards you as hard as you can to try to get those tires to grab, will give you a work out... I don't care what shape you're in.

(btw, when I say sore, I'm not talkin "laid up in bed" sore... I'm talkin "a good work out at the gym" sore...)

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Just 20 minutes of straight wrestling the handle bars in 4wd dif-lock</end quote></div>

WOW where do you ride, I think my friend used his diff lock maybe for a minute in a year once for a bad section about 30 ft long on a long 100 ft mud run. The regular 4wd get him through most everything with his 660.

But I agree diff lock almost makes steering impossible,but usually its only needed for very short periods of time.

 

Where I ride there is nothing but mud... Swamps mostly... There's tons of rutted out mud holes that we ride thru. Your normal 4wd doesn't work well in these because there's always a front tire off the ground. There's this one that stretches for about 35-40 feet as it bends around a corner. It took me 20 minutes to get to the other end... I didn't even make it out... had to have a buddy pull me the last 4 feet or so...

I use dif-lock about 30% of the time, most of the times I go riding... I was in a really nasty swamp last weekend. We're going back this coming weekend. I'll snap some photos...