Im new to the sport but i got hooked on my first ride! My uncle has a Grizzly 350 which was nice but im looking for just a little more and want the fully auto fuel injected and 4x4. and IRS so i was lookin at the grizzly 450 or this sportsman 500 by polaris the guy showed me at the local shop

Honestly i dont really know much about either make or model was wondering if i could get your guys input. I went to go look and the guy showed me the Polaris which caught my attention had has all the options i wanted.
I have a budget though i was looking to spend about $6,000 im fine with buying a leftover as well.

its not something im going to be able to ride all the time so let me know what u guys think the pros and cons r between these to models i guessing all u guys are yamaha fans but what are the things i should know b4 makin this purchase

 

The 450 is going to be much smaller and lighter physically. The Polaris will be much more powerful, faster, more comfortable.

Quite a bit of difference between them, you are gonna have to try them out and see which one feels better to you. Also, the Grizzly 450 is not fuel injected, the Grizzly 550 is.

What kind of riding will you be doing with it?

Also, if you are a bigger guy, you will probably prefer the Polaris. If you are smaller you will probably prefer the Grizzly, average height size then its a toss up.

I haven't ridden a Sportsman 500 so not sure just how it rides, but I have ridden a Kodiak 450 a little bit and it was a nice compact light feeling machine. Since I am a smaller guy the Grizzly 450 felt great.

 

Asking this on the Yamaha forum will normally get you biased replies.

However I will give you my opinion on both machines. Firstly you won't find a FI 450 Yamaha. You will have to move up to the 550 and that gets you into the larger chassis.

Both a friend of mine and my brother-in-law have had a Sportsman and one now drives a Honda and the other a Yamaha. They were disappointed with their performance and their reliability but things may be different now with their new stuff.

I like my Yamaha and so do six other people that I know that ride them. At our local quad show and mud bog competitions, the winners are normally always the Yami's or Brute Force's. A Suzi has come out on top a few times but I doubt a Polaris ever has.

Our local Yami dealer has had such good sales of quads that they couldn't attend this years show because they had no '08's left and only one '09.

Try to test ride each machine and buy the one you feel is best for you, as well as consider the dealership's reputation. I'm 6' 1", 215lbs and the 450 seems the right size for me. I've driven Grizzly 700's and a Outlander 800 and the CanAm seems to have too much bulk although it is definitely a rocket.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Both a friend of mine and my brother-in-law have had a Sportsman and one now drives a Honda and the other a Yamaha. They were disappointed with their performance</end quote></div>

So going to a much less powerful and slower OHV Honda with 3wd and weaker rear cable operated drum brakes felt like a performance improvement to them?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

Here are two Utility shootouts with the 450 and sp500 going at it with others.


http://www.atvmagonline.com/output.cfm?id=1220599

and

http://www.powersportsnetwork....rof_review.asp?code=85

Notice how the Honda placed, "Performance improvement"! LOL

 

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

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Both a friend of mine and my brother-in-law have had a Sportsman and one now drives a Honda and the other a Yamaha. They were disappointed with their performance</end quote></div>



So going to a much less powerful and slower OHV Honda with 3wd and weaker rear cable operated drum brakes felt like a performance improvement to them?[img][/img]



Notice how the Honda placed, "Performance improvement"! LOL</end quote></div>


I didn't say either one was all that smart! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]