I had a chance to ride several machines this weekend at a BBQ which included my own 450 Kodiak, a Kawi Prairie 360, a Kawi BF 750 FI and a 700 Grizz w/o EPS.

Here's my take on the bunch.

Of the big bores the 750 Kawi is the most powerful of the two. Tons of torque and I would say probably the highest top speed. It feels as fast as the Outlander 800 I drove a month ago. The Grizzly also has lots of power but is out powered by the BF.

The Grizz feels more secure and handles a little better in the winding trails than the BF and the seating position for my 6' 1" frame feels a little better but the BF has a softer seat. Overall both appear to be excellent machines that would perform as expected from a large displacement machine.

Both my 450 and the Prairie 360 aren't anywhere near the power or speed of the big bores but my 450 is significantly faster than the Prairie and the ergonomics feel better for me. The Prairie has a softer seat but the SRA is a little rougher and it's less forgiving over the bumps in the trails. The Prairie is also a little sparse on "bling" but then it is the least expensive of the bunch.

I didn't have a chance to put any of them through any real mud tests but I know my 450 can keep up with the best of them in the messy stuff.

So my conclusion of the four machines is this:

The BF is the fastest of the bunch (and probably needs the most fuel) but overall I might choose the Grizzly over it especially if the Grizz had the EPS since the one I rode this sping with the EPS was sweet. But the BF was a excellent machine to ride as well.

Obviously my choice between the Kodiak and Prairie will be the Kodiak, but the Prairie is a good machine for a really good price and has the essentials like diff lock and low range. You do give up 61cc's, liquid cooling and IRS as well as some bling and it's not a Yamaha, but it would be a good comparison machine between the Grizz/Kodiak 350 and is still cheaper.

As for the big bores, the power is fun but mostly unnecessary in a utility quad and comes at a cost. If I wanted to go faster I would probably get a sport quad.

But that's just my opinion for what it's worth. I drove a new YZ450F dirt bike last week and it scared me a little. Wow!

 

Great writeup. So you say the new Brute has a softer seat than the new Grizz? Thats interesting, I know the Prairie 650/700's and Brute 650SRA have seats like rocks. The Grizz 700 seat is supposed to be almost as soft as the Outlanders, and they(Outlanders) are pretty soft.

And yeah, most dirt bikes have a much higher adrenalin factor than 'ute quads do!