I'm sorry to post a newbie advice question ...

My wife really wants a quad. She loved riding a relative's 7 years ago outside Capitol Reef. I am pretty sure it was a Grizzly but my son-in-law thinks it was a Honda Rubicon. Anyway, we are trying to do this as cheaply as possible. After doing a fair amount of research our top pick is the Kodiak 450.

I was hoping to just get the base model, but people seem to like EPS and I guess that gives you a locking diff as well. Would it be a poor decision not to get it? We have sports cars and think we would be fine without it, and have read that EPS can be too touchy at speed, but hard to know for sure. Of course, for a little more we could get a 700 base. Really don't want to make the jump to the 700 EPS though. One post I saw said better to get the 450 EPS than the 700 base.

We drove an old Suzuki KQ400 yesterday and my wife said it didn't seem as fun as the one she drove years ago. I don't see how she can make a comparison to something that long ago, and driving around a neighborhood vs off road. But I'm a little worried she will find the Kodiak boring too. I've heard the Kodiak is more nimble than others though, and I think it would have enough power for us. We are old and don't plan to do anything too crazy, I think anything would probably do. But she's pretty picky.

 

If you are buying new, try one with and one without EPS at the dealers. Newer Yamahas seem to be thin on the ground near us, which means I don't know how newer Yam 450s steer but some bikes need power steering and some don't. Suzuki 500/750s are quite light on the steering without EPS, Honda 420s are very heavy, though odd ones aren't, no idea why. Older 450 Yams always seemed a bit low geared to me, they may have got ratios better now. Suzuki 400 autos are the same.

 

ive owned 3 honda quads and they all are very easy to maintain and cheap to buy i would suggest a Honda rancher 420 there easy to maintain and fun to ride u could find some used for around $2000 to $5000CA, that are still good for. any Honda quad wont leave you stranded or a big debt

 

Thanks, interesting. Part of the problem is my local dealer doesn't do test drives. And there aren't many used ones around, although one 450 EPS did just pop up nearby. But none without EPS around.

When you say low geared, are you talking about the drivetrain I assume?

 

I was initially leaning towards that Honda but no used ones around now and none of the base models have an auto trans, you have to get EPS as well and it's $1k more than a comparable Yamaha. But if a used one pops up I'll definitely check it out.

 

I would avoid Honda 420 autos. I maintain a lot and they are over complex, a manual box with computerised override and hydraulic double clutch, as opposed to the simple belt drive CVT of the competition. Also as I wrote above, without EPS they are heavy on the steering. By "low geared" I mean the older auto Yams and Suzuki 400s always seem to be revving hard for the speed you are doing. On road, I would have been changing up on a manual at lower speeds than the belt drive does. Suzuki 500s and the old Yam 550 seemed to have better matched ratios. Odd that your Yam dealer hasn't a few used Yams about that you could try. Our boss has just bought in an old model Honda 420 Auto (I know I have just slated them, but I wasn't buying) from the local Arctic Cat dealer and said they have a shed full of used Artic Cats, covered in dust.

 

Thanks, I wondered about the DCT reliability.

 

How old would you go with a 450?

 

to be fair the Honda's auto transmission is fairly reliable. There is a "shift spring pin" inherited from the Honda 300s which worked fine on older Hondas but keeps breaking on the autos, and we have had the odd wiring problem, broken wires are a nightmare to trace on modern Hondas. However no major computer problems, unlike the EPS. We have had two EPS computers fault code as "internal ECU faults" and a new ECU for EPS is £500. Our local Honda dealer said he has just bought in one with a failed ECU and he is fitting manual steering instead of buying a new ECU.

As for how old, doesn't matter, a very clean Kodiak 450 from 2005 may be a better bet than a beat up, high hours, newish one, though power steering didn't come in until the newer models, I think Suzuki still don't offer it on 400 KQ. Incidentally, had to fix an old Arctic Cat 400 yesterday, boss won't usually touch them but this one came from his cousin, so had his arm twisted, it has a Kymco variator so probably Kymco engine, and it is way higher geared than old Kodiaks and Suzuki 400s, you can toddle along at low revs and quite a high speed with that.

 

Thanks. I've seen other mentions of transmission issues but mostly the equivalent Honda is $1k more than a Yamaha new, and I've just heard that in general quality has declined. No used Hondas around either. My dealer, who sells Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki, claims that Suzuki is the most reliable, Yammy second, and Honda not so good these days, but I think he's trying to unload all the Suzukis they have in stock. Unfortunately Yammy has the worst warranty of the 3, but I've heard Honda hasn't been so good about theirs. But those may be one-offs.