What manufacturer makes the most reliable atv machine?

 

Hard to answer because Honda is know as the reliablity king but if you look at all there quads they have made in the 90s you will see that they have lots of problems with them the first year. If you want examlpes look at the Foreman 400, 450es, and the 400ex. They all had big problems the fist year or 2. Yet if you look at Arctic Cat they have only had one minor problem that was wide spreed. That was the 97 or 98 model 454's fouling the plugs because of bad jeting, but other than that they have had no problems that I know of. but since Arctic Cat has only been out for about 3 years they canot be called reliable by other non Arctic Cat owners, even though the 300's engine is about 13 years old.

 

I don't really know about which one would be the most dependable. It would depend on which specific machines you were comparing. I have owned both honda and yamaha. From everything I have read and seen, I would have to say that yamaha's are easier to work on and easier to modify. Again, each individual machine will be different.

 

Boner, what kind of problems did Honda have with the Foreman 400 and the 400EX? I can see a few minor problems with the ForemanES, but they corrected that in the recall. I remember Arctic Cat having problems with the starting also, what did they do, put a primer somewhere for better starting on the Bearcats?

 

I heard about that starting problem before.

But I remember reading in an Atv magazine that the fisrt 2 years the Foreman 400's were made they had a vent that wold hang below the frame. When your frame draged over say a log it would knock it off and would then suck dirt, water, and mud into the engine. Honda did do a recall but they only paided for it if it was still under warranty.

In the other fourm alot of people had a problem with there air filter nuts or bolts getting, on there 400ex's, sucked up into the engine. There were a few other problems but not as wide spread as this one.



[This message has been edited by BONER (edited 12-01-1999).]

 

What problems do the 400EX's have?? i've got a 00' and the only one i've seen is the throttle misadjustment. please, i would love to know all of them so i will know what to look for.thanks

 

First of all, I'm not one to bash any brand of four wheeler, especially a Honda. I owned 2 Honda 350 Formans in my lifetime. One an 86 and the other an 87. I would have to say that they were rock solid. I had completely no broblems with these bikes. Except for the usualy oil change and brake cleaning, these two were trouble free. These two are still running strong today, even though I don't own them still. They were well kept up.

However, I know of two guys that live close to me that has had their Honda transmissions BLOW UP on them. That's right, blow up. One was a Honda 450 and the other was a 400. Both were late models. Don't ask me what they did, but I figured it would be hard to blow them up. I'm guessing that they either ran them without oil or they were very rough with them.

Summing it up, I believe the reliability of a four wheeler depends on the owner. If you take of your four wheeler, your four wheeler will take care of you.

 

I still have a 86 350 Honda 4x4.(don't think Honda called them Formans back then. Least it's not printed anyplace on it) Had a lot of hard years with a ranch hands beating on it, and is in need of a rebuild. But it still keeps going.

Have a small page on it.
http://www.koan.com/~pollys1/YFS200/350/

My next 4x4 ATV will be a Honda. Maybe that new one with the auto tranny.

YFS200

Still has original 1986 grips, warn smooth.

[This message has been edited by BC_YFS200 (edited 12-04-1999).]