Speaking of towing, First time I ever had My foreman on the snow, I wound up pulling a stuck subaru forester out of the snow. The guy was absolutely dumbfounded. I just grinned, said "your welcome" and carried on my marry way. With a big ol' ***** eatin grin of course!!
BTW, We actually had to push the Wifes Ozark out of the way for mine as hers was stuck as soon as it hit the snow

 

Well BigDawg, you have now afforded me the best forum question I could ever want. I shopped ATV's late 2002 and I have a 2003 Kodiak 450. Kodiak 400 is an option as is the Rancher, but both of these are 4x4 all the time, tough to steer.
All ATV's are built here in the US, except Bombardier which is built in Canada. All Cat and Kawasaki 2004 machines use Suzuki motors.
Honda is the reliability leader, I believe Yamaha is next. Honda dealers will not sell for less than MSRP. I paid less than MSRP with a winch installed outside the big city. If you want an auto transmission, only Honda and Yamaha meet your need. Honda uses a fluid drive like a car, but you pay for it. Kawasaki guys have to shim their belts every month, Polaris guys replace their belt every few months under warranty, not sure what the Suzuki guys have to do. Actic Cat has a strong auto and stump pulling low end, but parts may be difficult to get. Same for Bombardier.
Kodiak 450 has a button for 4x4 limited slip and a button for 4x4 locked. It has a low range and a high range. The belt drive is always engaged, all the other makers idle their belt drive which wears the belt when you engage the thottle.
Enough for now. I like these smiley guys.
wes

 

Oh yeah, I forgot my mule has high and low range.

 

"All Cat and Kawasaki 2004 machines use Suzuki motors."

With Cat this is true, but this not true with Kawi. the only Kawasaki ATV that uses a Suzuki Engine is the KFX 400, which is a z-400.

wesg, you must not have a very reliable source of information. All the stuff about the belts is not true. Kawi owners dont have to shim their belts every month and polaris owners do not have to replace their belts every few months. Most of the belt machines are really good machines, with a few exceptions from Yamaha. Honda is losing sales to the competition, mainly because of price, the added, unneeded electrical stuff, and their gutless nature.

 

oh yea, as for the mules, i think that they are awesome. Polaris has also got the Ranger series. these machines are great too.

 

Actually Kawasakis have had some major belt problems. Polaris owners do need to replace belts, but not every few months. Still way too much. I do not know why anyone would want a belt driven machine. Honda's price tags are a bit high, but not bad. Polaris usually have similar or higher prices and they are junk. Also, you can get a cheap Honda without all of the electrical devices. Hondas are far from gutless. They have enough power to get some crazy idiot into a bad wreck.

 

yeah everbody here has either a honda polaris or a yamaha for a utility quad. mostly hondas, as they are very reliable and i don't know why everybody says they have no power because our 98 300 2wd kicks *** in mud and has good performance. it even can do wheelies through the last gear.if you ar coordinated enough to balance it out. we have big tires from wally world on the back and it eats up the trails.

 

so wesg, you like your Kodiak 450? what are your likes and dislikes? how is the engine for umph?? i was thinking 400 or 450. the 660 is a good amount more and i really dont need it. i dont want to spend more then 5k, think it can be done with some bargaining? thanks for all the replies guys.

 

I Myself have not heard of Kawi having problems with their belts. And, my uncle has a polaris 500 magnum with 5000 miles on it, he has replaced the belt maybe twice. Someone that says Polaris are junk you have to worry about. Maybe the "ride red" slogan has gone to their head.(j.k.) I ride a red motorcycle and love it, but this isn't about bikes is it? I am still not impressed with the power of any of the Honda quads i have ridden, but, when it comes to quads, i am always power hungry.



And i really feel bad for the crazy idiot.


BigDawg54, i still say Bombardier Outlander or Suzuki Eiger.
The outlander has got the most umph out of the 400's. The Eiger is close behind.

 

Actually my 4-wheeler is a Kawasaki 300 Bayou 2wd. It has about 15,000 miles on it. I am not brand loyal to Honda. I am around atvs that get ran hard and put away wet, although some are maintained well. Ranch ATVs get used for work every day of the week, not just on the weekends. They have replaced the work pickup. For the most part, the only reason that farmers and ranchers get a non Honda product is because of the pricing. This is a downfall of Honda, but as I said other brands can cost just as much. We have one neighbor who owns Polaris 4-wheelers just to be different from the rest of us and he is always bragging about how much more powerful his ATVs are. He also sneeks them into town to get work done quite a bit.

If a belt drive is so great, then try pulling a heavy trailer. Or better yet, try herding livestck with one. If it is in low, it is not effective for tearing off after a cow that heads in the wrong direction. If it is in high, the belt burns when walking cattle. With a Honda Rubicon, you can just put it in a desired gear setting and take off.

Polaris ATVs are probably ok for the weekend warrior crowd, but a Honda or Kawi Bayou are better equipped for work. Just to be fair Rincons and Prairies are not the best work 4-wheelers either.

As for the crazy idiots, they drive every brand and seem to eventually wreck em all.

 

2002 Honda Foreman 450S -- MSRP: $6200

Got ours for $5800 out the door (including taxes & down payment)

 

Hi Trucksforever,
The drive belt information is based on 5 - 6 months of reading ATV forums when I was shopping. I was being sarcastic stating the Polaris belt needs replacing every few months, but this is based again on my opinion of Polaris machines having more than the average need for service. I will stand by my opinion. I should have qualified my answer in stating my research was only utility machines, not sport machines.
The Suzuki engine information is from the press release a year of so ago when the partnership was created. I was wrong, thank you for correcting my mistake as I have no desire to post misinformation.
Hi Bigdawg,
Yes, I very much like my Kodiak 450. I ride 200 acres in South Texas rocky hill country. With the low range I can climb any hill I have been brave enough to tackle. With the 4x4 drive limited slip and a locking 4x4 I can crawl up some steep rock ledges, standing and leaning as far forward as possible. I just replaced the tires to gain more bite.
I like the small size which I also needed to fit it in a shed at the ranch property. It is not as wide as many machines and the seat is not as high. I was comparing Kawi 360 Prairie and Artic Cat 500. But the width can be a problem traveling across slopes. It has tried twice to tip over on me but I was moving slow enough to catch it.
The instrument cluster is far above what most machines offer. It is a little much, you have speedometer, two tripometers, hour meter, clock, gear indicator, four wheel drive idicator and four wheel lock indicator.
I really can only complain about small items. In the first 20 hours it blew a headlight bulb and they are a pain to replace. The oil filter is in a tight space and positioned horizontal which dumps oil on the engine case.
As this is a fun time machine and a work machine, that is what I told honey and I stick by my story, it will carry 200 pounds on the front rack, 300 pounds on the rear rack, and will tow 1,100 pounds.
In the Dallas area I could not get a price below $6,500. In South Texas I was able to drive this machine off for $6,080 with a winch installed. They sell for about $5,500 in many places.
wes

 

Bigdawg,
Here are two sites you should read for comparisons:

This site has lost a lot of traffic in the last 6 months.
http://atvnation.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x

http://www.highlifter.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

One item I overlooked in my last reply. The Kodiak has engine braking which not all auto ATV's have.
wes

 

wesg,

sorry i took you so seriously when you said those things.You are welcome for the information, but next time i will try not to be so mean about it.


MJD

You are right about the Bayou's. I have a 97 Bayou 220, it has been awesome. ( and it has been ridden to death, trust me) It isn't the smoothest quad out there, but it is hard to find anything that will soak up corragates.(SP?)

I still like Belt driven ATV's. they have performed excelently. my 02

 

My dad has a 2000 Bayou 4X4 and it has its first major problem. A bearing seal is bad and oil pours out of it. He took it in to get it repaired the other day. My old Kawi has had a new piston and rings put in it a while back. It is broke down now because of my sister's dog. The dog chewed up some wiring trying to get a mouse which was in the air cleaner. It also needed a new brain box (before the dumb dog). $300 brand new.