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Who owns a quad? Recommendations on purchase?

Desert Rat

Desert Rat

Fetch the comfy chair
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Oct 19, 2002
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We are tossing around the idea of buying three quads. I have two sons so we have been thinking about picking up three quads, a large one for me, and two smaller ones along with a trailer. Anybody have a newer quad? I've been looking at Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki, Polaris, and Yamaha online.
 
My dad owns 2 Polaris'. He and everyone I know swears by them. They are like the Caddilac's of quads.

I will be buying a Polaris 700 sportsman most likely when I take the plunge :o
 
I have a honda 2005 300ex it is a small sport quad and great for beginners. I love it. Only thing is the way you engage reverse, but I can live with it only use it to get it out of the truck or garage.
 
I use to have them. LOL but now he's got em all

We always bought the same - Honda's, started with his four-trac thats an 88 or something. We both had 300's, then we got Rubicon's. Matter of fact, its the 2 Rubicons we brought down to Paragon, for Wayne and Donna's UCP ride a few years back. These- you want to talk about Cadillac of Quads- HOLY MOLY I love them. They are seriously sure footed- the opposite of the Polaris's. My X brother in law has a couple Polaris quads, and theres a few things I dont like about them- 1st- they're very top heavy. 2nd- they seem to "free wheel" when descending a hill.

My 8 year old daughter, got a Arctic Cat for Christmas last year, that ones 4x2. I believe- its a 90cc. She loves it...to say the least

Brandy
 
I have a Troy Lee edition Polaris Predator 500. I like it. Before it I had a sportsman 700. I got along well with it also. Fourwheelers are like trucks, everyone has their preferances. This post will probably start a war. :D
 
Well, I just happen to be the vice president of an atv club so I own two full size atvs and two kids atvs. All of mine are Polaris, and my next one will also be Polaris. My personal one is a '95 Magnum 425 4x4 and I really like it. The newer ones ride so much better than mine. My wife's is an '02 Trail Boss 325, it's an automatic too, but it doesn't have low range. It is so comfortable to ride that you can ride it all day long without feeling it at the end of the day.
I won't bad mouth other brands, but I personally prefer Polaris. They have always been true 4x4 unlike other brands. Kawi and Zuki have a locker on their biggest models, but not all. Honda is still only three wheel drive and they have a harsh ride BUT they are dependable even if they are a little behind the times. Whatever you decide on, stay away from drum brakes, some atvs still run 'em. ALL OUT ATV CLUB
 
ive always liked honda, had a yamaha banshee and it always broke so i bought a honda 400ex, rode that for a few years, never had a problem with it. then i sold it because of lack of riding areas
 
I'm looking to go 4x4 on all three (unless the kid ones are strictly 4x2) but the two for the kids will be in the neighborhood of under 100cc's and mine will be probably the biggest I can get. Mine will see multi-use since I will probably trailer it out to the desert and use it to explore. The kids however will probably use theirs also a lot at Carnegie and Hollister in Ca. as well as the desert trips.
 
I've got a '04 Kawasaki Prairie 700. Absolutely love it! I wrenched on Honda's and Yamaha's for almost 10 years at a dealership. Was always strictly "Honda". Not any more! The Prairie got my vote due to the V-twin engine, solid rear axle, and oil bath rear brakes. I can't believe Honda's still putting drum brakes on their larger machines. The only complaint I have with the Kawasaki is the inherently noisy transmission. Due to the straight cut gears the tranny whines pretty good. Other than that I think it is a awesome machine. If I were in the market for another quad, I would go for the Kawasaki Brute Force 650. Pretty much same mechanicals as the 700 but much nicer styling.
 
Desert Rat said:
I'm looking to go 4x4 on all three (unless the kid ones are strictly 4x2) but the two for the kids will be in the neighborhood of under 100cc's and mine will be probably the biggest I can get.
Click to expand...
The smallest 4x4 out there is 250cc. How old are your kids? Are they big, or small for their age?
 
We bought our daughter a suzuki LT80 new back in '02, no problems with it. Added the front wheel extenders and headlight kit. I was gonna look into a polaris 90 but everyone local was out of the 90s and only had 50s. Also turns out the 50/90s are imports from taiwan, not actually made by polaris. I think one company makes many of the little quads with different plastic.

Looked at the honda 90 but it was for a more advanced rider was 4 stroke but a 3 spd transmission, not auto.
Yamaha, auto, shaft drive, 4 stroke but the suspension is poor. Solid front monobeam, really stiff rear shock. Even the new raptors have the old front axle.
Suzuki, makes there own along with yamaha and honda. Auto clutch/trans, 2 troke( :frown1: ) electric start. Has a very good track record for their 80 from ATV magazine reports.

Guy at work bought a polaris 90 same time I did. Second rear swing arm broke in half on it. Polaris knows of a problem because the first one they gave to him and said it was updated. Second one looked identical and broke in the same spot, tubing was slightly thicker but no improvement on any gussets or welds.

I ride a '03 LTZ400, wife '98 Warrior, son '87 TRX 250X.
 
I started out on a 2001 Honda 90, still have it too. I was riding till i was 16 and i beat the crap out of it! Its still starts easy and the only problem i had with it was the chain adjuster. It broke in half, same thing happened on a another 90 a friend had. I highly recommend the little 90 for the kids, its an auto clutch 4speed so they only have to shift, no clutch. That new Brute Force 750 seems like a beast :saweet: Big v-twin motor and you can lock the front diff too. Dont really know what the desert is like but i would think that a sport quad would be more fun to rip around on. I ride a 03 Z400 and its a blast, only problem is getting stuck sucks. My friend just put a winch on his 400ex so that wont be a problem anymore :D


Later
 
The kids will be in it more for the speed and fun. Mine will be used more for exploring and just keeping an eye on the kids. I will also use mine for hunting so payload is also a plus.
 
I would check out the Phoenix 200 from Polaris for the 13 year old and the Yamaha Grizzly 125 for the 9 year old if they're big for their age. Don't tell the dealers the age of your kids though, or they won't sell them to you. The 9 year old is "supposed" to be on a 50cc and the 13 year old is "supposed" to be on a 90cc. My 7 year old is comfortably riding a 90cc atv and my 10 year old is uncomfortably riding a 90cc atv.
 
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My friend bought a Polaris Predator 90 for his boy a few years ago. His boy is 10 now and still rides it. Me and my buddy ride it sometimes too, it *can* do awesome wheelies when it's turned up and we sit back on the seat, and it does doughnuts in the garage too! He had an ignition problem when it was new that was covered under warranty and hasn't had any problems since then.
 
I was thinking the same thing on sizes. I don't want to get the "recommended" size and then have them grow out of it immediately.
 
A buddy of mine bought two Yamaha Raptors for his kids and recommends them. He also is trying to steer me away from doing a utility ATV since he says that I won't be able to keep up with my kids on their Raptors. Maybe I should just do three Raptors, the biggest one for me?
 
We have 5 ATV's....

A 2005 Grizzly 660 Special Edition
2004 Polaris Scrambler 500 4x4
2002 Polaris Sportsman 700 4x4
1999 Polaris 400 2 stroke Xplorer 4x4
2000 Kawasaki Lakota 300 2x4

I am a big fan of the Polaris machines myself.

As for an ATV for your self. I would highly reccommend going with a nice utility 4x4. They ride much better than the little sand quads, last longer, and are more capable.

THe Polaris Sportsman is the cats meow when it comes to the Utilities, especially if the ATV will be used for farming (in our case). They have heavier duty components than the other manufactureres. This makes them heavy and ride like a Caddi, not to mention they have the highest payload and towing capacity.

My dad's '05 Grizzly is a great machine. It is light (600lbs) for it's size and I have to hand it to Yamaha on the suspension setup, it rides almost as good as the Sportsmans while being 100-150lbs lighter. It's got a lot of power and is very capable. I would really look into that machine since you plan more recreation than work with it.

My dad actually bought a 2005 Kawi' Prarie 700.....and returned it 20 minutes after buying it. We had read great reviews on the Prarie and liked the lower price tag than The Polarises. Unfortunately, the Kawi/Honda dealership won't let anyone test ride their products before purchase. We rode the Prarie around after buying it and it's a pile to sum it up. THe Belt whine on that machine is rediculously loud (beware hunters, that is not a machine for you guys, there will be no game within miles of the prarie) and it's ride was not all that great at all. It wasn't worth $6,800 new in our opinion. We went ahead and bought an used '02 700 Sportsman instead and are much happier.

Now, if you really like the Sport quads but need something more utilitarian....like me (I'm a farmer and need to be able to tow and haul irrigation equipment on my ATV) The Polaris Scrambler is where it's at. It has basically the Chassis and size of a sport quad but has the drivetrain from a Sportsman 500HO. It's a full auto and has on demand 4x4. Mine has a hitch and a rear rack. It's a great machine that is a bridge between the fun of the sport quads and the utilitarian and capabilities of the Utility ATV's.



I don't know much about the smaller machines for the kids, looks like a few other guys covered that fairly well.
 
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