Well Ken,

You said you want the most reliable, in reliability I would rate Honda #1, with Yamy close behind followed by the other brands and in MY opinion
(for the lawyers) Polaris last in reliability. Comfort and Easy learning machine, I put Polaris at the top. It has been my experience (rode hundereds of miles on sp500's) that a work machine should not have independant rear suspension, we proved this at the farm. Right off the bat you should by the wife a 2000 4x4 Kodiak ( I bought my wife one) they are great machines. for you, Girzz? I don't like the weight or physical size myself, but if your a big boy,
the grizz is hot in summer on legs due to air cooling ( side panels available for 50 bucks) they are thirsty too, my friends goes thru the fuel on our 100
mile rides, more than my mod wolverine, and I'm faster than him! but they due have the most torque for pulling, I am also not a big fan of belt drive for a work machine, my wifes kodiak will be getting a plow (can't see doing wheelies with a plow on the wolverine) so time will tell, my previous work machine
had high low range w/ gear box couldn't stop it plowing or pulling ( wife said i can't have two machines) honda 450es ? grizz? suzy500? new honda 2000 500 with hyd. trany!! (but you couldn't head for the hills with it for y2k, they don't come out till spring) but for sure buy the new kodiak for the wife, you will like it too.
hope I shead a little light on your decision.

mdd

 

If you plan on keeping it awhile and you want the most dependable, get a Honda. They are bulletproof. The biggest they make is a 450 which really is a 430 cc. motor. They will not be as powerful as the Grizzly and 500 sportsman, but it will not tear up. I have a 300 Honda 4x4, probally the most reliable fourwheeler produced. They are air cooled, no radiators to bust, no automatics that slip, just a straight forward all around good quad. I have not personally ridden with anyone that has a Grizzly or 500 but, I have some friends with smaller polaris and Yamaha's and they tear up every other time we go riding. One guy has a scrambler 400 (2-stroke), and I can't remember a time he hasn't been pulled back to the truck. I pull all kind of things with my 300 and it does fine. You will probally want to go for the foreman 450. They aren't the fastest quads but you can pull anything and everything all day long. I hooked up about a 600 lb. trailer to my fourwheeler with 1000 lbs. of fertlizer and 500 lbs. of rye grass, oats, and wheat and a spreader that goes on the back of a tractor, two chainsaws, gas, oil, some tools, two people in the trailer and two on the fourwheeler and headed out through the woods planting food plots. It pulled it without a problem. However I did get stuck in mud about half way back in the woods. Half way is 1.5 miles. After alittle jerking and pulling with my brothers 300 we finally got it out. Thats another thing about smaller quads, I have never got mine stuck where I could not push it out. Like I said I have never ridden with anyone with a 500-600 quad, but I think they would be hard to push out. During the winter I hunt and trap with it. In the summer it is all play. I live in south MS with mud everywhere. I trap ***** and possums in the swamps around my house, so I am in the mud everyday running traps. Go to anyone who repairs fourwheelers besides a dealership and ask them what the most reliable fourwheeler is. I know of two people with wolverines one 96(both carb problems)One person with 99 Kodiak(bearings and seals all the way around)96 Timberwolf(brakes, bearings, seals every 4 or 5 months). With the exception of the tiberwolf all of the machines are faster than mine but the only problems I have had with is two busted cv boots, and I even have the heavy duty guards. Sticks somehow find a way in. the Polaris has them on the front and rear. To me that means trouble comin. You will be in the sticks, if you get the polaris check those boots everytime you go riding.(8 boots). If you have anymore questions about any individual model I can give you more information. For any of them get the cv joint guards.

 

well the grizzly is great choice it runs great and very low maintence it has better ground clearance than the honda and alot more power the polaris is a good quad but the reliability ot just to low in my opinion for the wife you should also look at the artic cat 400 its real close the the price of the big bear 400 and it rides alot better

99 Grizzly,Vamped & Liffed,Warn 2500 Winch

 

Artic Cats are pretty reliable too. They have suzuke motors.
Your friends say buy american, ask them where the motors on the polaris's are made. yep they are jap made. The Grizz does have more power than the Honda but remember which one is more reliable. I ride in the middle of nowwhere and I like to get back on my quad. I buy Honda. I would get the 450 for you and the 300 2wd or 250 for the wife. Test drive the little ones too. 99.9% of the time bigger is better, but for most applications that is not true for atvs. The wife would probally enjoy an easy riding easy steering, smaller 2wd than a big heavy 4x4. Does your wife really need 4x4, maybe so I don't know, but if not let her ride both the big and little atvs, and let her decide which is the best for her. If she is not comfortable then the atv rides won't be long.

 

I recently purchased a 99 Grizzly for me and a 2000 Kodiak for my wife. We both are very satisfied with these machines. I checked into the Polaris line, but was not impressed, have you really looked at the 4 wheel system. Seems alittle elaborate. I believe in staying with the tryed and true. I also believe there is no substitute for power !!! I guess that comes from running big block fords in the mud.. The Grizzly is as powerful as they come, hands down !! My wife really likes her Kodiak, its alot quicker than the Grizzly and the 4 wheel drive lets her negotiate obsticles and climb hills safely. I have about 450 miles on my Grizzly and have had no problems. In my opinion, Yamaha is # 1 !!

 

I put 450 miles on my Honda every 2 months maybe 3, Over the last three years, alot of the miles are through mud. Mud eats Yamahas up. yamaha has decent motors and overall quad, but all of my friends and other people with yamahas, try to get in the mud with me and it eats there brakes, bearings and seals up quick. Three months after a friend got a 99 Kodiak, the bearings seals and brakes went. He still rides with us but when we get to mud he watches. Three months was the quickest I have seen one go, they usually make it to 6 months.

 

man go with the biggest and baddest utility atv on the planet and thats the Yamaha Grizzley....I personaly dont own one I own a 99 yamaha Bigbear350 4x4...but I know a guy that owns a grizzley and its awsome not really that much bigger then by Bigbear but the power it puts out is realy awsome....when you pin the throttle on this machine from a dead stop it just kinda sits there for a few sec then explodes and fealy like your gonna fly right off the back...but one thing I will say is that the grizzley is not as fast as people think it will do about 55 not 60 like I see people say...it also rides great and handles well..this is just the best utility quad on the market today....but for your wife I would recomend a 2000 Bigbear I had a chance to ride one and they are a realy nice machine they are a 400 now but its just the the old Kodiak motor from last year and it realy doesnt have anymore power the last years 350 and the 2000 is a little smaller the my 99 but what you get in this machine is 9.6 inches of ground clearence 5.9 inches of suspension travel and a good ride,handling and power all for abouit 5300 it realy cant be beat..no other machine in this price range even comes close the the BigBear...so I would recomend since I guess you want somthing big with alot of power you should go with the Grizzley and get the BigBear for your wife....one more thing if it is possible that your wife wont want a big 4x4 once she rides one cause they realy are a hard machine to ride when your just starting out but if she doesnt want a 4x4 get here the Honda Recon250 for about 3700 its a gret little machine and it will handle alot better then the alot larger BigBear...just my 2 cents but good luck...

 

Don't listen to these people. I own a 2000 magnum 325 polaris. I'd bet that I've pulled more weight with it than all the others put together. The power is there when you lock it in low. My magnum is a 2x4 and I have pulled full size pickups out of ditches with it. I also pulled an 8ft harrow with someone standing on a wooden platform on the harrow. Never slipped a wheel. I also own a sport 400. I owned a 98 honda, they're great. But if you want comfort for you and your wife, and a hard working machine then I suggest the polaris sp500(which changed to solid,live rear axel in 1999)for you and a magnum 325 4x4 for your wife. I used to think I wanted to shift so I could control the power range, but I climb hills faster than the others now. Think hard, there are a lot of quads out there. My choice is polaris. I have over 2300 miles on my 325 and haven't touched it. I even rolled it down a fifty foot hill in Columbia, MO. Most quads are totalled on this hill. We straighted out the handle bars and rode for eight hours after that.

 

I constantly have to pull out my friends Honda 300 4-wheel drive with my polaris 400 4-wheel, his doesn`t have true 4-wheel so he spins one tire up front which stops him in his path, he also has a big wheel kit with 25"wimpy mudders, and finally i bought a set of 26" vampires which i now can go through most mud in 2-wheel drive!!! His quad is full time 4-wheel to boot and speaking of boots his are always wet when it comes to water, mud etc., since he has to shift up and down in it, but not me, i`m dry...

 

I own a 1983 honda atc 200x and it is very reliable I also own a 1984 honda odyssey and for the most part honda is a reliable machine. I live in texas and there is mud, sand, rocks and everything else mother nature can throw at you...for reliability I would say Honda for comfort and mudding I would say A polaris 500 with WINCH and for stump pulling power I would go with the Yamaha Grizzly...they are quite heavy and I pulled a 99 model out of 2 feet of mud with my honda atc. I have also been pulled out by a polaris but in my opinion they have too many parts and are very complictaed, and the frame is weak on them I had a friend do a 2 foot jump on his sportsman 500 and bent the front part of the frame...he took it back because he had only owned for 3 weeks and they replaced and it happened again! I have went mudding on an arctic cat and hated it! That hell toe shift crap take alot to get used to and is still a pain in the %!$. It is true that with an automatic you wont get wet because you can put your feet up. But if you are on a manual you can peg the throttle in low gear and put your feet up. With a polaris the belt will slip if it gets wet and sometimes will slip if you pull something it doesent think you can pull. My hondas are very reliable and as with the odyssey ( for you that dont know what it is it is something like a big go kart or a small dune buggy) it has a snorkel and sometimes I have to undo my harness stand up and peg the throttle and hold on because it can go in water 3 1/2 feet deep. I would personally chose a honda due to reliability and they have good power. If you get something like a polaris 500 or grizzly you have to think about pushing the beast back if it dies...my odyssey weighs 604 pounds dry and im only thirtten and pushed it a mile and a half one time when I was on a ranch and the plug screwed up..... so its your money but depending on what you want to use it for I would still go with the HONDA.

HONDAS ARE #1
1983 honda atc 200x tricked out...
1984 honda odyssey 250
1971 Toyota Landcruiser 3 inch lift

Daniel

" If you can't go through, around or under it, then go over it!!!"