likeorangebikes wrote:

If you want a dead reliable , get you from point a to point b for 20 years with minimal work and downtime. The old Honda 300 4x4 would be hard to beat. That being said, I,m not a large Honda fan, based soley on the value per dollar any more. a Honda ATV is not a value compared to the other machines on the market.. At one time, you could weigh the dependability issue, stating, that over the long term, youd spend less money on upkeep and repairs, But thats not the case anymore. When other machines offer more features, better suspension, more power, etc... (all in a relevant term) Its discouraging to see the price so high on the Honda. On the other hand, They are selling thme at that price, in the face of competitors who offer more, so that says something in its self also.

BUT.. While I had bad mouthed the Rincon pretty much since its introduction, It wasnt until a year ago that I really got some serious seat time on one, I came away impressed. for its INTENDED purpose (minus rock crawling, heavy hauling and thick mud)I think its a home run. Its got good power, handles like a dream, and the suspension is among the best in class. Its definitley one of those, "ride all day" quads.

Yamaha , suzuki and kawasaki have all been pretty even over the past several years. Sure there will be some of you who will swear a Yamaha will outlast the suzuki, vice versa, and so on.. Of course then there will be the folks who swear that every Kawasaki they have ever seen go into the woods has come out on its own power and everything that followed it had to be towed. Thats all Bull****, and any of us that has been riding for more than 10 years knows it. Any machine, can and will break at any given time.
Man, these ATVS have come so far in terms of performance, comfort and reliability in the past 10 years, hell in the last 4 years, that its hard to pick a losing manufacturer, or a winning manufacturer.
IT seems the general Sentiment among this board ( or most others for that matter)is that the sole ownership of last place in reliability ratings is polaris. I have owned several Polaris ATVS since 1996, Starting with a 2-stroke 300 xplorer. I will say that Quality was******back then. Was it reliable? Yes Extremely so, after 3 years of mud and water up to the racks, pulling trucks, and hay wagons, and rock crawling, I replaced 2 belts. On the other hand, all the other******was loose, tie-rod ends would loosen after onlly 2 weeks, steering bushings (yes busings, not bearing!)would never tighten, and swingarm bearing, Well, what bearings. So,o I feel that quality was severly lacking, but it never left me stranded. Over the years I have had nothing but good luck from polaris, which leads me to my next comment, which we aalready know. Reliability is based on a persons perception of quality.
Based on my experience, Polaris would run near the top, while based on cc,s or others it may run near the bottom.
We also tend to form opinions based on the favorite manufacturer. FOr example, If I dont like Yamaha, and see a Grizz with a broken belt, Then its unreliable. On the other hand, If I Love yamaha, and My grizz just broke a belt, then its just a maintenance issue that doesnt effect reliability. Those who tend to blindly follow a single manufacturer, are often blind to its shortcomings, and deaf to a competitors praises. Its hard to break away from that cycle when you have been on a single manufacturer for life. You dont really want to test the waters with another machine. Then again, if YOUR happy and content with what you ride, then your already on the best machine for you, then these reliabiliy questionairres dont really mean S*** then do they?