Honda vs. Polaris Atv

[Tony T.]

I have always owned Honda motorcycles or ATV's and decided they in my book seem to be real reliable machines. Now my Dad did have a couple Kawasaki's, (1) motorcycle and (1) fourwheeler and they seemed to be pretty reliable also.



Ok Polaris ATV I have never owned one or even rode one. I do like the looks of the Sportsman models though. Can anyone shead some light on their reliability compared to Honda. Maybe someone that has actually owned both.



Tony

 

[jkeyes]

I have owned 2 polaris ATV's one was a 300 express 2cyle and the other is a Sportsman 700. I can tell you without a doubt that they are absolutly the worst built most poorly designed machines on the market. As to the hondas that I've owned I had more than my fare share of problems with them as well. If I were going to get another I would consider either the Kawasaki or the Yamaha. Here is a brief list of the problems with my Polaris machines.



SP-700



water pump failure 6 times!!

head light

headlight switch

clutch 2 times

rear brakes (rotor came off of hub costing $300 due to the fact that Polaris didn't locktite the bolts that hold it on)

tail light

throttle safety swich shorted out.

here's a doozy

the frame cracked at the welds due to inadaquet penetration of the weld

Now the motor is loosing power and I am almost afraid to chech the compression.

this machine is an '03 with 853 mi. on it.



'95 express 300



lights front and rear

cluthch

3 motors due to the oil injection pump failing

rear bearing housing

shif lever fell off.



bearing in mind that ALL of these failures left me walking out of the woods or riding with someone else



never but a machine that is abrieviated with the letters POS!!!





-J-

 

[scootergmc]

Dang. I knew Polaris wasn't up to par with the Japanese competitors, but that's a horror story.



Tony, stick with what you know... the only problems with Honda ATV's is that they're bland and plain. Me, I own a Kawasaki Prairie 700. Love it.

 

[Tony T.]

Dang. I knew Polaris wasn't up to par with the Japanese competitors, but that's a horror story.

My thoughts exactly. The looks of the Polaris and the fact of what they call true 4wd drew me to looking at the Polaris.



Tony

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

We've had all makes of atvs and bikes, they all have there problems. What happened to jkeyes and his Polaris sucks, but that's not all Polaris machines. My buddy has had 3 Polaris 4 wheelers(all Sportsmans) with minimal problems-brakes rub, one burned belt and one cv joint. Believe me, he beats the ***** out of these machines and they've been almost unstoppable. One of them rolled out the back of my truck on the highway and only got a bent rim.



All of the newer machines are fairly matched, you have to decide which suits you. Recommendations-buy one with hyd. brakes, cables do not last. Engine braking systems are also the ticket.

 

[guava]

I've spent a lot of time on three seperate polaris machines and they all ran great. I think what I liked best was the automatic transmission. I wasn't footing the bill for these machines. They were given regular tune ups and the normal maintenance. Used for hunting and doing real work around a ranch. The guy liked them and was happy.



If it was my money and I was going to keep them, I'd buy the honda. Every Honda product I've owned has been of exceptional quality.

 

[TowPro]

There is a show on tv called ATV TV. All he does is test ride ATV's. I think his main complaint with Polaris is they don't have engine braking. He also says that guys who have been riding Polaris don't complain about it because they are used to it. Personaly I only have a Yamaha Beartracker 250. I use it for stuff like bringing in firewood, taking the trash out, snow plowing my driveway etc. When I want to go trail riding I ride my Husky TE-250.

 

[azpete]

I've had my Sportsman 600 for a couple of years now. It's been a fun bike for what I use it for. No problems so far and only complaint is the engine vibration seems more than it should be for a 4 stroke.

 

[HOBrian]

01 500 HO and no problems at all. Just the normal oil and 1 battery. Love it/beat it :-laf

 

[Mille4212]

A friend has the Polaris 600 sportsman with no problems. I had a 98 Honda Forman 450S and it did everything I wanted it to do and then some :-laf . Now I've moved on to a Arctic Cat 650 V2 and love it. The only thing is they all have their issues you have to deal with.

 

[Crazy Horse]

My wife and I got our 2 4x4 Honda 300's in 1990. I've worn out three sets of grips on mine over the years. It's been submerged under water many times, rolled twice and never quit running. In 12 years nothing has ever broke. It's the best $3850 I've ever spent. I hate walkin'. Here is some photos. Alaska Offroad.



Not to bad mouth anything but, Polaris is the only 4wheeler I have seen being towed out of the back country of Alaska in 23 years of off road travel there.

 

[Tony T.]

Phil



Those are some great pictures,man I would love to be up there riding beautiful country. Oo.



Tony

 

[Crazy Horse]

Thanks Tony, lot's of excellent memories.

 

[SGolden]

I have a 02 Sportsman 500 H. O. and have had very few problems out of it and the two problems that I have had with it were my own fault. I burnt one drive belt up, but that had to do with driving throught 2. 5-3ft of water for about 45 min and not draining the belt housing. The second problem was that I tore the right rear suspension out from under the quad, however, i was keeping up with a Predator 500 and doing some stupid speeds and jumps. So, that was my fault, other than that, great quad, my brother has a Diesel Sportsman that has been through hell and back and my cousin has a 600 Sportsman that is holding up very well also. When I buy a new one it will be a Polaris. Hope this helps.



Shane

 

[Dl5treez]

I have a 2006 Sportsman 800 EFI. I have owned in the past one other Polaris ATV, a 1996 Magnum 425.





The '96 Magnum was by far the biggest POS *anything* I've EVER owned--I hated it so much I refused to buy a Polaris again.



I subsequently owned a Honda Recon, a Honda Foreman Rubicon, and a Kawasaki Prairie 700. All were great machines, the only gripes about the Hondas are the drum brakes... useless IMHO. The Kaw' was great, but I sold it for financial reasons after only 4 months of ownership.



I looked at buying a new quad this last year, ended up eatin' crow and settled on a Polaris mostly because I get a discount through my employer. I can say with absolute honesty that the new Polaris ATV's are light years better than the junk they built in the past.



My new one has enough engine braking to stop itself (765 pounds) with me (275 pounds) and my junk (25-30 pounds) on it in a very acceptable distance without touching the service brakes. My '96 had almost zero engine braking at all. The new one feels very much like my Rubicon or the Prairie.



From my experience with Honda and Polaris, here's my opinion of how it breaks down--no pun intended:



Fit & Finish---Honda, by far.

How quality the machine 'feels'--Honda, by far.

Off-road performance--Polaris, by far.

Ease of maintenance--Polaris.

Ease of operation--Polaris.

Strength/Resistance to breakage--Polaris(suspension), Honda(most everything else. ) *Hondas are stone reliable units*

*The composite Polaris racks/storage compartments on the 800 are awesome, for the record*

Overall ride comfort--Polaris.

High speed stability--Polaris.

Looks--Polaris.



I like my 800 EFI, and can attest to it's capability, but from a general "how quality does this machine look & feel" standpoint the Honda is better put together.



The belt drive takes some getting used to, and can fail prematurely if not driven correctly. They give the quad low range for a reason.



For a quad that weighs almost 800 pounds *dry* it's amazing how much plastic there is in it's construction.



I've had to replace one part on my quad so far--the upper plastic steering post bushings got loose. The reason for this is overshooting a 'jump' at the sand bar & going from 30mph to a sudden stop, and crashing full tilt boogie into the handlebars--one of those "looks like it hurt damn wish we had a camera" moments. :-laf I'm surprised the only thing that gave out were the bushings. 53 cents & about 2 hours later it was good as new.



Just my opinions,



Dan-

 

[KBennett]

Almost everbody I ride with (I'm on a two wheeler) ride a Polaris and love them. Never seen or heard of any problems from ten different machines and some of them are ridden hard. One guy says he does not like the maintenance of the chain drive on his but I don't know if that is all models.

 

[Boomer II]

I've got an 02 500 HO that's been trouble free so far. I don't ride it very hard, mostly slow rock crawling type of terrain.

 

[TRAMPLINEMAN]

There is a show on tv called ATV TV. All he does is test ride ATV's. I think his main complaint with Polaris is they don't have engine braking.

That's odd, I know five guys with Polaris 4 wheelers and all of them have EBS(engine braking system).

 

[EBottema]

Just what we need, more wiring for the rats to chew and more electronics to fail by adding EFI to a quad.



My 02 400ex honda runs wonderful. Never broken down on me.



I've owned other hondas and my family has had plenty. They are the best bikes hands down. Parts are around for a long time at dealer, good prices and bikes are well built. The other companies D/C many parts after just 5 years, not honda

 

[Dl5treez]

Just what we need, more wiring for the rats to chew and more electronics to fail by adding EFI to a quad.

If you have a rats chewing up your ATV wiring, you need to sweep your shop floor up more often and wash the machine once in awhile. :-laf