HELP!

I need some guidance on buying a reelable 4×4 four-wheeler I have been saving and will continue to save but the question I’m fighting my self over is do I A. buy a cheap 400cc or smaller 4×4 for $1000 or less or do I B. wait and save up the extra 3 to 4k and just get a nicer 500 or bigger newer 4×4???? last time I bought a wheeler it was only like $600 but that was back in the late 90s and it ran great! Granted it was not a 4×4 but it was a 450 race quad and it was fast and fun… I digress.. For info on what I’m planing on using it for would be moving my small boat around going up north trail riding and Ice fishing I mainly want it for the trails and Ice fishing so any info anyone could share would be greatly appreciated

http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/atv_265772/

Last fall I bought a 97 Big Bear 350 4X4 that was in great shape, rear drop basket for 5 gallon pails, 4 ft plow, extra pair of new tires, tire chains, new brakes, new CV joints, new brake lines, new battery, windshield, for $1,700. It has been nothing but perfect so far.

Could it be faster or have more power, sure but it’s easy on gas and does everything I need it to.

Used wheelers hold their price well especially if they are low miles and in good shape. If you can find a nice used one under $2K feel lucky.

i dont know a lot about 4wheelers but i was considering buying one last winter so i did some research. i found that yamaha and honda seemed to be rated high for reliability and performance. they seemed to cost more initially though. i decided that if i ever did get one i would go with the honda foreman for ice fishing/hunting/trail riding. best combination of affordability and performance. yamaha grizzly’s seem like the best but they are expensive. as far as buying new or used i was given the advice to buy new just because lots of people tend to be pretty rough on their quads and you dont want to inherit their abuse, and as others have stated, they hold their value so the price difference between new and used isnt great enough to warrent going used. ive seen some deals where you can get a new foreman or griz for around 5-6k out the door. thats for a mid-size 400cc. if you can find a used one for cheap in good shape that would work out but those can be difficult to find and of course you never know how well it will hold up… good luck with the search

A smaller quad will do everything you ate looking at, and they are lighter for when you get stuck and more manuverable. I got a used honda 500 because it was a good deal but ot is not nearly as nimble in the woods as my buddy’s 300 is, and it’s a bear if if get it stuck, thank goodness it has a winch.

That machine was thoroughly abused by the first owner for about 7 years and with proper maintenence and a few minor/cheap repairs still runs like a top.

weight difference is typically pretty minimal when comparing a 400cc vs 700cc machines… Example a Grizzly 700 is only 20 lbs heavier than a Grizzly 450, that’s it!

I would go with the biggest engine you can afford, fuel savings is pretty minimal as well. Once you start adding larger tires and ice fishing gear, you’ll be glad you have the extra ponies…

I wouldn’t be sucked into the bigger=better mentality. I have a Polaris 500 sportsman and I’m towing trailers loaded 1000 pounds of rock and pulling food plot discs that way 400 pounds almost every weekend. If that’s enough power for me, why would trail rider and ice fishing guy need to upsize to a 700?

Used can be a great deal if you’re patient and know what you are looking for. What I found is that there are a lot of suburban guys who HAVE to have a wheeler to take to deer hunting camp once a year and plow their driveway 5 times per year. Then they get sick of this thing taking up half the garage…

I ended up buying a 6 year old Polaris at a little over half its original price and it had a whopping 1200 miles on it. Do the math on the miles per year on that one. The guy basically rode it out to his mailbox once a day to get the mail.

For a $1000 budget, though, you’re going to have to look long and hard to find a decent machine. The good ones in that price range will disappear VERY quickly.

IMO, fall is the worst time to buy an ATV. Guys are trolling Craigslist for a machine for deer hunting and ice fishing and things just go for silly money. Winter and mid-summer seem to be the best, interest shifts away from ATVs to snow machines in the winter and in the middle of the summer guys are trying to ditch machines to free up garage space and to buy new machines.

Grouse

Good input from Grouse there. take your time and you will find what works for you. after reading this post i did look through craigslist and it seemed to me that the prices dropped quite a bit since i was last looking at them a few months ago

ok so from what I got from all this is you get what you pay for lol so Ill save up a couple more pennies and look into a newer one I’m most likely going to go play with mine also so I would like it to be reliable enough to do that and know that I’m not going to be left stranded… the extra into it is worth the piece of mind for me. so it looks like I’m looking for something around a 500 at around 4 to 6k sound about right?

If you want EFI and 4×4 and depending on what kind of suspension you want id say 6k would be about the low end for a new 500cc. There is a local dealer that’s offering a honda foreman 450 if I remember correctly for 5500 right now. That’s down from suggesTed retail of around 6800

I have had a Sportsman 500 and now a 700… gimme the 700 all day long for pulling/hauling, pushing snow/dirt with the blade, or pulling the attachments. They both will do, but one struggles and the other was built for it

well we shall see what happens with my piggy bank if it holds out long enough for a 700 then I will be for sure going bigger lol but then again why don’t i just save up for a new Can Am 1000

DWSDave31 wrote:

well we shall see what happens with my piggy bank if it holds out long enough for a 700 then I will be for sure going bigger lol but then again why don’t i just save up for a new Can Am 1000

I absolutely cannot see why you’d waste the extra money on a 700 for your stated needs. Even a 400 is in excess of what you need for a 4×4 trail and ice fishing machine.

As I said, I pull the large Polar atv trailers loaded to the top with rock, a load that’s easily in excess of 1000 pounds with a 500. Even for me, having a 700 wouldn’t give me any advantages. I can’t see any reason why you’d want the extra weight and fuel consumption of a bigger machine. Also, if you’re talking a twin cylinder, then there’s added mechanical complexities as well.

Grouse

As of now Grouse I completely agree with you and will most likely just end up with a 400 or 500 if I can swing it due to the budget but there is a reason I would love to have a monster such as a 700 800 or 1000 I am an adrenaline junky also lol so I could see a reason for those but they would just be toys the true use of the quad I’m looking into is its use as a reliable tool in my exploration of ice and land… so you really think that a 400 would be enough to keep from getting stuck in the snow or mud if put to the test? I tend to go out of my way to fish or explore at times most won’t lol or it just happens that way I have yet to figure that out

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>davethefisherman wrote:</div>
well we shall see what happens with my piggy bank if it holds out long enough for a 700 then I will be for sure going bigger lol but then again why don’t i just save up for a new Can Am 1000

I absolutely cannot see why you’d waste the extra money on a 700 for your stated needs. Even a 400 is in excess of what you need for a 4×4 trail and ice fishing machine.

As I said, I pull the large Polar atv trailers loaded to the top with rock, a load that’s easily in excess of 1000 pounds with a 500. Even for me, having a 700 wouldn’t give me any advantages. I can’t see any reason why you’d want the extra weight and fuel consumption of a bigger machine. Also, if you’re talking a twin cylinder, then there’s added mechanical complexities as well.

Grouse

IMO you’ll regret getting the smaller quad…as I posted earlier, the weight difference is almost non-existent…and the fuel difference is maybe a few bucks per tank…once you start riding you’ll want bigger tires & rims, maybe front & rear storage bins or jump seat for a 2nd rider, then the smaller quad will be working harder with no reserve power while the bigger machine will handle it just fine with power in reserve. I’d also look for a machine with Power Steering, it makes a big difference, anybody who tells you it doesn’t, hasn’t driven one with EPS…

I bought my 2009 Grizzly 700 used and got a great deal, but I was looking for over a year online as I wanted a specifics (color/EPS/model year, etc) Patience always pays off in the end…buy what you feel comfortable with…

I do agree with Grouse that fall is the WORST time to buy a quad for the reasons he said…

If you are looking for a rush as an adrenaline junky, sadly utility ATVs are NOT a good choice. They are basically small tractors. Yeah, some of them can be quick, but a 4×4 quad is going to be nothing like the sport quad you had so getting a rush from it will be very hard unless its burying it in 2 feet of mud.
I grew up on snowmobiles and bought an ATV about 6 years ago. On a sled I would go 100 MPH without batting an eye. On a utility ATV 50MPH is hauling the mail but it seems like you aren’t even moving. No rush factor at all for me. So, Im one of those suburban guys who has a 650 ATV sitting in my garage year around that gets out ice fishing a dozen times a year and pulls the aerator around the yard every Spring…

I would agree with a lot of the post above. No need for anything larger than a 500 series. I upgraded to a 2015 Sportsman 570 last winter that is use primarily for ice fishing, but it still gets used for other things. Way more power than I need, plus the single cylinder is a lot easier on gas. I put on over 250 miles on the ice with it last winter, and not one issue! And the electronic fuel injection never gave me one issue on days where the temps dipped to -15 and -20, where as the carbureted boys had issue starting in those temps.

But here is one thing I opted for…. the Touring version. This is a 2-up that is 6″ longer, only adding 43 lbs to the 570. Great for when I have one of my kids and someone wanting to ice fish that doesn’t have a wheeler.

No need to buy new, but you can find a number of good machines in the $4-$6K range. I just would not spend the money on a 700 or larger.

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Pull a thousand pounds up a steep grade, you will know the difference between a 500 and 700…. flat ground riding, get a moped

Oh even if it ends up being only a 500 it will be used lol mud-crawling-blazing new trails-ice fishing-trail riding up north ext…

for trail riding and fishing, by all means get the 500 or smaller….

Nice rig Steve!!

If you get a 500 you will love it until you ride with someone that has an 800. It’s better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Also go with efi. No head aches. No changing jets and hard starting etc. I would ride a few before deciding on what will fill the need. Example. A 400 will usually only top out around 45-50. An 850 will top out around 68mph. I note this not because of top speed but crusing speed. You dont wanna be red lining your machine everywhere you go. going through deep snow or mud the smaller cc engines will not get the wheels turning especially with agressive tires. They will spin some but if your pulling a loaded down fish house with a buddy on back you are gonna get stuck. Where a bigger cc engine will dig and pull right through almost anything. An example is we go to lake of the woods in march almost every year. By that time it’s usually a lot of slush and glare ice. So we use a 850 xp and pull a 2 place sled trailer with the houses and gear on the trailer. We had a smaller wheeler with.i think it was a older 350 wolverine. It got the job done but we were cruising along effortlessly and got out to where we were fishing about 20min before they did. They were getting slowed and stuck on every slush pocket they hit where we hardly noticed them. They were wiped out and cold when they showed up. We were warm dry and catching fish. This doesn’t mean you have to go and get the biggest baddest machine on the planet but having more than you need has its perks.

I figured I would get my self at least a newer 500 but if I can swing it I will be looking into 700+ so I don’t have to go back and get another one in a few years

so thanks for all the help I will keep my eyes peeled