Low Cost 4×4 Shootout

ATVs, Arctic Cat, Can-Am, Features, Home Page Slide Show, Honda, KTM, Kawasaki, Kymco, Polaris, Suzuki, Utility, Yamaha — By ATV Mag on June 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm

In this economy, you’ve probably been scaling back a bit on your spending. But that doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself to a dinner out now and then. And it doesn’t mean that you can’t have an excellent ATV for yourself. You may just have to scale down a bit from that big bore monster with all the bells and whistles.

Even with a cap on your spending, you can still get plenty of power for most jobs or trail rides. And you can get nice features like electronic fuel injection and independent rear suspension.

To test the theory, we asked each major manufacturer to meet us at the Brushy Mountain Motor Sports Park in North Carolina with the best utility quad under $5,700. We ended up with seven machines, as Can-Am doesn’t make a model this inexpensive.

Our challengers were, in alphabetical order, the Arctic Cat 366 4×4; the Honda FourTrax Ranger 4×4; Kawasaki’s Prairie 360 4×4; the MXU 375 4×4 IRS from KYMCO; Polaris’ Sportsman 400 H.O.; the Suzuki King Quad 400 AS 4×4; and Yamaha’s Grizzly 350 Auto 4×4 IRS. Let’s have a closer look and see who’s got what among our seven contenders.

Sizing Up The Competition
The displacement range among these models is actually pretty big, from the 348cc Yamaha to the 455cc Polaris; that’s a 20 percent difference. The Polaris and 420cc Honda come with liquid-cooled powerplants, while the Honda is unique with its longitudinally-mounted engine. The crank runs front-to-back, allowing a more efficient transfer of power.

The Honda is also the only machine here with a conventional, five-speed gearbox, foot shifter and automatic clutch. On the other six contenders, power is modulated by a CVT (a fully-automatic, continuously variable belt-drive tranny). With the exception of the single-range Yamaha, all of the CVT quads here have high and low ranges.

The Yamaha and 362cc Kawasaki take their drive setups a step further by allowing fully locking the front differential for tough traction conditions and rock crawling. The Kawi gets a finger-operated variable control, while the Yamaha’s diff lock is either on or off.

The Yamaha, plus the 366cc Arctic Cat, 366cc KYMCO (the last two are mechanically very similar) and Polaris have independent rear suspension, a feature that adds weight but generally is well worth that tradeoff. Compared to straight-axle designs, IRS is plusher over bumpy terrain.

Suspension travel on all machines is within a mere 1.5 inches, but don’t let that fool you. The quality of the suspension travel (as well as an IRS setup) can sometimes outweigh differences in travel numbers. No, you’re not going to get power steering in this price range, but consider that ATVers did fine without that feature until just a few years ago.

Before we ride, let’s check out a few convenience and comfort-related amenities. For your towing needs, the Arctic Cat and KYMCO come standard with a two-inch receiver, the Polaris gets a one-inch receiver, and the others have conventional mounts.

Stated rack limits are based mostly on the concerns of nervous corporate lawyers, but we can make subjective judgments on which holds the most stuff. In front, the Yamaha and Kawi have the most contiguous (straight line) rack space.

Arctic Cat and KYMCO have the least. Most contiguous rear space goes to, again, the Yamaha and Kawi, plus the Arctic Cat. The others have comparable rear rack space.

By design, the Arctic Cat’s clever Speedrack mounts will quickly accept several useful attachments. The Polaris racks are made from tough plastic platforms with tie-down points, although the corners tend to pull up when you really snug down on cargo. Over the years, though, this plastic has proven durable, even in extreme cold.

You’ll have to search a little to find places to hook bungee cords on the Honda, but not so on the Kawi and KYMCO. The textured surface on the Yamaha’s racks provides a secure footing for cargo, but you might have to maneuver smaller items away from the open space in the center.

For enclosed storage space, the Polaris gets the nod. The entire front rack flips forward to expose two spaces, which might hold a total of 1.5 gallons. Although, due to the shock towers, that space isn’t contiguous. Storage boxes on all the others are either under the seat or behind the seat and facing the rear. Among those, the Yamaha has the most space, about a gallon. KYMCO and Honda, maybe three-quarters of a gallon. The remaining three quads will hold about a half-gallon.

On Board, All Aboard
Before we take these guys to the drag strip, let’s have a seat and see who’s got the most comfortable perch. The Polaris gets the nod here. The seat is soft, but not excessively pillowed. After all, if you’re going to ride aggressively, you need to be able to quickly shift your body weight and move around. From the next softest seat to the hardest, it’s the Yamaha, KYMCO/Kawi tied, Suzuki/Arctic Cat tied, and the Honda with the hardest seat (although no one complained specifically about this in our testing).

For this shootout we traveled to the Brushy Mountain Motor Sports Park in North Carolina. The fun area here consists of hilly, wooded trails with tight switchbacks, a little mud, some rocks and occasional water bar jumps.

For our radar runs we found a moderately tacky, slightly uphill run. Because the run required that our pro-level racer turned drag master Justin Zembo shut down at 575 feet (at least for the fastest sport quads we were testing there), we designated the finish line at 500 feet.

The Polaris is first to this point, with the Honda following by a mere tenth of a second. As you’ve seen in pro drag racing, though, the first to the finish isn’t necessarily posting the fastest speed. The Honda’s best speed at 500 feet is 42.3 mph, one-half mph faster than the Polaris. But, because the first guy over the line wins the race (and you’ll probably never be as fast with a shifter quad as Justin), we’re going to give this one to Polaris — by a hair.

In third, the Suzuki crosses the line a half-second behind the Honda. The Arctic Cat, Kawi and KYMCO follow closely and are all within a second of each other. The Yamaha, with the smallest engine in the bunch, crosses the 500-foot mark at 36 mph and about three seconds behind the Polaris.

On the trails, all of our testers loved the Polaris’ power. As one tester put it, “The Polaris climbs like a pro. It just gets up and goes.” By comparison, the Yamaha and Kawi don’t feel as exciting, but the power on all these machines is at least adequate, and all climbed the steepest hills we could find. The air temperature was moderate, but we worked these guys hard and none showed signs of overheating.

With the strong, smooth power on the Honda, it’s possible (though probably not recommended) for a lighter rider to start in third gear and leave it there for several minutes of hilly, twisting trails. At least two of our testers prefer this Honda’s foot shifting over the thumb shift buttons found on other Honda ATVs. Vibration is minimal, although some was noted on the Kawi, which is noisier. Excellent carburetion on the Suzuki gives it a snappy, responsive feel.

Two testers noted cranky warm-engine starts on both the Arctic Cat and KYMCO clones. On the flats, power is about even between them. But, curiously, the Cat sounds and feels slower on uphills, possibly due to different CVT settings.

In low range, the KYMCO wound out sooner than the others, limiting the top speed on even a tight trail (high range was perfect for this trail). Engine braking performance (a feature built into some CVTs), is progressive and predictable on the KYMCO, as it is on the Arctic Cat, Polaris, Yamaha and Kawi. In high range on the Suzuki, engine braking seems non-existent and our test unit simply freewheeled downhill. Good thing the conventional brakes work well.

Kawi’s variable diff lock feature draws mixed reviews. The lever-operated engagement performs well, but as one tester put it, “In the rough terrain where you’d be most likely to use the diff lock, I don’t like having to take a finger or two off the bars to operate it. It’s probably asking too much of an inexperienced rider to operate it while trying to concentrate on negotiating a difficult trail.”

Steering and Handling
Straight-line performance is one thing, but when the trail gets twisty, we really start to see big differences in performance.

In turns, the sportiest and most predictable performer here is, hands down, the Honda. This nimble machine stays flat and stable, with minimal body roll, thanks in part to the straight rear axle. Even with the racks loaded, it doesn’t dive as much in turns as the others. Steering is precise and, in 2WD, very light. Steering is noticeably harder in 4WD. Unlike on most of the other quads here, it’s possible to brake-slide around very tight turns. In other words, an experienced rider can tap the rear brake going into a turn to bring the back end around and drastically decrease the turning radius.

At exactly 180 degrees from the Honda’s sporty turning we have the Arctic Cat. At a moderate pace, tap the brakes entering a turn and the quad can instantly and unexpectedly dive to the inside. A steep downhill (with more weight bias toward the front) compounds the problem.

With the racks loaded, the rear squats down and steering can become less precise. On the plus side, steering is quick and requires only slightly more effort in 4WD.

We expected the KYMCO (remember it’s a near clone of the Cat) to have similar steering manners, but we got a surprise. The steering isn’t great and it still transmits too much unwanted feedback through the bars. But it was more predictable than the Cat and it doesn’t dive as much in turns.

The brakes aren’t as touchy, which helps, but we suspected more factors are at play here. For one, the KYMCO’s front tires aren’t as wide as the Cat’s and the tread patterns are different, possibly making the front end less grabby. By manually rocking the front bumper on each quad side-to-side, we discovered that the KYMCO’s suspension is noticeably firmer. Still, both the KYMCO and Cat have lots of body roll in turns. The KYMCO is controllable with the racks loaded but, again, keep your speeds low.

The Yamaha is another quad that suffers a noticeable amount of body roll in turns, although it’s not as bad as the KYMCO, Cat and some of the bigger Yamahas. Steering is very light in 2WD and only slightly harder in 4WD. In diff lock, steering effort becomes quite a bit higher. On loose soil and in 2WD the Yamaha can pull off some fun power slides. Steering precision is good for lighter riders, but some of the bigger guys (with more weight toward the back of the quad) complained about understeer.

Though not quite as sporty as the Honda, the Suzuki’s steering is very predictable and precise, requiring normal effort in 2WD and considerably more effort in 4WD. Handling remains stable with the racks loaded. Steering effort on the Kawi is moderate, noticeably heavier in 4WD, and a bear in diff lock mode. Handling with loaded racks is fair, but accompanied by some front-to-back bucking.

Steering effort on the Polaris is also moderate. The AWD feature on the Polaris means that the front wheels engage only when the rears slip. So, steering effort is often very light in AWD. Body roll in turns and braking is noticeable but not excessive, and the rider can compensate by using more body English.

Suspension/Brakes
You might be asking yourself why the manufacturers simply don’t stiffen up the suspension a little and get rid of that body roll. The simple answer to that is plushness. The average buyer of machines like these places comfort as a high priority. For most of our test riders, the Polaris has the most comfortable suspension. And it certainly reaches the best balance of comfort, steering and responsiveness over large or small bumps.

The Yamaha follows a close second in achieving all this. The Cat and KYMCO, with their excessive body roll and steering issues, are surprisingly plush in the bumps, something the designers were apparently intent on achieving at all costs.

You may have noticed that our four plushest suspension setups (above) utilize an independently suspended rear end — no great surprise. So, now we move into the swingarm designs. Among these the Suzuki is our favorite. True, the ride is, by comparison, a little rough and bouncy, particularly braking on downhills. The Honda is a little harsher, as is the Kawi.

In ATV braking there are two schools of thought. On the Arctic Cat and Polaris, a single lever on the left side controls both front and rear brakes. Beginners tend to like this simple setup. A foot pedal operates only the rear and is intended merely as a backup. On the other quads here, a left hand lever (and right foot pedal) controls the rear, a right hand lever controls the front. Sportier riders tend to prefer this independent setup; it allows fine-tuning your braking for hills and brake slides around corners. Although, when an ATV is locked into four-wheel drive, all the brake controls affect all four wheels.

The Arctic Cat’s single lever is too touchy and grabby; it’s either on or off. But, unlike on the Polaris, operating the lever doesn’t take much effort. On the Polaris you’ll probably need three or four fingers to operate its single lever. Once you pull hard enough, its brakes work fine.

Of the dual-lever setups, only the KYMCO drew no criticism. On some of the machines, Yamaha and Kawi included, the rear brake often takes some time to release, and may be interacting with the CVT engine-braking feature. One rider noted some chatter on the Suzuki, either from the CVT or rear brakes, and a faster rider wanted a little more stopping power from the Honda fronts.

A Good Fit?
Ergonomically, the Arctic Cat will fit the largest riders, although even the biggest guys felt the position of the fuel tank and CVT tranny put their knees and/or feet too far apart, limiting a sporty, nimble feel. The Polaris and Yamaha also got complaints for this. Smaller guys want the Cat’s bars a little closer. This machine and the KYMCO inexplicably have very hard handgrips that could become slippery in extremely muddy or wet conditions.

In keeping with its sporty handling and motor, the Honda’s layout allows the rider to move around easily on the seat. Integral to the Honda’s full floorboards, scallops under the footpegs allow getting even a big boot in there to shift gears.

The Kawi is another machine that accommodates large riders comfortably, as does the KYMCO. The ignition on/off markings on that machine don’t line up properly with the ignition key. Come on, guys, eyes on the ball!

The Polaris’ large layout is comfortable, but some sportier riders complained the seat is too high and the footpegs need to be more aggressive; harder soled boots tend to slip around on them. Three large guys kept hitting their knees on the drive selector, particularly on downhills.

Seating position on the Yamaha and Suzuki is comfortable for all our riders, although one rider complained that, when wearing work boots with softer soles, the Suzuki’s footpegs dig into the foot and become uncomfortable after a day of riding.

So who wins?
For most of our test riders, the Polaris takes a resounding win in this shootout. In overall comfort, handling, power and predictability, it can’t be beat. It’s got a lot of good things going for it and not too many negatives.

Next, we’re split between the Honda and Suzuki. If you’ve got to have either a shifter or CVT, well then your decision is made for you. Beyond that, the Honda’s fast, sporty and nimble. The Suzuki is the perfect example of a machine with no glaring faults and it does everything at least acceptably.

Next, it’s the now pricey Yamaha. Its motor is the slowest tested, but a very plush ride, great features, lots of rack space and predictable performance outweigh its sluggishness. The other contenders are in the back of the pack but they still have unique features that might perfectly fit your needs. The Kawi is a dated machine, but it’s a rugged, no-frills performer with a decent powerplant and plenty of rack space. The Arctic Cat and (least expensive) KYMCO have ample power for slower chores, nice features, plus a comfy ride.

Our recipe for a great weekend? Hit the town on Friday night for dinner and drinks. Saturday, visit your local ATV dealer. Sunday, hit the trails on your new ATV. Then Monday, yeah, back to work, but maybe on your new workhorse ATV!

Check out a full photo gallery from this shoot out by Clicking Here!