More Of A Good Thing: Honda’s 2010 ATV Lineup
Features, Honda, UTV, Utility — By John Prusak on November 16, 2009 at 1:20 pmNew Seats, Color Changes Highlight Limited Honda Lineup For 2010
Honda unveiled its 2010 lineup recently, and it was missing many key models – but fear not, Honda loyalists, the company has not pulled back from the ATV market.
Instead, Honda is reacting to the slowdown in ATV sales and the relatively high inventory levels at dealerships by only releasing product where there is a need. When the market picks back up or inventories of a certain model start to drop, Honda officials told us they can quickly react and start cranking out those models again.
Sport models in particular are missing from the list of 2010 Honda models. If you want a TRX – from a 90 to a 700XX – swing by the dealership and grab an ’09.
The utility models that were released for 2010 will be eerily similar to what you saw for 2009. As the marketshare leader, Honda knows what works and isn’t going to mess with its successful formula quite yet, despite pressure being placed upon the company by more aggressive players in the market.
That’s not to say there aren’t updates, however. New seats and racks help refine models that are already good for work and play.
Rancher 4x4 ES - Olive
Rancher 4x4 ES - Olive
Ranchers, Ranchers Everywhere
Honda technically took the wraps off 10 models in its 2010 ATV lineup, and eight of those are Ranchers. You might want to get a scorecard or a chalkboard to build yourself a flow chart, because this could get complicated.
Let’s start with what they have in common: Each Rancher is powered by a 420cc liquid-cooled, fuel-injected single that’s mounted longitudinally in a mid-sized chassis. We’re big fans of the Rancher models – they are light, agile, tight steering buggies that are good partners to people who use them on the ranch, hobby farm or job site, yet can make fun friends when weaving down a twisting trail.
All Rancher models also have dual A-arm front suspensions offering 6.3 inches of travel and quality hydraulic disc brakes. At 46.1 inches wide and 80.9 inches long, with a 32.4 inch seat height and 9.1 inches of claimed ground clearance, the Rancher models are small next to some of their competition, but they feature a low center of gravity that aids in handling.
For 2010, each Rancher model gets a new seat, with added foam padding providing what Honda is promising to be improved comfort. A new rack design should make it easier to strap cargo to the front and rear racks, Honda says.
So consider the Rancher like a pizza: The crust is all the same, and so is the cheese, but it’s time to decide what you want on your pie. Instead of choosing between pepperoni and Canadian bacon, however, consider these options:
- Two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive
- For the five-speed transmission, do you want a manual foot shifter; electric, push-button transmission; or automotive-style automatic transmission
- Power steering or not
- Straight axle/swingarm rear suspension or dual A-arm independent setup in back
The 2010 Rancher 2×4 model features a swingarm rear suspension, no power steering and a foot shifter on the standard model or an ES version with electric, push-button shifting.
Next up, we have the base 2010 Rancher 4×4 – it’s a foot shifter model that can be purchased with or without Electronic Power Steering (EPS). It gets the aforementioned rack and seat updates, plus pre-load adjustments on the front and rear suspensions this year.
The Big Red
The 2010 Rancher 4×4 ES models have the Honda-exclusive push-button Electric Shift Program (ESP), with toggle-type shifting on the right side of the handlebars and the same year-over-year updates as the base Rancher. It, too, can be ordered with power steering (an ES model with ESP and EPS – see why we said it was confusing?!).
At the top is the 2010 Ranger 4×4 AT – with or without power steering. It has the the automotive style, five-speed transmission that Honda debuted last fall. It does all of its own shifting, yet can be overridden by the handlebar-mounted ESP if you wish to have more control over the machine’s shift points.
The AT models are also the only Ranchers with an independent rear suspension (as opposed to the swingarm rear design on all other Ranchers). Suspension travel is the same (6.3 inches on all Ranchers), but the ATs handle energy transmitted from the tires’ collisions with rocks, roots, stumps and other obstacles with much less feedback to the driver.
Rincon and Red Return
The other two 2010s released thus far are the top-of-the-line Honda ATV – the mighty Rincon – and Honda’s sophomore effort into the side-by-side/UTV market – the Big Red.
Rincon Red
The Rincon returns unchanged, except for the loss of blue as a color option. If you’re hooked on blue, go find yourself a 2009 model. Otherwise, it returns in olive green, Natural Gear camo and red with its 675cc liquid-cooled engine, Hondamatic automatic transmission and independent front and rear suspensions with 6.9 and 8 inches of travel, respectively.
The mighty Big Red also settles for nothing more than a color change, although that’s not too surprising considering Honda just launched this massive side-by-side last year.
Mechanically, the machine is identical to last year – meaning it has a 64-inch wide, stable and strong chassis that’s moved by the same fuel-injected, 675cc, liquid-cooled, single-cylinder, four-stroke engine found in the Rincon. Its truly unique feature, other than its large size, is the Big Red’s automotive-style three-speed automatic transmission.
For 2010, a new olive green color joins red and camo as color options on the Big Red. Also, the price gets bumped up $300 – a base Big Red now lists at $11,699.
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2 Comments
So, Honda, no real upgrades by adding the features that the other brands have, or improvements to help keep up with, or exceed, what the other brands offer?
Still no front locker for the ATV lineup? No more models with IRS? Still only 3 gears and no low range for the Rincon? You still have limited storage space on the Rincon? Still no UTV that’s more trail friendly instead of made mainly for work?
Honda makes a good product. However, as long as they don’t offer an ATV with the features I want, I’ll buy a Yamaha, Suzuki, or Arctic Cat.
I would like to be able to consider a Honda ATV for purchase, but I cannot do so as long as they have no real upgrades that give me what I want.
You would by an arctic cat before a honda? Trail friendly utv? By the way, front lockers will eventually detonate a final drive if its really used. Go buy a kawasaki gator!