no more polaris for this guy.

[Old Syko]

John Deere products seem to be a conglomeration of parts from a lot of different manufacturers from a lot of different countries and assembled under a single badge.  If you need parts for one you'll need all your info on hand since there seems to be no prominent supplier and parts are not interchangeable.  Although all suppliers do this to some extent, Deere seems to have taken it to another level.  Kind of reminds me of a Johnny Cash song.   


As far as Polaris goes, I'm not brand loyal to anyone but I certainly am brand dis-loyal when all I see or hear about are problems.  In the ATV world the front runners at present are Kawasaki and Yamaha as the top dogs for dependability and all around customer satisfaction.  I'll let others support the competition.    

[Buckskin]

I was surprised at all the Polaris bashing here so I randomly pulled up a UTV discussion and had to laugh. Most of the posts were fawning all over the Polaris. I guess it's the same old Ford/Chevy deal... And most of the guys who bash one or the other have never owned the other or don't know how to maintain a machine or read a dipstick...
 

http://www.qdma.com/forums/archive/index.php/archive/t-48589.html

[Drilling Man]

  It's not a ford chevy thing where "I" live.  Lot's of Polaris problems around here, i keep wondering why folks keep buying them???  The ones i ask say, it's "American made"...  Well, even that is BS now!
 
  I've had great services out of my Yamaha 4 wheelers, but when i bought a S&S, i wanted it purely for work, so i bought a Kubota.  It's been perfect for my needs, and 100% reliable.
 
  DM

[Old Syko]

Buckskin check out some atv forums where there is open discussion of all brands and tell me what kind of rep Polaris has developed over the years.  It's not a ford chevy thing but an earned reputation of poor quality and workmanship.  Get to the point you've pulled as many of them in as I have you'll have a better understanding of why so many feel about them the way they do. 

[Buckskin]

Buckskin check out some atv forums where there is open discussion of all brands and tell me what kind of rep Polaris has developed over the years.  It's not a ford chevy thing but an earned reputation of poor quality and workmanship.  Get to the point you've pulled as many of them in as I have you'll have a better understanding of why so many feel about them the way they do.

Ford - Chevy....  I can find many guys just like you who say the same things about Deere, Honda, Yamaha, Kubota, etc...  Just as I can find many more guys like me who have had Polaris many years and never had a single issue, Ford - Chevy.... The only reputation I need is personal experience not word of mouth from the internet, lord knows where that would get me...

[charles p]

I still have a honda 300 made in 1989.  goes faster than I want to go. 
cranks instantly.

[Lloyd Smale]

Had mine in for the last work before i sold it when the tranny burned up. When I went to check out i told the head serviceman that i had an extended warantee  and was glad i did. He exact words were that anyone fool enough to buy a polaris atv or utv without an exteneded warantee needed his head examined. He said that they handled polaris, honda, susuki and yamaha and that 3/4s of his service staff is there thanks to polaris. buy what you want but if you were really around atvs alot youd have to be blind to not see that polaris is making a crap product these days. As to not knowing how to check oil i was riding atvs when alot of you were in dipers, road and raced snowmobiles and motocross for over 20 years. I managed to keep them going so i know which end of a wrench to use! All i can say is pull a polaris ranger up next to a yamaha rhino and a blind man could tell you which is built better and which has better fit and finish. Id go back to that atv discussion your quoting and ask there how many first and second year razor owners are there and how many of them had motors go under a 1000 miles. Id bet near half of there production had problems due to the air filter setups allowing dirt to pass. back in those days you couldnt go into a polaris dealer and not see 3 or 4 of them tore apart. What was there cure. they gave everyone a free air filter and claimed that people werent changing filters enough. I know of them that failed at 500 miles. they told customers they needed to change there air filter after every ride if it was dusty. Lets see a off road vehicle that should be exposed to dust!!

[Buckskin]

Again Ford/Chevy.  If I had an interest I could go and find similar complaints about all the "good" atv's that you listed. If they were so poor they wouldn't be in business or selling at top of the line prices.  Like I said before neighbor has had a Ranger  since 1998 that has been a farm machine and beat to hell, he said he thinks he replaced the belt once and changes the oil every couple years. I've have 2007 Ranger 700 that has been through hell and back and nothing but tires, oil and lubes, never had a problem at all. Ford/Chevy, been that way forever.

[Lloyd Smale]

keep in mind that people bought yugos, chev vegas and pintos too! Like i said ive owned as many polaris products as anyone. I chuckle at guys that feel they have to justify the fact that they bought junk. Its like they take it personaly and are so intelegent that the product must be good or theyd have been smart enough not to spend there money on it. Me i call a @@@@ a @@@@. The last couple polaris snowmobiles and atvs i bought if nothing else sure werent the best bang for the hard earned dollar i spent on them and if i can keep one other person from making that mistake then taking any kind of flaming on here is well worth it. Ford vs chev? maybe but id say more like comparing a high point 9mm to a sig. Both will go bang but what would you rather have.
 
   Quote--Again Ford/Chevy.  If I had an interest I could go and find similar complaints about all the "good" atv's that you listed. If they were so poor they wouldn't be in business or selling at top of the line prices.

[Buckskin]

LOL, I chuckle at the guys who say for stand for Found On Road Dead too... Or I'd rather pull a Ford than drive a Chevy...
 
 

[oldandslow]

All I can say is , it's your money, spend it for what you want.

Personally after having owned several Polaris products over the years and having personal knowledge of how several others performed if I were interested in buying another atv I would mosey on down to the Polaris dealer. As it is the 2000 model I have now is going to wear ME out, not the other way around.

The service a product gives is directly related to how it is treated. I used to spend a lot of time riding atvs and have seen EVERY brand trashed out by neglect and abuse.

[Drilling Man]

  Some years ago, my brother bought a diesel Polaris.  He had some problems with it, but it was under warr., and the dealer took care of him.  A few months after it was out of warr., it quit running and he started working to figure out why.  After taking it to one dealer who after more than a month said they couldn't figure it out, (charged him for looking at it) it went off to a second dealer.  Second dealer after several weeks said it needed some major part for the fuel system, (charged him for looking at it) The cost was going to be aprox $1500.00 and no one had the part in stock, it needed to come from Japan.
 
  My brother picked it up, and after a couple months to cool off, it went off to another place that said they could fix it cheaper.  They came up with the same answer BUT no one had the part and it was back ordered for months and months!  Finally, a guy came along with one he had wrecked, made an offer to buy my brothers and he took it, getting pretty dam beat up in the overall deal.
 
  THAT along with the other Polaris problems he had with a 400 and another 500 pretty much did him in on Polaris, he and his boy switched to Kawasaki and Yamaha.
 
  I wasn't such a slooooow learner, lol  it doesn't take a genius to see that they have reliability problems, so they won't be getting any of MY hard earned dollars!
 
  DM

[Buckskin]

And a buddy of mine has a Honda Rincon that has been extremely cold blooded and doesn't idle. Has had it into the dealer I don't know how many times and never gets better.  He had 3 Polaris machines before the Honda and never had an issue but got  a great deal on the Rincon... Ford/Chevy, every brand has issues, every brand has it's followers and every brand his it's bashers....
 
 
By the way Lloyd, I'd love to see a picture of the ATV you were riding in 1970 when I was in diapers...

[Lloyd Smale]

first one was a 1973 honda atc90 i bought used in 74 for a pit bike at motocross races. second one was a brand new 1980 atc110 honda. Had that one till 84 when i bought my first yamahas a new yz250 for myself and a 225 for the wife. others ive had have been a 400 2 stroke polaris which i had for only a year but it at least didnt give me problems other then it ate a rear sprocket and a chain in about 500 miles, a 250 big red honda,  2 350 yamaha warriors, a 660 raptor, a 250 timberwolf, and a 700 grizzly. Ive owned more yamahas then anything and the ONLY thing i ever did to any of them other then change oil and a couple batterys is a clutch pack on one of the warriors but i bought that one used from a neighbor kid cheap and it had been flogged. Still ran great though.

[Buckskin]

Grandpa had a Honda 90 and then a Big Red, man those were fun times. I remember when I was about 10 me and a friend rounding up about 15 of his polled herfords cows and calves that had got out and averted us for a couple weeks. I was on the big red and he was on horseback.  We felt like heroes finally bringing in the herd for grandpa....

[Drilling Man]

  I guess i've been rideing longer than you buys, i still have my Honda 90 3 wheeler, i think i bought it in 1970.  I also have my Honda Big Red too!
 
  DM

[markc]

Buckskin, I appreciate your comments and I see what you are saying. For me personally, although Polaris has a reputation for issues, and high repair costs, it is the fact that they recently layed of 500 or so American workers and outsourced to Mexico that will keep me from ever buying one of their products.  To top that off, the arrogance of Polaris when questioned about that move just seems to add insult to injury. 
 
Can you think of one well made mechanical vehicle from Mexico?   Perhaps there is one, but I am having a hard time recalling it (pardon the pun). 

[Lloyd Smale]

yup you beat me. That was the year honda brought out the atc 90. There first atv. My 90 is long gone but id love to have one right now. I used to leave it at the small power plant i worked at and guys road it around the coal pile at lunch time. i transfered to the line crew in 87 and I left it there. I wonder whatever became of it. It got so tired that you had to put a bit of oil in the plug hole to get enough compression to get it started cold. Once it got started it still ran great. cool thing about them was a guy my size could get one in the back of his truck without ramps. Got me out of the woods a few times back in my younger dumber days. Ill tell you a another long lasting story.  when i bought the two yamahas in 84 i also bought a new trizinger. it was a 60cc 2 stroke 3 wheeler. Kind of a trick little machine for the day. it had oil injection front suspension and shaft drive. My two daugters and my son drove the snot out of it. I re ringed it twice while i had it. then they out grew it and it sat for a few years in my barn. My grandkids got old enough to ride it and it went through 3 of them. It was re ringed once more in that time. Still the original cyl and just honed. It sat after that neglected in there back yard. I told my nieghbor about it last year and he wanted it for a project for his grandson. We hauled it over there. He threw a seat cover on it stripped it right down to every nut and bolt, cleaned and painted everything and rebuilt the carb and put another set of rings in it added fluid and it started first pull and has been used about daily since. I think i paid 600 bucks new for it and sure got my moneys worth out of that thing. Id sure like to know how many miles are on that thing!!

  I guess i've been rideing longer than you buys, i still have my Honda 90 3 wheeler, i think i bought it in 1970.  I also have my Honda Big Red too!
 
  DM