Sell me on your brand.

Chuck403

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As some of you have seen by my post in the stolen atv section, we were victims of a theft. Both our 2012 Grizzly 700's were stolen, and subsequently written off by insurance.

Once we bought those quads, I stopped paying attention to who was doing what in the atv market. Our Grizzly's did everything we asked of them, only had 1 issue between the pair of them, which was a once in a million chance of happening. I was crossing a river, and somehow a stick popped up through a floorboard hole, hit my hose clamp for the lower rad hose beside the engine, knocked it loose, and the hose popped off. Of course being in the river, never got the steam bath, so didn't notice anything until the temp light came on. Put the hose back on, filled it with coolant, and it never missed a beat in the 4 years after that incident.

Counting up all the machines I have owned over the years, 1 Yamaha IT 400 dirt bike, 2 Yamaha 175 2 stroke trikes, 2 Yamaha 200 4 stroke trikes, 1 Yamaha Kodiak 450, 2 Yamaha Grizzly 700's 1 450 Honda Rancher ( I think it was), 1 Suzuki Quadsport 500, a Kawasaki Bayou 300,
2 Yamaha mountain max 700's, and our current Yamaha Sr Vipers. I guess you could call me a Yamaha fan.

I kept going back to Yamaha because they have never given me any grief. I have never needed to walk out, get towed out, never needed to spend a dime on them aside from maintenence, or accessories.

But now, I am in the market to buy again. Needless to say I am strongly leaning to getting 2 more Grizzly's for replacements. I have very very little experience with Can and Polaris. Rode a couple Polaris Sportsmans, a 500, and 800. Not for nearly long enough to form much of an opinion of them, but did instantly notice how smooth riding they were compared to my Kodiak. I racked up about a km seat time on a Can am 800, can't form much of an opinion based on that.

I understand Yamaha has reworked the suspension on the newer Grizzly's, but I never really felt our 2012's were overly harsh through the bumps.

I play in the mud very little, generally if there is a way around it, I'll take that route. I find road riding very boring, so wot top end speed is pretty low on my list of priorities. I found our old Grizzly's got up to speed lots quick enough when coming to smooth stretches on the trail, found them perfectly capable crawling through the nastier stuff, and really liked knowing that the only thing I needed to do to them after a ride was to fill the gas tank for the next day.

I've ruled out Honda as their closest comparable machine has that 3 speed auto tranny, (love the cvt belt drive too much) haven't paid any attention to Arctic Cat at all. Not a fan of Suzuki. Something about replacing 2 front diffs in that Quadsport in a year left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. It had stock size mud bug tires on it, aggressive yes, but it wasn't being beat either.


Does Can am, or Polaris offer anything that could sway me their direction. If I have to pull wrenches with any sort of frequency, I'll quickly learn to hate a machine, and it won't be mine for very long.
 

SHREK1

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Pretty hard to beat a grizzly unless you are looking for more power, I had a 2008 and switched up to a 2014, no complaints and another will be in my future. It’s too bad they are so pricey, not much difference from say a canam.
 

neilsleder

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If I were to buy a quad I would be looking at a grizzly. I like Yamaha I do think they are one of the most dependable machines out there. If I want to go fast I would buy a can am or Polaris 1000. But in all reality I would buy the grizzly
 

Adam31

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I would buy another grizzly as well. Have a 13 that has not had any issues. I'm not one for high speeds or crazy mud so the grizzly is perfect for me.
 

j335

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The thing I love about the grizzly’s is their light weight compared to can ams & Polaris. Just can’t get over that, I mean powers is not even close but it’s good enough.
 

arff

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I have had can am and Polaris.

Never tried a grizzly, don’t see a lot of them In places I ride.

Tried the mud pro and Alterra they rode nice. Alterra has great pricing.
 

doorfx

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Yamaha 700 engines have issues with water pump seals , timing chains and oil pump drive gear/chains. I worked on three of them this year. The oil pump chain gets so loose it wears a hole in the case. If you keep on top of those they are good. $1500 in parts alone if you don't. All brands have there issues.
My cost
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2013 700 2470k
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LBZ

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I bought a well used 08 grizz 700 this year and gotta say I've been impressed with it. I've owned all the other major brands and I'd buy another grizzly without question. I liked my outlander also but it was and felt heavy.
 

mxzguy

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I would stick with the Grizzly. I bought a 2014 new was also looking at the Outlander but the Grizzly cost less and I have had many Yamahas and never had a bad one. Before I bought the Grizz I had a Rapter 700 plus many dirt bikes. When I bought the Grizz 3 of my friends all bought Outlander 1000s and while these machines have impressive power and are a hoot to ride all 3 have had issues while my machine has never left me stranded and I have no problem keeping up with them on the trail on a road where you can open them up they are much faster but I would take reliability over top end power all day long. I am also not a mud bogger prefer Rocky Mountain trails over swamp riding so the big power on the Outlander might make them better in that type of riding. I got a Kodiac 450 for my wife and it has also been problem free I had 2 Polaris Scamblers for her a 400 2 stroke and a 500 4 stroke and when they worked they were great but after they got a couple years old pretty much had to pull wrenches after every ride towed both of them back to camp many times don't know if it was just the Scramblers that were unreliable but no more Polaris for me. From my experience with Yamaha do regular maintenance and ride.
 

DDrake

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My dad has a 2008 660 Grizzly. Almost 9000 km. A lot of those km the quad had a cartload of wood behind it. The only issue it ever had was a wire short in the main wiring harness where it rubbed on the frame. I currently have a 2005 Honda Rincon which I like and a 2015 Arctic Cat Wildcat Trail which I haven't put enough km on to form an opinion on really. That being said if I was in the market for a new quad I would probably buy a Grizzly. Can't really go wrong there in my opinion. Good luck with whatever you decide to buy.
P.S. Dad is still on his original belt.
 

Quattroman

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Yep, stick with what you know. We've had a few grizz/zuki's growing up and have over 5k km on my kingquad i bought new in 2012. only issues have been my own doing(stick thru rad, torn CV boot, etc). The kid has a smaller griz and its been put thru the wringer with not a single issue either. Yes they are under powered compared to the canam/polaris counterparts. But for what i/we use the machines for(hunting, acreage maintenance, trail/logging road trips) they work flawlessly.

Would i get another zuki or grizz?? hands down no question for the budget and needs we currently have. (A grizz/suzuki is abit cheaper than the polaris/canam equivalent). But if the budget allowed i would contemplate a 1000cc 2-up just for the extra power and rack/cargo/person capability.
 

j335

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Owned a king quad for 5 yrs and a grizzly for a few months. KQ is sportier & handles off camber situations way better, grizzly is scary in those situations. Grizzly is better bush machine though intake/a-arm setup wise.
I would buy the grizzly if they were the same price but can’t go wrong with either
 

Eagle

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I have owned pretty much every brand except Kawasaki, Suzuki. Polaris is the number one selling ATV in the world and I love mine. Honda is a great machine but under powered and rides like a tank. Yamaha should stick to making Piano"s LOL. Pretty much the same quality as Honda. Can-Am never again junk. (Quebec made also) My two cents
 

250mark1

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I have owned pretty much every brand except Kawasaki, Suzuki. Polaris is the number one selling ATV in the world and I love mine. Honda is a great machine but under powered and rides like a tank. Yamaha should stick to making Piano"s LOL. Pretty much the same quality as Honda. Can-Am never again junk. (Quebec made also) My two cents

FYI can-am have not been made in queerbec since 2008
made in Jaurez Mexico
 

Cdnfireman

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I’ve owned Honda, Yamaha and now can-am. Honda and Yamaha equally reliable in my opinion with Yamaha being way cheaper for parts. I’d never own another Honda quad because parts are outrageous and they’re at least a generation behind in their design.
Can Am is a very well engineered machine, bordering on being over-engineered. Smooth, quiet, very powerful and rides great.
As far as reliability, i think if properly maintained, all 3makes above will give good service.
Based on what I’ve seen with buddies Polaris machines, I’d keep away from them. Polaris are like dodge trucks. Build quality is poor, and reliability drops off rapidly as they get older. Then you’re stuck trading back to the dealer because no one else wants them. ( bear in mind I’m talking quads. I have limited experience with SxS’s).
 

whoDEANie

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I've owned 3 grizzlies before buying an outlander xtp. I love the power of the outty and the fox podium 2.0 suspension but this machine can't even come close to taking the kind of beating that the girzzlies did - thank god for having a 3 year warranty. Especially now that the Grizzly is on a new broader, longer chassis, I am heavily leaning towards going back to one when the time comes. For the money I spent on my outty, I could build one seriously kick azz grizz.
 
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Chuck403

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Decision made, and picked up the replacements. We were pretty sure we were going to go back to the grizzly's. Too many trouble free miles on our old ones to justify trying something else. The Grizzly's has done everything exceptionally well that we use them for. Did take a bold step, and I went with a different colour, while the better half stuck with blue.

Appreciate the replies, I knew Yamaha tweaked the Grizzly from what the 2012's were. Suspension, more storage, engine, etc. I didn't know that they played with the eps though. Sweet baby Jesus, totally effortless steering. Our 2012's were nice, but on the 2018's they really brought it to a whole new level.


Only managed 1 short little ride so far, as getting rained on in December isn't my idea of fun, but looking forward to many more km's getting racked up.
 
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