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Looking at buying a UTV

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tenbach79

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Thinking about buying a UTV (rather the grandparents would like to have one to give the grandkids a ride in) I know alot of guys on here have one and really like them. What are some of the better models. Looked at a polaris ranger xp 800, and a john deere one (the JD dealer sales both that i went to)? I know honda makes one and we have two Honda 4-wheelers and they are very dependable. Any info will be great.
 
Some friends of ours bought Arctic Cat and they really are happy
with it. I think they might be a little less money. MR FH rode in it
and thought it was very nice and comfortable. Some he has ridden
in have the exhaust under the seat and they get hotter than he likes in the summertime. The Arctic Cat didn't have that and it stayed cool.
 
I have a Yamaha Rhino. Its not bad but the polaris 800 I think is the way to go thats what I'm going to get next. The have the option of power stering which is nicer than you think it would be. A lot of my neighbors have polaris and I have rode one to try it out. John Deere makes good stuff, but cost more. The Polaris goes quite a bit faster than other brands. Most UTV's will top out at 40 the polaris will go closer to 60. I ride mine down the road a lot and 40 seems like your crawling when your going 5 miles.
 
We have the Bobcat one, (not sure what the # is) it is actually made by Polaris and is almost identical to the Ranger, a couple things are different like the Bobcat doesn't go quite as fast as the Ranger. We really like it. I don't know the difference in price, so if you want the Ranger, price check woth your local Bobcat dealer to see which is the better buy. But only buy the 2011 model and newer if you are wanting a Bobcat, as we had the older version first, which was made by Clubcar, and it was a lemmon.
 
My vote would go for the Polaris Ranger. We have two 800 HD models, and one 800 XP. All are good outfits, but I like the HD's a little better. The "HD" stands for "'heavy duty," and these have 26" tires instead of the 25" tires on our XP. We use these outfits hard and daily, and they have made ranching both easier and more fun. :wink: Save the money that it would take to put on a cab. Dress for the day, and enjoy the wind blowing through your hair. On a hot day, this concept creates its own breeze, and on a cold day you have opportunity to develop character. :)

Here is a video page where you can compare Polaris versus other brands.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=polaris+ranger+comparison+videos&mid=E3C477D6B0E632A07A6CE3C477D6B0E632A07A6C&view=detail&FORM=VIRE1
 
Tenbach, like everything else in life you get what you pay for. I bought a BushHog. Like everyone else; fourwheelers tend be obsolete except for specific jobs. My next one will be a Deere with a bench seat. Just because we have dealer support within a reasonable drive.

Speed is an issue for some folks. I have a little girl that is driving already and 25 mph is faster enough for her. Plus my ranch isn't big enough for for a 40 mph machine.

Good luck on your purchase.

If you have a CrankyApe.com near you. They have repo's regularly for sale.
 
Thanks for the input. I am leaning more toward the polaris but I really havent had the time to really go looking at all the diffrent models out there. The salesman told me that the payload capacity of the ranger was around 1500#. Would that be right or can you haul more? What about pulling capacity? How does it hand going down the road loaded up?

The only add on that I thought about putting on was a winch and the have grille guards plus guards to go around the machine if you really want to get crazy with it.
 
tenbach79 said:
Thanks for the input. I am leaning more toward the polaris but I really havent had the time to really go looking at all the diffrent models out there. The salesman told me that the payload capacity of the ranger was around 1500#. Would that be right or can you haul more? What about pulling capacity? How does it hand going down the road loaded up?

The only add on that I thought about putting on was a winch and the have grille guards plus guards to go around the machine if you really want to get crazy with it.
Click to expand...

I don't have a UTV, nor do I use my 4-wheeler much, but from what I have seen of others that have and use both, get ALL the GUARDS possible, or make some. Soaps, are the only ones I have seen that aren't pretty much destroyed, as far as the plastic goes, and I know one of his has some broken plastic on it from where it got "tired" :p

Sorry Peach
 
This may be a silly reason for my selection, but the biggest reason I got the Ranger was the fact that it has a bench seat and is the easiest to get in and out of. 2 adults can squeeze a couple of children between them and head out.
Also very nice for tagging calves. The passenger can just step out of the Ranger so easily and grab a calf even while the outfit is on the move.
 
We have an old Kawasaki mule, two wheel drive, and it will go anyplace I'm brave enough to point it. It's the most used piece of equipment in our inventory.
 
I lean toward the Honda's and Yamaha's. My brother in law is a great mechanic and he says working on Polaris and Artic Cats is a pain. My Honda rancher 4 wheeler has 15000 miles on it and still going strong. The Yamaha Rhino is a great machine and will go anyplace ya need it to. Good luck with you purchase and let us know how it goes! :D I think we might get a Rhino next spring.
 
I run an artic cat it is a great machine the only thing that sucks about it is when i need parts the closest shop is 100 miles away for that reason alone my next one be a ranger since i live next to a dealer
 
I have an 825i gator. 45 mph with a 50 hp engine. Haven't been that fast yet but it will really go. Has a pretty decent bench seat Has pipe guards around the fenders to protect them in case you are in the middle of a bunch of cows that get to horsing around. They will go anywhere and have a lot of ground clearance.
 
I had a 610 4x4 Mule. Bought it used and I put another 600+ hours on it. Made some necessary repairs to it and sold it locally. I bought a 625i Gator.
It's a little squirrelly at times going down a gravel road. It wants to load up just puttering around in pastures spraying thistles. I take it out where I can run it fast and it clears up but the eventually the rough running returns. The gas gauge quit working about 3 days after I bought it. That will be covered under warranty.
The gator rides very nice. Handles rough terrain much better than the Mule. It's a bigger machine, heavier. More ground clearance. Great suspension. I've got 160 hours on mine. More of a gas hog. Excellent grill guard that comes down around the bottom of the fenders.
Look at which ones are air cooled vs water cooled. Also, ask what the life of the engine is (hour). I read the Mule was estimated to be 1,000 hours.
I needed a winch on the Mule because I could get high centered easily with it but haven't put one on the Gator.
It's difficult to sort out all the different brands & models. Good Luck.
 
All brands have their qualities and weakness. You might also consider what kind of dealer is close to you and what kind of service you can get. You don't want to drive a 100 miles to get it worked on. All of them will break down something sometime. If someone says they don't they aren't using them much.
 
There are big differences in payload and the size of the cargo box. I've got an old Rhino 660 and it only has a 400 lb. payload and a pretty small box. The Mules, Rangers, and Gators have over twice the payload and a bigger box.
 
I live 12 miles at least from my ground so a 97 ford escort cost $250 works for me. Or I'll just drive my truck. from what I see UTV's are a unessasary expense but to each their own.
 

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