Looking to buy an ATV utility vehicle side by side 4x4

[Deerthug]

I'm in the market to buy a side by side ATV to use up at my cabin. Needs to be 4x4 with towing and load capacity about 800 to 1000lbs. Have looked at Polaris, Kawasaki, and Toro. Not sure which I like yet. Anyone have/used one before? Should i get it new or used? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

DT

[landtracdeerhunter]

Have you looked into Bad Boys? The only thing the deer hear are the  electric motor and tire noise.

Edited September 7, 2015 by landtracdeerhunter

[Deerthug]

Thanks LT. I will look into the bad boys one.

- Deerthug

[growalot]

I love the Gator...but the price tag is hefty...I didn't care for the Polaris and I really liked Kabota but the engine placement bothered me.

[Deerthug]

I love the Gator...but the price tag is hefty...I didn't care for the Polaris and I really liked Kabota but the engine placement bothered me.

I agree. Some are as expensive as buying a car crazy! I will look at the Kubota too.

- Deerthug

[WNYBuckHunter]

Mine is a Yamaha Viking 700cc, fuel injected, 3 seats, wider than most, which is good and bad. Its sporty enough to be fun, but will work with the best of them. Its one of the few along side John Deere with the same type of transmission. Doenst have the typical Polaris style belt drive issues. Its been flawless so far.

[nyslowhand]

Question for you UTV owners... At least to me, Initially the box/bed looks handy, but can imagine it being cumbersome to use for bulk items like firewood, dirt, gravel or even getting a deer up & into. Are they as convenient &/or useful as they appear?

 

Maybe I'm just too old-school owning a std ATV with a decent (Otter), dump bed trailer, which I've hauled everything from 1/3fc of wood to 1000# of gravel to fully assembled ladder stands. Sure there are other situations where a UTV would be preferable as a work horse..!?!

[gfdeputy2]

Bro-inlaw has an arctic cat prowler 500 & loves it manual lift body works fairly easy even with a heavy load personally I would have gone with the 700

The 500 seems under powered to me but plows some & does what he wants just fine. Not 100% sure but think you can get electric lift for the dump bed

Edited September 8, 2015 by gfdeputy2

[Jaeger]

I love the Gator...but the price tag is hefty...I didn't care for the Polaris and I really liked Kabota but the engine placement bothered me.

I loved my gator as well, but the parts, esp tire sizes are typically John Deere, you have to get stuff from them or special order, not a tractor supply.

 

The polaris, at the time I bought 6 years ago, was way too noisy and the kabota's and bobcat's were too expensive.  

 

Most people around here go to the Kawasaki Mule (my gator had a kawasaki engine by the way!!).  Reasonably priced and hard working.

 

Things to look for are good engine braking for down hill creeping, ease of tilting the bed, for unloading rocks and overweight deer, overall physical size try to keep small models, they will get between trees and under branches better.  Also, play with the 4wd engagement if it uses on, see which you think is easiest for you to grap quickly.

 

Things to avoid, any race type vehicle.  They may look cool, but in the woods you can barely go over 20-25mph without bouncing your teeth out.  They have fewer places to store and mount stuff. 

 

Final recommendation, factor in a warn or ramsey 3500-4000lb utv winch with a wireless controller, you'll need it someday and it comes in handy for everything from winching up deer stands, deer up a tree, moving trees out of the way.   And you can even use it to get unstuck!!

 

Just my opinion.

[Bow Addict]

I love my Polaris Midsize 570.The problem with the Kubotas and gators are if you  ever want to trail ride and run some seasonal roads they are too slow.25 mph max.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Question for you UTV owners... At least to me, Initially the box/bed looks handy, but can imagine it being cumbersome to use for bulk items like firewood, dirt, gravel or even getting a deer up & into. Are they as convenient &/or useful as they appear?

 

Maybe I'm just too old-school owning a std ATV with a decent (Otter), dump bed trailer, which I've hauled everything from 1/3fc of wood to 1000# of gravel to fully assembled ladder stands. Sure there are other situations where a UTV would be preferable as a work horse..!?!

 

Using the bed is a bit more cumbersome than a trailer would be, as its higher up so its similar to loading a deer in a pickup truck, but the plus sides to it makes it a big positive all around. One thing thats nice is when I get a deer, and haul it back in the bed of the UTV, I just drop the tailgate of my truck, back the UTV up to that and slide the deer into the truck. The bed height is almost exactly the same.

[WNYBuckHunter]

I love my Polaris Midsize 570.The problem with the Kubotas and gators are if you  ever want to trail ride and run some seasonal roads they are too slow.25 mph max.

 

Gators do way more than 25. The Kubotas and I believe the Cub Cadets are slow.

[growalot]

I love my dump box and for me tons better than a trailer...it's high and makes a good work bench for cleaning the chainsaw or any type of work I'd need a bench for ...with no bending over back problems and no worries backing up in the woods. Then loading a deer is a breeze with a length of rope...

 Now you can use your winch or just a tree limb

1) lower tailgate and line up deer behind vehicle.

 

2) tie a length of rope that will go from the deer legs or neck over the vehicle roll bars/roof and over a tree branch back to front bumper or your winch cable,tie off

 

3) raise your dump bed and slowly back up or retract your winch cable.

 

Your deer will be pulled up on to the bed and you can lower dump bed adjust deer ...and close tailgate...you do want to stop and adjust head feet to make sure they don't hang up as you complete the pulling

 

Edited September 8, 2015 by growalot

[BellR]

At an old job we used a Kawasaki Mule for just about everything.  It was the model with the dump bed and it was convertible from 2-4 seats.  Was really handy, and I don't think we found anything it couldn't do.  One day we got a F150 stuck in one of the aquaculture ponds (don't ask) and we were able to get it unstuck with a good yank from the Mule. 

[Jaeger]

Question for you UTV owners... At least to me, Initially the box/bed looks handy, but can imagine it being cumbersome to use for bulk items like firewood, dirt, gravel or even getting a deer up & into. Are they as convenient &/or useful as they appear?

 

Maybe I'm just too old-school owning a std ATV with a decent (Otter), dump bed trailer, which I've hauled everything from 1/3fc of wood to 1000# of gravel to fully assembled ladder stands. Sure there are other situations where a UTV would be preferable as a work horse..!?!

Actually, nyslowhand, my gator ran Better with weight in the bed, sort of the same as with a 4wd pickup, get better traction with some weight in the bed.

 

Most have stake holes to put some 1x's and raise the sides, like any load covering it or roping it in helps too.  But I've never ridden a pure atv so my experience is limited.

 

The added weight of the utv helps in pulling trailers I think, like pullling a boat with a pickup vs a yugo.  More stability i would guess.  And the added weight helps when using a winch to move trees, etc. out of the way, though the reverse may be true too, I needed a 4000lb ramsey/warn to reliably unstick my gator.

 

My gator was about the same dimensions lenght and width as most of the large atv and smaller than the reallly big atv's so it might have been more manuverable.

 

Gosh, I miss my gator.

[growalot]

I wish ours was that size...we have to buy a new trailer because the gator won't fit on the one we use for the JD mower with the 6ft deck...the wheel base is too long.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Did I hear someone needs to buy a trailer? lol

[thphm]

Why in the world would you want to go more that 25 mph on a side by side , they are not set up for high speed driving. Almost every week in our county you read about people getting killed by going out of control or falling off of there atv's and utv's , All are speed related and no all are kids, many are adults.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Why in the world would you want to go more that 25 mph on a side by side , they are not set up for high speed driving. Almost every week in our county you read about people getting killed by going out of control or falling off of there atv's and utv's , All are speed related and no all are kids, many are adults.

 

Mine does 50+, and is setup perfectly for driving at those speeds. There are also plenty of sport side by sides that are purpose built for speed. Check out the Arctic Cat Wildcat, Yamaha YXZ1000R, Polaris RZR, etc.

[thphm]

Well I just hope you are wearing a St. Christopher Metal or have one hanging on your ride if you are going to go that fast in that thing.

[WNYBuckHunter]

If you do a little looking into the type of machines we are talking about here, Im sure youll see that they arent just beefed up golf carts lol.

[ants]

Well I just hope you are wearing a St. Christopher Metal or have one hanging on your ride if you are going to go that fast in that thing.

I have had my 700EFI up to 40+ a time or two, with throttle left. Screw that..LOL!  too fast for my blood.. I rarely go over 25 mph or so.