Side by side ATV's

[Gordon Maney]

Do any of you have involvement with side by side ATV's, such as Polaris, Kubota, and others? If so, what do you have, and why? Whose is the best?

[W_A_Watson_II]

I have a '08 Polaris Ranger RZR 800. My brother had a 700 Ranger, and now has a 900 Ranger.

For work, the Rangers like my brother has is great, with a nice bed and bench seat (roomy 3 man bench seat).

For fun and almost go anywhere I like my RZR. Although if I was to buy now, I'd strongly consider the Commander by Can-Am.

[Chewie]

Can Am or a John Deere Gator..

[Clint Dixon]

Do any of you have involvement with side by side ATV's, such as Polaris, Kubota, and others? If so, what do you have, and why? Whose is the best?

Todd Somers did a lot of research on these a few years back and ended up buying a Kawasaki as his best choice. He has taken me all over Wilkes county in it.

[W_A_Watson_II]

Not Impressed with the Gators, heavy, sink easy and not a lot of power. again depends on what you intend to do with it.

[wayneh]

We have a Kubota RTV-900. I bought it because we use it in the woods a lot and it has power steering and a hydrostatic transmission. I'm not impressed with the transmission, but the power steering and diesel engine I like. It will carry some weight.

[318cu.in.]

First things first

What do you intend to do with an ATV, Gordon? And a side by side?

[Gordon Maney]

Use to travel around in my reforestation project, have the possibility of taking a friend, or an elderly person, and also carry a chainsaw and supplies.

[Gordon Maney]

We have a Kubota RTV-900. I bought it because we use it in the woods a lot and it has power steering and a hydrostatic transmission. I'm not impressed with the transmission, but the power steering and diesel engine I like. It will carry some weight.

What do you dislike about the transmission?

[Gordon Maney]

I have a '08 Polaris Ranger RZR 800. My brother had a 700 Ranger, and now has a 900 Ranger.

For work, the Rangers like my brother has is great, with a nice bed and bench seat (roomy 3 man bench seat).

For fun and almost go anywhere I like my RZR. Although if I was to buy now, I'd strongly consider the Commander by Can-Am.

What do you like about Can Am?

[Jake]

If I wanted speed, handling and performance I would look at Can-am. If I wanted overall utility, fuel efficiency, hauling and towing capability I would consider the Mechron or for a lighter, shorter wheelbase the Polaris utility UTV.
Having said that the market seems to be changing rapidly so doing some research on current models will pay off.

[W_A_Watson_II]

What do you like about Can Am?

Gordon,

The Can-Am has better utility incorporation into a low fast performance side-by-side. However based on your intended use, I'd NOT recommend the RZR or Commander.

For your use, the easy entry access and load carrying capacity leads me to think the Polaris Ranger would be best. The bench seat, while comfortable is at a great height and very easy to climb in and out of. Also the bed has plenty of capacity and the non-crew cab version will get you every where you want and then some.

Will

[Gordon Maney]

Gordon,

The Can-Am has better utility incorporation into a low fast performance side-by-side.

Will

What are you meaning by this phrase?

[W_A_Watson_II]

Bed is more usable and additional storage areas as compared to the RZR. In order to keep the chain saw in my RZR I either had to tie it in, or keep in a box/bucket, etc... other wise it would just slide right out the back when I went up a hill.

[wayneh]

What do you dislike about the transmission?

Gordon: It is a hydrostatic transmission, and I like the hydrostatics in my John Deere 4400 and 318, but in my opinion the Kubota was not ready for prime time when we bought it several years ago.

- When you go to "shift" ranges, (high, medium, low or reverse) if there is any pressure built up in the transmission, like if you are on a hill or just stopped, you can't get it into reverse or change from low to medium etc. unless you pull out a choke like thing which relieves the pressure. That is a band-aid they put on after many complaints.

- On my John Deere's, I can stall the engine if my tires won't spin. On the Kubota if I am in high or medium gear, and hauling a heavy load, the engine just revs and it seems like it is not putting enough power to the wheels. No to give Kubota credit, in first gear it will pull a reasonable load up a steep hill. We have a few steep hills here when I pulled this load of wood up. Still, I feel like it does not put enough power from the engine to the wheels.

- In my book, a hydrostatic should be like the John Deere, and to go from forward to reverse you don't move anything, you just push the forward or reverse pedal, and that reverse the why the gears spin in the hydro. The Kubota you have to "shift" from forward to reverse, and that is annoying.

Now maybe this all started when I put the John Deere sticker on the back of the Kubota....

Wayne