Honda ATVs were good before they started trying to play "catch-up". They seem to be ahead of the game in many ways as long as they stick with what they know well, though it tends to be conservative. Their carbs have long been excellent but for the 'choke' (which can get sticky and cause rich condition when it gets cold). Their foray into FI machines has been problematic from the start, not being designed or proven in cold conditions. In fact, anything less than -10º is getting into questionable territory. A hotter plug is known to help, but the 'program' should have been designed to accommodate it. Perhaps they've changed that in the latest models.
On my '02 rancher I've replaced the choke cable for sticking three times. The guy at the Honda parts counter said there's a place where it can get water in there where the cable goes into the carb so it corrodes and starts sticking. I did a rebuild on the carb once because it got trash from some bad gas in it. At first I though I had a plugged up fuel filter so I went to the dealership to get another filter. Imagine my surprise when I found out there's no fuel filter on that series of rancher. WTF? Who in their right mind would NOT put a fuel filter on an ATV? They're constantly getting fueled from cans in the middle of nowhere so they're going to eventually get bad fuel, a fuel filter should be a no brainer but Honda elected to not put one on there. I took a piece of the fuel line to the napa place and told them to give me the smallest in-line filter they had so now I've got one plumbed into the line. That was a really stupid idea on Honda's part though not to put a fuel filter on there somewhere. The carb rebuild didn't work too well so I ended up putting a new carb on, it's running OK now. I got so frustrated dealing with that over a couple of months and not having a running ATV that I went to the Honda place and bought a new '10 rancher AT. I would have bought a Rubicon or Foreman but at the time they were carbed and I wasn't having another carburetor again, the rancher motor had been updated with fuel injection so I went with that. That was five years ago and I haven't had a moments trouble out of the fuel injected motor. It doesn't get cold in Mississippi though so I don't know if it'd give trouble in extreme cold.
I'll never buy any kind of vehicle that isn't fuel injected again. Carburetors are evil!
