Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's What gives with Polaris? Is it a POS?

Used ATVs on craigslist are 10 to 1. Even doing a specific search for yamaha, suzuki or arctic the polaris shows up cause those sellers place those brands as key words in their listing.

In a word, yes. If you gave me one I'd trade it in on something Japanese, preferably Yamaha.

I beg to differ... I have owned them for 20+ years and had zero problems. Just routine maintenance

Owning is far different than using. Putting around the yard every once in a while and a few weekends at deer camp every year is all the work most will ever likely see.

We use our atvs every day. They're rode hard and put away wet. Yamaha has always proven to be the longest lasting. I just looked and our '12 Grizzly 450 is sitting at 15,800 miles and 4,600 hours. I'd love to see a Polaris that even approaches that.

There are more used Polaris ATVs for sale than any other make because more new Polaris ATVs are sold than any other make. It's about market share.

Not by a long shot around here. I'd guess the japanese brands outsell polaris 10 to 1. Polaris is pretty much considered a POS by everyone I know, I haven't seen anyone driving one in years.

I've known some guys that owned a polaris. I've never known anyone that bought their second one though.

Never had a Polaris......been around some on trails....

All comes down to features...pricing....warranty.....reputation....promotions

Razr's are popular around my parts...I've have had Honda..Yamaha and now a Kawasaki...

Kawasaki Teryx comes with a 3 year bumper to bumper warranty..unlike the other mfg's 6 months

In spring of '18 they offered $2K off MSRP....that's when I bought mine..its been trouble free at 3500 miles

Utah has miles & miles of public land/trails to ride....when you're 40+ miles from the truck....

You need a reliable machine to get ya back.....

The folks here that just use the Rangers for putting around the deer camp or the neighborhood like them well enough. Folks that use them for work, not so much. The gas well hands that drive them every day will typically pick a Japanese machine. My father's Ranger has seldom been used in a harsh or aggressive manner and it's rare that it goes a year or more without something breaking or crapping out. The motor has held up fine, but not much else. On the flipside, the Honda and Yamaha ATVs mostly just get oil and brakes, and they get worked harder.

just another tid bit.........Teryx oil pan holds 4 qts.........

Most machines are only 2 qt......

I had a Kawi Prairie 650 that made 13,000 miles before got tired of pouring money into it to keep it fixed. Was a lemon from the start and I would be hesitant to go green again.

Mine's blue..........

I do miss the growl of that big V-twin.

Polaris R&D department is the customer in my experience. They push a lot of there products out before they are ready, my oil fill is under the fender on my big boss 6 X 6 , they have a lot of firsts and they ride better than most, need to work on reliability.

IME - Polaris aren't all that great.

Back when I first got married - I worked at a dealer and salvage yard. Saw Polaris engineering up close - couldn't give me one. In the time since, owned and ridden with friends who've owned every make and model under the sun.

The brand that consistently had issues, lost the most value and caused the most grey hair was Polaris.

For me - it begins and ends at Yamaha. They run and run regardless of maintenance it seems.

Honestly, I just pull deer out of the woods with mine. We do a little to manage the property, cutting trees and whatnot. I don't really hotrod mine around or goof off with it. For that purpose, I want it to crank and run. Honda does that for me year after year with little issue. I just change the oil/filter and put gas in it.

I'm on my second Polaris Sportsman. The first one was a 2000 Sportsman 500 and when I finally sold it 2 years ago, it had over 16,000 miles on it. All I ever had to replace was a belt, tires and 2 CV boots. I bought another Sportsman, a 450 in 2018. It's an incredible machine and I suspect it will give me just as much service as the first one. I've also owned 2 Yamahas and a Kawasaki. Talk about a POS. I'd never buy another Kawasaki.

My experience with Polaris is you get to know the dealer service department real well. Have had 2 Rangers and gave up on them after early clutch failures, overheating, belt problems and engine braking working when it felt like it. Have 2 Yamaha Vikings now and standard maintenance only. Both 2015 1 has almost 7000 the other 5000. They also do better in the traction department than Polaris. The Yamaha has a locked rear in the back and an e-locker in front. Polaris locks after it senses wheel spin which is often too late. Polaris does ride nice and offers an open rear end if you ride on grass/lawns.

I cut and sell firewood use my atvs hard 1st was a Polaris ran it for 3 years sold it for junk. After that I went thru Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki over the years. The only machines I buy today are Suzuki King Quads! You cannot kill them. Kid who worked for me backed one off a ramp where it was sitting with the oil plug and filter removed while I drove to town to buy them. He drove that thing out to the woodyard loaded a car trailer dull of wood and was unloading it when I got back. I just figured it was seized up and stopped there but no it was idling away as he was unloading. Put pan plug in spun on filter and filled it with Rotella when started again it calmwd down after a few minutes and xooled off. I am still using that machine. Fired the kid though.

90 mile loop yesterday on my '18 Kawi........

Along with a bud on his new 1000 General.....

Another bud with his '14 Razr 800...

Reliablity is very important when you're 45 miles from the truck

My oldest grandson drives my Yamaha Rhino like he ripped it off from somebody, yes from me, but so far it is holding up well. I wish all makers could figure out how to make the plastics look nice longer.