Which is your favorite UTV?

Gary Ward

Gary Ward

En-Route
Joined
Jan 16, 2020
Messages
3,639
Location
Lawrenceburg, Indiana
Display Name
Challenger1
Home Airfield
I67
In the market for one and this will be my first.
Need one for general work around a small farm. 2 seater with a utility bed in the rear I am thinking? Is there one that could be used for fun/sport/work dual purpose?
Polaris seems popular. But I was not impressed by their ATVs 20 years ago compared to my Suzuki and Hondas. Times change I realize. Need a good suspension as I have some ruff pastures that it will be used in. 4 wheel drive needed. Any of them best at snow plowing?
I have not done a lot of research yet and would appreciate anyone's opinion on what is the best value and what is the absolute best.
Thank you.
 
Last edited:
A number of our neighbors have Polaris UTVs. They’re used for light duty, but seem to have good suspensions and durability. They have a poor turning radius - too big for the wheelbase. And are belt-driven.
 
For heavy duty work and using around a farm/ranch, look at Kubotas. We use 2 RTV1100's all day, every day. They get beat up and just need normal MX (fluids, filters, tires). They are slower than models made for fun, but they are agile and handy. We do also have a Polaris that is more fun, but it is not heavy duty - suspension/ride is fine even on rough, power is good, but as noted above - the turning radius is terrible.
 
Gary
I own a couple Polaris models and agree with the above. If you're looking for work more than faster trail riding I would likely stay away from polaris. The Kawasaki mules have a steel bed and there are aftermarket hydraulics for dump bed conversion. The 3k series I believe lacks power steering. the 4k series has it. The Kubotas are heavy and slower but built more for work and more likely to have power dump bed or plow.
 
Dad has a Polaris Ranger XP 1000 Northstar. It's ok. But I have a few gripes that is making me look at can am when Im in the market.

They don't offer it anymore, but the Polaris Brutus was pretty slick.

I had a bobcat toolcat 5600 that I sold to a customer of ours. He uses it on his farm. But that wouldn't really work for recreation. Bobcats lighter duty utvs are made by Polaris
 
Last edited:
Gary Ward said:
I am a fan of Kawasaki, still have a good running 3 wheeler Kaw since 1984.
I just left a Kuboto dealer looking and learning about them. Thank you for your input.
Please keep anyones input coming. Thank you.
Click to expand...
I have the pro mx… it has a little bit higher top speed than the basic mules- does around 30-35 comfortably on the road. We do family rides around the local backroads to look for wildlife which makes that handy.

Also as pictured it can pull trailers full of firewood around… at much lower speeds of course.

I like the metal dump bed, I don’t like the fuel cap placement as it makes fueling from a gas can awkward but I don’t need to do that often. Muffler gets hot enough to glow slightly if it’s run hard… apparently this is just how they’re tuned, hasn’t caused an issue but it’s a bit disconcerting. It’s not as sporty as a Polaris but for utility type use it holds up well from what I’ve seen.

Got it in 2020, has about 2,000 miles now. No problems so far.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2375.jpeg
    IMG_2375.jpeg
    5.8 MB · Views: 13
So changing up what the OP was looking for... What would you all recommend for a more of a recreational side-by-side.

- Four seater would be nice to take people staying with us.
- Fire roads or what I'd consider lighter off-road.
- Not looking to do 90 down some fire road, but at the same time getting to and from some places might require a quick trip on a highway. So I'd like to not be basically standing still if someone comes up behind me.

And I have no clue on the range of side-by-sides. 50 miles 100, 200?
 
Last edited:
We like our can-am 4 seat. Comfortable ride, peppy, and completely stock. I think it will go low 60’s although we stay around 25-30, which gets 250-300 miles of range. Sounds like you plan to use a UTV much like we do, and this one is pretty comfortable doing just that.
 
GoFly said:
We like our can-am 4 seat. Comfortable ride, peppy, and completely stock. I think it will go low 60’s although we stay around 25-30, which gets 250-300 miles of range.
Click to expand...
Yes, that sounds like what we're looking for. Thx for the tip.

For years my parents kept their Subaru for us to have a car when we came out west. That also worked out great to get up most of the fire roads to the trails we liked to hike. But they've passed and the car is gone and now that we've moved out west we only have our VW with not the greatest clearance. So it's either just get a Jeep as a second car, which would come in handy sometimes, but maybe not enough to warrant a full second car and all the expenses. So the side-by-side may makes a lot more sense.
 
FORANE said:
Everybody likes pics. Here's my 2018 Polaris 1000xp.View attachment 155896
Click to expand...
I see you also had to get aftermarket lights. The stock lights are inadequate if not out right dangerous. Dad actually just got led bulbs for his stock lights.

We fabbed up our own bracket so the top light bar goes in front of the windshield. Keeps from snagging anything in the woods.
 
Gary
I don't know if you have hills where you are, but you should be aware of how the different brands parking / e-braking work. On the Polaris, mine at least, it doesn't have a parking brake. Rather, in park, it uses a metal pawl that drops into a gear in the tranny. This locks the transmission preventing the wheels from rolling. It also results in a bind that makes it more difficult to shift out of park; this is especially true when you're on a hill. I don't like it but keep in mind my hill has up to and exceeding 30 degree slopes.
Most of the nearby Christmas tree farms in the hills of NC seem to use either Kawasakis or Kubotas. Probably 80+% Kawasaki over Kubota.
 
M20K said:
Yes, that sounds like what we're looking for. Thx for the tip.

For years my parents kept their Subaru for us to have a car when we came out west. That also worked out great to get up most of the fire roads to the trails we liked to hike. But they've passed and the car is gone and now that we've moved out west we only have our VW with not the greatest clearance. So it's either just get a Jeep as a second car, which would come in handy sometimes, but maybe not enough to warrant a full second car and all the expenses. So the side-by-side may makes a lot more sense.
Click to expand...
I like the Jeep Idea, at the price of UTV's especially if you are looking for a bigger one, you can be a by a used Jeep for about the same money and it will have a lot more utility. Probably has a heater and air conditioning, and you can use it as a daily driver or backup vehicle if you need to. Jeep is probably less cost per mile than the UTV also.
I do have a 2015 Artic Cat Trail 700 UTV, but we got it to instead of an ATV because we like to go on narrower trails and my wife like to take the dog with her.
 
M20K said:
Interesting. I would have thought the UTV would have been cheaper to operate once you add in the insurance, license, etc.
Click to expand...
Insurance is probably the biggest factor and would depend on how much more you drove the Jeep vs the UTV.
Will admit my UTV insurance is pretty cheap probably about the same as my 2001 Corolla valued at about $1500 vs the UTV probably valued about $8000.
Brian
 
brcase said:
I like the Jeep Idea, at the price of UTV's especially if you are looking for a bigger one, you can be a by a used Jeep for about the same money and it will have a lot more utility. Probably has a heater and air conditioning, and you can use it as a daily driver or backup vehicle if you need to. Jeep is probably less cost per mile than the UTV also.
I do have a 2015 Artic Cat Trail 700 UTV, but we got it to instead of an ATV because we like to go on narrower trails and my wife like to take the dog with her.
Click to expand...
My biggest gripe about utv's is noise. I put 600 miles on ours in 12 days. Enclosed cab. Even with earplugs my ears just hum when I get out into quiet woods.

I can hear utvs coming 2 miles away on forest roads. The guys with jeeps are MUCH quieter.

Maybe I'm just autistic and overly sensitive. But I need to be able to hear a faint bugle.
 
FORANE said:
Gary
I don't know if you have hills where you are, but you should be aware of how the different brands parking / e-braking work. On the Polaris, mine at least, it doesn't have a parking brake. Rather, in park, it uses a metal pawl that drops into a gear in the tranny. This locks the transmission preventing the wheels from rolling. It also results in a bind that makes it more difficult to shift out of park; this is especially true when you're on a hill. I don't like it but keep in mind my hill has up to and exceeding 30 degree slopes.
Most of the nearby Christmas tree farms in the hills of NC seem to use either Kawasakis or Kubotas. Probably 80+% Kawasaki over Kubota.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info on parking brake, that helps. I will check out the other options see how their brake setup works. Good to know.

Yes we have rolling hills, 7-8 acres of pasture.
I had it bush hogged 2-3 weeks ago, time before that was late May this year.

I cut it yesterday with a cub cadet zero turn,60” deck.
I am pretty sure it had been a long time since it was cut this short.
I used the highest deck height.
Good I think till next summer?
I still have 3-4 acres to go.
IMG_0042.jpegIMG_0053.jpegIMG_0052.jpeg
 
Yeah, rolling hills is enough to load up the weight of the utv on the pawl. Every shift out of park will be a clunk on my Polaris .
The Kawasaki and I think most utv tranny's are CVT. The Kubota tranny is hydrostatic. Maybe you already knew that or possibly it's not a concern of yours but I figured I would mention it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top