Every company has a mission, some are low price leaders, some are known for the highest quality. Of course all the companies have to say they are a good value and excellent quality and performance and so on... I personally believe Polaris is a "sales" oriented company. That is their primary focus. They happen to ventured in a risky market (high performane SXS) and hit a homerun because they are THE ONLY one around. They have enjoyed years of market leadership because they were the only game in down with a national network of dealers who market and sell sell sell. They seem great during the sale but fall off once you buy. The bottom-line is they don't have to be high quality, people buy anyway because they are affordable through their financing and for the $ you can GET ON the trails with an incredible (even with its issues) piece of technology. For the longest time no other manufacturer would venture into the unproven SXS market, so in one respect thank God they starts it! Now that can am, artic cat, and John Deere are in the market things will probably improve over the years. Personally, I like the new John Deere 850i and am keeping my eye on them. I just wish it had a little more wheel travel.

 

Truth is, Polaris is not Yamaha in quality department, lot of people wish including me that Yamaha start make a real sport SxS. Till then we need to be happy with Polaris, because so far they do best sport SxS even with those quality problems....IMHO
milos

 

If Yamaha would build a sport SxS comparable to the rzr, I'd buy one one in a second. I don't understand why they won't step up. They basicly invented the sport SxS almost 10 years ago with the Rhino.... and then completly ignored it. The only signifigant change they have made to the rhino in all its years of production is EFI. The Rhino was THE SxS to have until the rzr came out - now almost nobody buys a Rhino. Yamaha has to have noticed. I just don't get it, why won't they step up?

 

I've owned just about all the brands. Never owned a Kawasaki quad only a dirt bike. All of them were great products. Except the Polaris quads

The two Polaris quads I've owned both have had bad design issues. 1997 trailblazer the chain came off and smashed the case. Newer models had a guard there. They had to of seen the potential for a problem. The scrambler 500 has had the flywheel key shear and the cam wear out with grooves cut in it. I've read 100s of internet threads about these problems. I still have the scrambler 500 and its broken most of the time. I only keep it because its worth nothing. I just keep fixing it. It does have hundreds of hours on it.

My rzr so far I've worked on the air filtration sealing everything and adding prefilters. Replacing u joints with grease able ones and a few other things that I thought were bad designs.

I guess I'm not talking QC but more of Polaris design going "eh, its good enough sell em!"

If Honda sold a sport sxs I would of bought it instead. And if someone else has something better than my 50" I'll be gone from Polaris products as soon as I can get to the dealer.

 

I agree with everything stated so far.

Polaris owns the side by side market right now. At recent ride in Bell county, KY about 5000 people, the RZR was the predominant vehicle.

 

polaris quality controller says, no speaky engrish, or no habla senor? (cuz its made in mexico w/a few asst. chinese parts)

 

polaris quality controller says, no speaky engrish, or no habla senor? (cuz its made in mexico w/a few asst. chineseparts)

:

:rofl3::rofl3::rofl3:

 

I think you get what you pay for. Polaris certainly isn't on par with fit and finish as Can Am is but they all have their faults. RZRs are lighter than the competition, they're about as powerful, the handling is as good if not better than anything out there. True the Wildcat has a suspension to die for but as an overall off road machine it still lags behind the XP. The Maverick looks like a monster but then again, Polaris is doing something sinister next month.
Yamaha would certainly come out on top of a quality contest if they made something that would compete but they haven't and I doubt if they do anytime soon. Honda is the same way.
When Yamaha, suzuki and Honda all came out with motocross bikes in the early 70's they were JUNK. horrible welding, frames made of mashed together popcorn kernals, and handling that would kill you if pushed to the limit.
They all learned that speed, and they had plenty of that back then, wasn't going to keep them competetive for long it the things wouldn't cross the finish line for parts falling off. They did however finally figure it out and Polaris may someday see fit to go there. For me personally, I dont' see a need if I'm not wanting to race the thing. I do wish they'd build better A-arm brackets. I'm almost sure that beer can thick sheet metal isn't the stongest thing they could have found for that.
These aren't race cars and weren't intended to be driven like some of us drive them. But for what you pay and what you get for your dollar, they're still the best (in my mind) option if you want unrivalled overall performance. As far as reliability goes, I've had zero failures in 2500 miles on mine and I'm not the only one who's had good luck. When it does break, it won't be because of something that Polaris didn't do right.

 

I hope the military RZR's dont have as many Quality Control issues, suck to be where u need it most and fail.

But they also probably cost Lots more.

 

I still can't wrap my little brain around using a plastic buggy in a world where bullets are flying. Then again, we were using chenowth dune buggies for the same scout thing in the 70's at Ft. Carson. Go figure.

 

Another view: Go to YouTube and watch how the RZR's are treated. You never see quads abused to the extent the RZR family is, i.e. racing up and over boulders, rock faces. Flat out flying and jumping over and over. Pretending they are sub's. How many roll overs, end oh's, etc., and then add the simple numbers of RZR units out there. I see things on You Tube that are hard to believe and the machines keep going. One can also find the really bad crashes where the machine is destroyed. After watching a bunch of those vids, I came to the conclusion that Polaris makes an unusual robust set of machines, and they do listen to their customers and make improvements each year.

As stated, we only hear from those who have a failure and all those problems are Polaris's fault, very seldom is operator responsibility for abuse every admitted.

 

I agree with you on that. But how many engine failures do you read about because of the horrible air box design?or the 09 and early 10 with low gear failures or many other problems that aren't from abuse?

There are a lot of problems that aren't abuse related and stem from poor QC and engineering that I believe Polaris is aware of. If I ripped , my a arms off or bent frames that's not Polaris's fault. But if I buy a brand new machine with the air box. Tubing leaking and blow it up that's not my fault. Read the latest thread in the 570 section. The guy found his air box a mess and built his own air box parts out of pic pipe. Should have to do that on a machine that. Cost wise is on par with a used truck.

 

it's not my fault that Polaris chose to use cheap bushings that don't last. It's not my fault that Polaris chose to use cheap wheel bearings that don't last. I can say the same for ball joints, tie rods, a-arm mounts, radiator mounts, voltage regulator location, prop shaft ujoints, plastic sprauge in front diff, shift lever detent balls and springs, shocks and springs, loose wire connections, incorrectly fitting front hubs, engines/transmissions mounted too low in frame, header pipe that melts stuff, plastic gas tank location,...where do i stop?
It is, however my fault that I choose to keep poring money into this thing. It's the most fun machine to operate I've ever been on.

 

See in your sig, you have an 2008. Just sold mine and updated for a 2013. Know all about the 08' issues. Wanted to keep a dependable unit as sometimes it is just the wife and I out alone.

 

i've repaired/updated everything I've ran into. It's never left me stranded, except for when I knocked the bottom of the motor out. I actually kinda trust the machine. At least I should say that I trust all the stuff that I've done. 14,000 miles.
I have a grizzly, so I know what quality is. But I don't think it's fully fair to compare quads against side by sides. Yamaha gets my vote, but with all the rhino law suits, I doubt that they develop any new side by sides.

 

Agree, a quad and a side by side are apple and oranges. Only thing in common is 4 wheels.

Do not expect the Japanese to every enter the sport side by sides market or the two up market. Some thing they have decided on among themselves. Think is it a culture thing with them. They have managed to get more then there share of lawsuits, first Honda with the three wheeler and now Yamaha. Sue one, might as well sue them all. Have heard they have a saying, "the nail that stands out gets driven down." Conformity, and don't forget there government gets involved when products do not meet the national quality standard.

Suzuki just stopped importing cars to the US. They are going to focus on the motor sports market instead.

 

Night & day difference. Better ground clearance as well. 08 had very bad springs. Changed them twice. The 2012 springs were very nice on 08. The 13 has a great ride.

 

Yes there are issues. I believe for the deep mud riding like I do in the South, I think they hold up better than any other SXS on the market. For mud riding!!!

 

We have had a variety of toys over the last 30 years, from a variety of manufacturers, and they all have design flaws. You choose what toy siuts you best and deal with the problems; it's reality when you own and use (or abuse) your toys. I too have watched dozens of videos featuring rzr's and cannot believe the truly stupid things or truly amazing things people do in a rzr.

 

Well on the other side of the coin. I do part time ATV repair and have found Yamaha's a FREAKING ELECTRICAL NIGHTMARE. I also have a friend that owns a full time service business and he has replaced more electrical components in Yamaha's than all other brands combined. I had one customer that had three stators in his Grizzly in less than 1000 miles. Most I have run into have the electrical junk under the left rear fender.

 

I have an 09 Yamaha grizzly 700. Love the bike. Best ATV I have ever owned. When looking for a side x side the only one with a true sport one was Polaris. The over all quality of this thing is poor. But on that note everything is pritty easy to fix and upgrade to where you want it. After you put some money in it you have one great machine!!! Would I buy a Polaris again ? Yes because I know what to look for on them now. And with this forum there is bound to be someone that has had the problem or knows how to fix it. Also just remember all those DAMN push pins in that can am!!! Lol

 

 

Lets not forget, The 2002 Grizzly had vapor lock issues, 2003 has toothpick axles, 2002-2004 had oil consupmtion issues. I had had a couple 660's and then made the mistake and bought a first year 700 and had similar vapor lock issues as the 2002, the gas tank pressure building and causing the atv to stall in some cases, had the 4wd servo replaced and the brakes wore out incredibily fast, great atv once the bugs were worked out but no where near perfect as nothing is. I had my best luck with my 2010 Can-Am 800 where I never had the first issue and just recently sold it to hopefully buy a new Rzr in January hoping they release a more powerful 50" model. Fun costs money, sure if Honda made a side by side it would be as gutless as the Rincon, If yamaha made one if was only be a single lunger and you would complain there is not enough power on tap. YOU CAN NOT PLEASE EVERYONE, so pick your poision and fix it when it breaks.

 

I have a 2012 RZR 570 which I purchased new in July 2012. So far I have seen no real issues with it except two. The first one was with an SSV Works audio system purchased and installed by the dealer prior to delivery. It came with a left blown speaker. The dealer at first refused to service it under warrantee and said that SSV Works wanted them to do some troubleshooting which would cost me 90.00. I called Polaris and got an english speaking representative and explained the situation. Polaris contacted the dealer and arranged for it be replaced with a new unit under the factory warrantee at no cost to me. I read on this forum some of the things to look for. No grease in drive shaft and other loose fittings and items etcetera. After inspecting the RZR everything looked tight and all of grease fittings including the drive shaft had been greased. The one thing I did notice was the plastic that joins the bottom of entry to the body plastic is not tight. See photo link: http://sdrv.ms/VjgwWp Has anyone else seen this seperation, is it something I should be concerned with? Is it easy to fix? I have about 30 hours and about 425 miles on it. I did the first service myself at 25 hours changed the oil and lubed everything, documented. I am planning on having it fully serviced by the dealership at 50 hours. Polaris says I have until December 31st to purchase the extended warrantee, after seeing some other posts about blown engines and such I think I am going to add 2 years to the warrantee this weekend. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Continuing the discussion about quality control. I went out with a bunch people about 10 Side by Sides on a night run. Most of these were RZRs and I did notice that they rode them like they stole them. They ran them really hard whereas I kind of babied mine. On another run I went one was something of a hard trail, still I babied it by taking the least destructive line over boulders and such. I know these machines are designed to take a beating but I am thinking that perhaps a lot of people run em harder than I would. I am not into speed so much as using my RZR to see new and interesting things. I do give my RZR a good going over prior to taking it out. I am not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination but I told the dealership about the work I have done on it so far, adding a winch, oil and filter changes and such and the dealer basically stated that if I can do what I have done so far I should not any trouble performing the basic maintenance tasks including the break-in maintenance.