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yup

I'm far from an expert, but yeah I would definitely go with EFI and IRS is nice to have for a little smoother ride, plus extra ground clearance for plowing snow. I'm pretty sure all newer Polaris ATVs come with IRS though. The EFI means you don't have to screw around with a choke or worrying about flooding it. Fire it up and walk away to do something else while it warms up in the winter. Pretty much any ATV you get would be capable of pushing a little snow around in the driveway, especially if it's 4wd. I bought a Honda because I've had good luck with them and plan on keeping it for a long time. I also prefer a geared transmission (it's fully automatic or electronic shift if I want to) to the belt drive on all other manufacturers, but that's just me. :crazy: :laugh:

If you do plan on plowing with it, I would try to find one with a plow. A nice plow/winch/mount setup will run you easily over $500, whereas the machine probably wouldn't cost much more with the plow included. If that's all the person did with the ATV is plow their driveway (and assuming they weren't clobbering curbs), odds are it won't be all beat up/worn out like someone who does A LOT of trail riding.

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Thanks, that's a good point about the transmissions, I'll have to look into the pros and cons of each setup. I'm still on the fence if it would be overkill for snow removal but the blower just wouldn't cut it this year.

The Honda looks really nice, I'll have to price them out.
 
RFcsvt said:
Thanks, that's a good point about the transmissions, I'll have to look into the pros and cons of each setup. I'm still on the fence if it would be overkill for snow removal but the blower just wouldn't cut it this year.

The Honda looks really nice, I'll have to price them out.
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Of course it would be overkill (assuming you don't have like a mile long driveway), but you could have more fun doing it. :laugh:

Actually I don't have a plow for mine yet and am on the fence whether I need one. It would be nice sometimes, but I don't think you can beat a nice big two stage snowblower, because it throws the snow so much further off the driveway then if you're just pushing it around. I see people who plow (or shovel) have a 10' tall mound at the end of the driveway this time of year and can't even see down the road when you're backing out of the driveway. If I were to get one it would be more for ice fishing, so I could plow a nice path for my fishhouse. :D
 
Ha, yeah it's not a mile, I think it's just over 200 feet. I borrowed an atv with a plow on Tues and it worked great, way better than the blower for the amount of snow we got. The problem I run into is where I live we don't have any real tree cover to stop the wind, so basically by the time I'm able to get out and clear snow I have huge drifts and the snow is basically rock hard so the blower likes to just ride up the drifts where the plow will actually dig in.
 
Personally, while they are very hard to find new now, I like manual shift machines. I am not fan of all these "automatics" that are out there. My friend has two machines. I think one is an 02 and one is an 03....both Arctic Cats, both 4x4's and 550's. His 03 though can change between 2x4 and 4x4 though. His 02 is set up for snowplowing as well...and that is the one we do all the trail grooming out our paintball field. The thing is treated a little harsh, but it keeps on going without any major issues. We need to fix a sticky footbrake and that is about it.
 
I guess my question regarding the manual vs auto would be which is quicker and easier to go from forward to reverse with. To be honest I have no idea how the manual shift works on an atv like that, is it like a motorcycle?
 
toe shift into neutral. then there is a lever that you pull to put it into reverse. If you are plowing, then odds are you aren't going above 2nd gear, so it is fairly quick. Not sure on the new ones. I thought there was something you had to do to keep them in low range though.
 
Ah gotcha, it's probaby a bit easier with the autos then, one less lever to pull. Basically the one I used needed to be at a complete stop and then you just flip the lever into fwd or reverse.
 
RFcsvt said:
I guess my question regarding the manual vs auto would be which is quicker and easier to go from forward to reverse with. To be honest I have no idea how the manual shift works on an atv like that, is it like a motorcycle?
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That would be a good thing to keep in mind when you're shopping, mine is kind of a PITA to switch to reverse. I prefer the Honda Rincon shift lever over my Rancher.
 
Random Rants from this weekend:

1. Spent all weekend swapping another motor because my brother ran his 3L SVT Contour low on oil. It started ticking (spun bearing) shortly after he tried to race me. The swap went very well except for when my brother cross threaded the power steering line fittings together. Luckily I had a 3/8 NPT tap which fixed the threads. New motor runs great and it isn't my brother's fault, he's a business major at St. Thomas so you can't expect much. lol

2. Friday some asshat ran into my wife's 2009 Maxima going about 50 when she was stopped in traffic. Since then she's had neck pain and headaches. She went to Urgent Care and they said she had a minor concussion so they gave her some codeine which knocked her out for most of the weekend. She's been a joy since then...

3. My Cougar decided to join in so it started leaking oil. It looks like the header/y pipe flange bumped into the oil filter (shifted) and cracked the filter. I put a new filter on there last night. This morning it was smoking a bit when I got to work so there must be another leak I didn't see last night. I let it run after the filter swap and looked perfectly dry. Stupid car...
 
Jeesh man, the Maxima must be a solid vehicle to take a hit like that and have your wife walk away, that's a hell of an extreme impact at 50mph. Hope she's ok and luckily no kids in the car.
 
Ha! 10hp and -20% mileage. No thanks!

The Maxima was in very good shape. New rear bumper, trunk, and probably some structural work underneath. Tail lights still worked even though the lenses were shattered. Again 50mph might have been my wife over estimating but I'm sure it was a good hit. She appears to be in a better mood lately.

Cougar still stinks a bit when I'm idle at a light. I can't see any oil under the car any more. It's possible it's leaking onto the wrapped y pipe but I can't find it for the life of me when it's running in my garage and I'm under it. I'm hoping it's just oil that soaked in and it will burn off and be done soon.

A buddy of mine filled his gas tank up the other day from a local station and turns out 20% of it was water so his car died on him (2004 VW V8 Phaeton). All the people that went there that day started coming back complaining. Everyone's car was towed back and they had to siphon the gas out and pay tow bills. Ouch... that would suck.
 
Blackcoog said:
Ha! 10hp and -20% mileage. No thanks!

The Maxima was in very good shape. New rear bumper, trunk, and probably some structural work underneath. Tail lights still worked even though the lenses were shattered. Again 50mph might have been my wife over estimating but I'm sure it was a good hit. She appears to be in a better mood lately.

Cougar still stinks a bit when I'm idle at a light. I can't see any oil under the car any more. It's possible it's leaking onto the wrapped y pipe but I can't find it for the life of me when it's running in my garage and I'm under it. I'm hoping it's just oil that soaked in and it will burn off and be done soon.

A buddy of mine filled his gas tank up the other day from a local station and turns out 20% of it was water so his car died on him (2004 VW V8 Phaeton). All the people that went there that day started coming back complaining. Everyone's car was towed back and they had to siphon the gas out and pay tow bills. Ouch... that would suck.
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I just wanted to see how it would perform and what actual mileage I would get form it. I remember putting into my moms 2010 escape and the mileage was horrible. The read out on the display would normally say around 30 mpg, with the E85 I think it was down to around 22. From what I was reading online, there needs to around a 20-25% price difference for it to be worth it on a cost standpoint.

That happened to my wife years ago. She went to get gas, but for some reason it was bad. They had to rebuild a lot on the car, fuel pump, injectors etc.
 
It looks like the structure under the Maxima is in pretty bad shape. They estimate $12K to fix. It could be totaled. Too bad because the car drives fine still and in all honestly some might not even be able to tell it was hit if the tail lights weren't shattered. The bumper pushed in 2-3 inches but popped back out and didn't crack or damage. It's all under the bumper and the trunk lid. I wonder what the buyout would be after they total it. I'll have to check. That thing is loaded: leather, HDD nav/music, heated seats/wheel, memory/power seats, paddle shifters, power everything, 290hp V6, 19" stock rims (new tires too.... damnit), etc. 2009 Maxima SV with 40k every option except the panoramic roof.
 
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