I need a ATV

ColbyBruce

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Like a four passenger Kawasaki MULE or maybe a lifted golf cart. Golf cart prices are obscene around metro Atlanta, so I started looking at the MULE, which happens to be on sale through June.

Does anyone on this forum sell these for a living?
 
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No, but I agree with your thoughts. I bought a couple of ATVs a while ago for me and the wife. If I had it to do over I would have gotten a side by side with two seats and a small bed in the back.
Much more usable, one vehicle to trailer, more comfortable to ride, etc.
I may still trade mine in on one.
 
I have owned a Kawi Mule for two years now, a 4010 (two seater, 620CC engine, 4WD with locking rear diff), and find it very capable. Haven't got it stuck yet, operate it on my mountainous property with mud, shaley slopes, rocks, 30 degree climbs. Can carry as much stuff as you can fit in it, rated for a 1200 pound load.

I just finished building a 10 X 12' deck on a remote bit of my property, 1/2 mile from the road and 700 feet up a mountain. Carried all the lumber lashed to the roll bar of the Mule, probably 400-500 pounds at a time, no problems. Generator, saws and tools in the bed. Couldn't have done it without the Mule.

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My first was a Honda 3-wheeler in 83.....my dad got a Honda 4wheeler...85/86...... we used them "like horses" not racing bikes..... both are still going strong.....well truth be told the 3-wheeler is up on blocks....ran fine but didn't want my teenagers using it.........

We've added a 3rd Honda and a Polaris 200 (automatic) for the boys over the years.

Two/three years ago we got a used Polaris 2012(?) RZR from a neighbor at the cabin who is a "dealer" .....it was his second RZR since since they were introduced in 2008......he wanted to "upgrade" from the 800 to the 1000cc.....it had 2000 miles on it we've added a couple hundred..... it's like a little jeep on the trails and dirt roads behind the cabin..... nice for the wife and I to ride and talk ...... haul a cooler and chairs etc. back to the lake.

SXS can be dang expansive......ours is/was tricked out with doors, half windshield,roof, skid plates, wench etc........new it would have been about $16000-17000 out the door. The new ones are worse and the 4 seaters start around $20,000 new..

The big question is what you want to use one for.......and how hard the ridding will be......
 
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My wife and I moved three weeks ago. There are cart paths all over the area, and more paths are under construction. These are within sight of our neighborhood, and hopefully will soon be connected. Until then, the main use would be toting the grandchildren to the neighborhood pool. I could buy a larger utility trailer and take the ATV or cart to our home in the mountains. I retire from the USPS in January and will spend more time in north Georgia.

A used four seater electric cart with A/T tires and a body lift costs $5,5500.00+ around here. Six seat versions $7,500.00+...which got me looking at MULEs.
 
I don't sell them. But I own one and lots of people around here ride and own as well. The most trouble free, last foreva,top resale etc, one word HONDA, regards Ernie
 
My wife and I moved three weeks ago. There are cart paths all over the area, and more paths are under construction. These are within sight of our neighborhood, and hopefully will soon be connected. Until then, the main use would be toting the grandchildren to the neighborhood pool. I could buy a larger utility trailer and take the ATV or cart to our home in the mountains. I retire from the USPS in January and will spend more time in north Georgia.

A used four seater electric cart with A/T tires and a body lift costs $5,5500.00+ around here. Six seat versions $7,500.00+...which got me looking at MULEs.


Sounds like a cart for around the new home....... short trips on finished cart paths.. a 4/6 seater is needed not a 2seat SXS.......much quiter........vs. a 800-1000 cc ATV engine....

2017 start shopping for a SXS for the mountains...........my Polaris is nice...... if I had been buying new..... my first stop would have been Honda..... Polaris started the craze in 08 with the RZR so history on the basic design and I knew the source and history of the one I bought....neighbor and his wife used it to get around their 500 acre farm and the trails behind our properties........
 
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Too bad Abernathy Honda is an eight hour drive from Atlanta. The web site shows two four seater UTV's that interest me.
 
Too bad Abernathy Honda is an eight hour drive from Atlanta. The web site shows two four seater UTV's that interest me.

Are they not some multiple of what you wanted to spend? We went down this same road about a year ago, although we had differing needs that you--we needed the ability to cross creeks/bayou's/swampland--and I was frankly stunned by the pricing on new/lightly used side-by-side, four-seat, 4x4 ATVs. As a long-time jeep driver and lover many were in the range of a good older-model used jeep.
 
Take a real good look at claimed capability and price, and really look hard at the actual vehicle. My local Stihl dealer started selling some brand of ATV. About $11K with a claimed top speed of 55 mph and a roll cage out of sheet metal. No thank you very much.

The current emphasis on ATVs seem to be speed. You probably want to look at UTV (utility vehicle). They'll be slower, probably built more ruggedly and will live longer.

Some years back my wife got talked into buying a Bobcat 2200/2300 UTV. I never got consulted and got ...perturbed. I viewed it as an over priced, overly complex, maintenance intensive golf cart. After a couple of years it came home and became mine. I still regard it as overly complex and maintenance needy (I do it, have had no problems) but it's actually an all wheel drive 1/2 ton dump truck that I've only got stuck when the snow got axle deep. With chains, I doubt that would be a problem.
 
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As documented, they are overly complicated and overly expensive. IMHO, if I had the need for off road 4x4 performance for two to four people, I would buy a used Jeep of my choice. I would add a HD trailer for the loads. ......Total investment here in the Vegas Valley could be held to under $10,000. For under $15,000, one could buy the latest version of the Wrangler, a used 'JK' . The internet is flooded with parts, service manuals, advice and video directions on modifications for all versions of the 'Jeep'. ...........
 
Polaris makes the funnest side by sides that can go fast over the rough stuff, but I wouldn't rate them quite as reliable as the Jap brands. As far as utility I think all the brands would work pretty well and I used to have a 6 wheel John Deer for work that was O.K. but I wasn't that impressed with it. All side by sides are pretty pricey on the used market and if you want a 4 seater I would look really hard at an old Jeep Wrangler that isn't much bigger and can be driven on the street.
 
Find out the rules on the trails you want to ride on. If they're ORV trails with width restrictions, it would really suck to buy a 60" side-by-side and find out the trails are 50" maximum. In Ohio, all state and federal trails are restricted to 50", but the state land is going to start allowing 60". I'm pretty sure 60" is still narrower than a Jeep.
 
Like others have said, it depends on what you are using it for.

Four years ago, we were in the same "boat" as you. We checked out a few brands and went with the Yamaha Rhino. Has a little more power than the Mule, but when "push comes to shove," there's not that much difference, from what I understand.

Honda is very good, too, but it's also bigger than the Mule or the Rhino, which tends to limit its use on some of the narrow trails we have around here.

We use ours for everything from hauling hay bales and hauling manure to taking gear into elk camp or doing little trips up into the local mountains. It has a winch in front, and during the winter, I put on a snow blade to plow the drive.

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I have used just about all major makes at one time or another. You can spend serious money in a hurry if you don't watch out. A lot depends on exactly what you intend to use it for. One thing about the mule that older folks like is it is lower and easier to get in and out of than some other makes. That might be important to you.
If I were buying a new one today for my use. Honda. But I hunt a lot and would use it hard for firewood and other work chores.
 
I considered another Jeep, we have owned two. Used Jeeps are not cheap in my area though. I also looked at the Suzuki Samurai; they are ridiculously priced.

I did find a reasonably priced gas powered Yamaha golf cart near my work. That would do for running the grandkids to the pool, for now.

I appreciate the replies.
 
we have several on the farm, but the workhorse is the Polaris ranger crew cab, had it for 5 years now, and it will go anywhere, they are expensive with this one setting us back right at 15 grand



we have a pair of Honda ranchers, an 04 model 350, and a 2009 model 420 ,and a large artic cat in the 4 wheeler line. but thet are basically trail riders, the ranger is the workhorse

if I buy another one I think I will go with a Kubota diesel,
 
Well, you can tell from my advice to just buy a used Jeep that I am a true Westerner and had no idea that Eastern states could have anything like a width maximum for backwoods trail machines. Given that legislation you Easterners just might have no choice but to go with the 4x4 ATV utility vehicles. It makes me wonder if the ATV manufacturer's lobby efforts had anything to do with those restrictive laws.........:-( ......
 
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