Buying a Used Polaris Was the Best Upgrade

By Midwest Traction on August 18, 2017 in Buyer's Guides

Guest blogger James Parker talks about his used ATV purchase.

Good things come along when one is not really looking. A few weeks ago, my friend Jason walked into my workplace and announced that he had his 2005 Polaris Sportsman 500 for sale. I knew it would be ideal for my wife and me. Jen and I have been looking to upgrade from our 2000 Kawasaki Prairie 400.

Independent Rear Suspension

The old Kawasaki quad has a solid rear axle, and the first priority when shopping for a new quad was an independent rear suspension. Due to Jennifer’s bad back, we thought the independent suspension would be best. 

Living in the Colorado Mountains, we often find ourselves on the extremely rocky terrain. The Polaris will be able to absorb the large rocks we encounter. This type of suspension, along with the Carlisle tires on the machine, makes for one smooth ride.

Power

Next on our list was a bigger motor for more power in the mountains. Last summer while at Taylor Park, Colorado, Jennifer found the Kawasaki 400 was lacking in power as we rode on one of my favorite trails, Tellurium Creek. We decided the bigger 500 motor on the Polaris would have the extra power needed to tackle these steep, tough climbs.

Not only that, but it's more equipped to push snow if we decided to put a snow plow on the front. We never put one on the 400; I always thought it didn't have enough juice.

Winch

Another item that came on the new Polaris is a winch. This is an invaluable tool for the farm. We have large tree branches that fall during summer thunderstorms. We can use the winch to clear this debris from the roadways.

We may also need it for the snow plow. Many plows are operated by a winch, so we have one less piece of equipment to purchase. Although, I think if we were to get serious about using this for snow, we would invest in some good tire chains as well.

We had been talking about purchasing a newer quad at some point in the future, and while we weren’t really looking to pull the trigger on a purchase at this time, we simply found a good deal. This Polaris quad was exactly what we wanted.