I ride a Kawasaki Prairie (700cc). The only one in our hunting camp. There are some Polaris, Bombardier, Honda, just about everything. My Kawi seems to be less maintenance, well at least it seems to have been in the shop less than the others. How ever, there are some things I don't like about it and that have been a problem.
I don't like the feel of the throttle in comparison to the Grizzly, the Grizzly just seems more responsive at low speed. I guess that's due to all of the automatic everything on the Kawi, smooth yes, but just feels doggy at low speed.
It has gone into "limp" or "service mode" on me way too many times. While it's an easy enough reset that can be done on the side of the road, it throws me into pissy mood when it happens.
The winch mount at the front sucks for access ... there isn't any. You have to power the winch line out because you can't get at the winch to put it in free wheel mode without almost crawling right under it. A real pain.
It appears to be a fuel pig in comparrson to the other quads, mind you it is a 700 cc and theirs are 500 - 550 cc range so not real surprise I go through more fuel. I get about 90km on a tank, that's a mix of slugging in real 4wd conditons and highway driving on logging roads.
The absolute WORSE thing about this quad is the electric fan. A high pitched whine that can be heard for a long long way and there is NO WAY to turn it off. When you stop the quad and it's hot, the fan comes on with or without the key in it, no over ride. Now imagine parking your quad and starting a quite stalk on a Deer or what ever and all of sudden that stinking fan comes on ..... the urge to turn around and shoot that thing is almost over powering.
OK, now what I like about it. It's very powerfull and rides like a Cadillac. When in 4 wheel drive, the rear is posi, the front is limited slip but there is a lever on the left side of the handle bars that you can pull in, as you pull it, the front differential tightens up up to full posi. So it's easyier to steer in 4wd with the torque and traction of full 4x4 posi at the pull of a lever when required. Very nice feature. Also while in 4wd there is an engine brake (similar to the Jake on a diesel). That's nice as well. I like the clearance under the bike, not much there for anything to hang up on.
Mods I have done to make it better. Just got it back from the dealer last night so haven't gone for a boot yet, but I had him replace the factory CDI (what ever that stands for I don't know, but basically it is the controlling computer) with a third party one ($350.00) that doesn't have a "limp" or "service mode" so it will never ever go into that mode again. This new CDI also did away with the reverse overide, no need to hold that button any more, and it is also supposed to "kick it up a notch" as far as performance goes. We'll have to wait and see how that affects fuel consumption, not good I imagine. He also put in a clutch kit (looks like two springs to me) for $65.00 that is supposed to make it a little more positive feeling at low speeds. I also replaced the plastic guards at the front that protect the rubber boots on the front end parts with metal guards. A design flaw with the metal ones, the plastic ones were angled a bit so things would deflect more, the metal ones have 90 degree bends which cause things to jam instead of slide. I aso put in a full plexiglass skid plate (front to back). Sure slides over stumps a lot nicer now. I replaced the 25" factory tires (after I wore them out) with honking 27" mud chuckers. Very dangerous now. Way higher which means easier roll over possibility. As there is NO slip, you can't slide around corners any more, these tires grab, period. I do like the clearance though and have learned how to drive a tad more conservatively in corners and when turning while descending a hill (two slow motion roll overs to date from turning while descending), those tires just grab, they don't slide at all. Handle bar warmers and thumb warmers a must, added when I bought it along with a windshield. I can barely see through the windshield now (beat to death from branches) but I leave it on because of the "shield" part, rain and snow really sting at 60+kmh and the number of sticks and the like that have been deflected that would have poked me in the face make it worth while.
So ther ya go, my experiances, good and bad with the Kawasaki Prairie 700. Would I buy another, probably .. not definitely, we'll see how this new CDI and clutch kit work out and how the next couple of years go as far as service issues.
I don't like the feel of the throttle in comparison to the Grizzly, the Grizzly just seems more responsive at low speed. I guess that's due to all of the automatic everything on the Kawi, smooth yes, but just feels doggy at low speed.
It has gone into "limp" or "service mode" on me way too many times. While it's an easy enough reset that can be done on the side of the road, it throws me into pissy mood when it happens.
The winch mount at the front sucks for access ... there isn't any. You have to power the winch line out because you can't get at the winch to put it in free wheel mode without almost crawling right under it. A real pain.
It appears to be a fuel pig in comparrson to the other quads, mind you it is a 700 cc and theirs are 500 - 550 cc range so not real surprise I go through more fuel. I get about 90km on a tank, that's a mix of slugging in real 4wd conditons and highway driving on logging roads.
The absolute WORSE thing about this quad is the electric fan. A high pitched whine that can be heard for a long long way and there is NO WAY to turn it off. When you stop the quad and it's hot, the fan comes on with or without the key in it, no over ride. Now imagine parking your quad and starting a quite stalk on a Deer or what ever and all of sudden that stinking fan comes on ..... the urge to turn around and shoot that thing is almost over powering.
OK, now what I like about it. It's very powerfull and rides like a Cadillac. When in 4 wheel drive, the rear is posi, the front is limited slip but there is a lever on the left side of the handle bars that you can pull in, as you pull it, the front differential tightens up up to full posi. So it's easyier to steer in 4wd with the torque and traction of full 4x4 posi at the pull of a lever when required. Very nice feature. Also while in 4wd there is an engine brake (similar to the Jake on a diesel). That's nice as well. I like the clearance under the bike, not much there for anything to hang up on.
Mods I have done to make it better. Just got it back from the dealer last night so haven't gone for a boot yet, but I had him replace the factory CDI (what ever that stands for I don't know, but basically it is the controlling computer) with a third party one ($350.00) that doesn't have a "limp" or "service mode" so it will never ever go into that mode again. This new CDI also did away with the reverse overide, no need to hold that button any more, and it is also supposed to "kick it up a notch" as far as performance goes. We'll have to wait and see how that affects fuel consumption, not good I imagine. He also put in a clutch kit (looks like two springs to me) for $65.00 that is supposed to make it a little more positive feeling at low speeds. I also replaced the plastic guards at the front that protect the rubber boots on the front end parts with metal guards. A design flaw with the metal ones, the plastic ones were angled a bit so things would deflect more, the metal ones have 90 degree bends which cause things to jam instead of slide. I aso put in a full plexiglass skid plate (front to back). Sure slides over stumps a lot nicer now. I replaced the 25" factory tires (after I wore them out) with honking 27" mud chuckers. Very dangerous now. Way higher which means easier roll over possibility. As there is NO slip, you can't slide around corners any more, these tires grab, period. I do like the clearance though and have learned how to drive a tad more conservatively in corners and when turning while descending a hill (two slow motion roll overs to date from turning while descending), those tires just grab, they don't slide at all. Handle bar warmers and thumb warmers a must, added when I bought it along with a windshield. I can barely see through the windshield now (beat to death from branches) but I leave it on because of the "shield" part, rain and snow really sting at 60+kmh and the number of sticks and the like that have been deflected that would have poked me in the face make it worth while.
So ther ya go, my experiances, good and bad with the Kawasaki Prairie 700. Would I buy another, probably .. not definitely, we'll see how this new CDI and clutch kit work out and how the next couple of years go as far as service issues.
