Well, after years and years of hearing about 4-wheelers, we finally gave in and bought one. You see, I still have an old Honda 3-wheel ATV, which I use for the most part when I go into the woods in Alabama for hunting, fishing, or whatever. I understand the danger, especially since 3-wheelers have been off the market for years seeing as how many people were killed or seriously injured because of their ease in flipping over. So, after having to repair our mid-80s 3-wheeler one too many times, we finally decided to purchase a 4-wheeler. After much research, none of which involved me, my uncle decided to purchase the Polaris Sportsman 500. Polaris has quite an excellent reputation in the off-road market ATVs, if not an especially good one in the sports department. At first, I loved driving this ATV as I could haul tail when compared to my 3-wheeler. However, after only a few trips into the actual wilderness, I began to understand why we had waited so long in giving up our 3-wheeler.

The Polaris Sportsman 500 certainly has it's charms. The main one which I noticed is the wonderfully smooth drive. It has quite a bit of pick up, which just about knocked me on my butt the first time I gave it a little gas. Just driving down the paved road, I was pleased to find none of the shakiness at high speeds which had scared me so often with the 3-wheeler. It turns quite well even at high speeds, and driving along the road or even the beaten paths was a ride smoother than I had ever experienced with any other ATV. This certainly could be attributed to the fact that I had ridden only 3-wheelers, as I have little experience with other 4-wheel ATVs on the market. For open fields, roads, and paths, the Polaris was a charm to drive, but hey, these ATVs are meant for taking off-road!

My first and most serious problem with the Polaris was simply that I could not take it places where I could take my 3-wheeler. The addition of an extra wheel and extended wheel base made it impossible to get in tight places where my 3-wheeler would fit with ease. However, the Polaris' ease in handling bumps was quite an added bonus, as the ride off-road was still almost as smooth as what I had encountered on the road. But, the trail to my deer stand, or at least the permanent one, is extremely narrow and lined with numerous scrub and larger trees. The Polaris fit through, but I felt almost as I would have taking a $75,000 Range Rover off road. I simply didn't want to scratch up this new, very expensive ATV.

My first ride into the woods finally came to a close because I couldn't get to my deer stand. Part of the trip requires a drive across a little wooden bridge over a swamp, made by my uncle and myself. When the front tires hit the edge of the bridge, I knew it wasn't going to make it. The wheelbase was simply too large to fit, and I was forced to turn around and go home. It was about another mile to my deer stand, and the idea of dragging a 200 pound deer over a mile didn't particularly appeal to me.

Another problem that occurred with the Polaris was it's inability to make it through the deeper water that we sometimes encounter in the swamps. I have had my Honda 3-wheeler go dead once when making these trips, but the Polaris became flooded every single time. I figured I must have been trying to take it through deeper water than I had with my 3-wheeler, so I brought the Honda along the same trail a couple of days later. The engine clicked on the Honda, and it was smoking like crazy, but overall it made it through in fine fashion. With the Polaris I was forced to get out in the middle of a creek to drag it across to the other side.

I usually prefer standard shifts on my vehicles, but our Polaris came equipped with an automatic transmission. This is one feature I can say that is head and shoulders above my old Honda. The Honda would often get stuck in gear, leaving me miles of driving in first gear until I could get home and fix it once again. The automatic Polaris was a breeze to drive, and made getting out of the woods a lot easier. I'd even dropped the clutch out of my old Honda, but of course this was impossible with the Polaris. Simply put, manual transmissions are great for sports cars, but for an ATV, I'd never have anything else.

A few other features make the Polaris a pleasure to drive. One of these features was the built in rack that came with the Polaris. We had actually welded a rack on the back of our Honda, which certainly made it atrocious looking. While plastic, the rack on the Polaris has held up very well. The front rack on the Polaris while small, was adequate. Having gun racks on ATVs is certainly a necessity for us (Yes, I know this sounds totally redneck), so we still had to put one of these on the front of our ATV. To clear this issue up, even with a strap on my rifle, it has still come flying into my head a few times when going over the larger bumps. This is effectively eliminated by adding a gun rack on the front of the ATV. Also, the seat is well cushioned compared to my old Honda, which would certainly put a hurting on your tailbone when going over the larger bumps.

My favorite part about the Polaris 500 by far, was the fact that it had so much power and pulling capability. The 4x4 model was certainly an advantage over the 3-wheeler, because as you can probably tell, it is rather impossible to have 4-wheel drive on a 3-wheeled vehicle. But, the pulling power up the hills was amazingly better than with my Honda. There were no problems getting up even the steepest hills, whereas my Honda had trouble getting up large hills even while in first gear. And, the Polaris had a definite advantage when it came to getting over small ravines in the trail. The front wheel of the Honda would often get stuck, forcing me to get off and pull the front of it across the gap.

I have overall mixed emotions about the Polaris Sportsman 500. A smooth ride, and great power make this ATV wonderful for most off-road needs. However, considering that so many places I go require a smaller off-road vehicle, I have often been forced into taking my old Honda which is on it's very last leg. And, the price of the Polaris is certainly more than I would have ever paid for fixing my Honda on my own. Certainly a great ATV for the higher end users, the Polaris 500 often doesn't cut it when it comes to off-road capability. Anyone looking to buy an ATV for road or trail purposes should certainly look into the Polaris, which provides an amazingly smooth ride. However, if fitting into small spaces are what you require, you may want to look into purchasing a used 3-wheeler.



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