New polaris Side X Side- General

[rmk700]

They all have their pluses and minuses.
For a pure work UTV I would likely go with the hydrostat type transmission. Great for slow speed work, but not so great if you want to do any higher speed trail riding.
CVT- not as good for hard slow speed work, but much better if you want to use the machine for higher speed trail type riding.

Then you have Honda's DCT (dual clutch transmission) that works spectacular in both work and trail.

 

[DK35vince]

Then you have Honda's DCT (dual clutch transmission) that works spectacular in both work and trail.

I do mostly trail riding, I've been looking at the new pioneer 1000.
Nice machine and Honda is known for their reliability. I like to be able to fix my own machine long term and higher mileage.
My concern with DCT transmission is the complexity. I doubt I could fix it myself and would need to go to the dealer for an issue.
The CVT transmissions are higher maintenance, but I can fix any issue myself and they are relatively easy to tune. (different springs and weights you can change the stall and shift out to what ever you want for your riding style)

My ATV has CVT , I bought a spare set of low mileage used primary and secondary clutch at Ebay for $250.
I could have a CVT clutch issue, throw in another clutch and be out riding again in an hour.
Repair the broken clutch and have a spare.

 

[rmk700]

I do mostly trail riding, I've been looking at the new pioneer 1000.
Nice machine and Honda is known for their reliability. I like to be able to fix my own machine long term and higher mileage.
My concern with DCT transmission is the complexity. I doubt I could fix it myself and would need to go to the dealer for an issue.
The CVT transmissions are higher maintenance, but I can fix any issue myself and they are relatively easy to tune. (different springs and weights you can change the stall and shift out to what ever you want for your riding style)

My ATV has CVT , I bought a spare set of low mileage used primary and secondary clutch at Ebay for $250.
I could have a CVT clutch issue, throw in another clutch and be out riding again in an hour.
Repair the broken clutch and have a spare.

How old is your ATV? I have a 2004 Honda Rubicon that has been to **** and back with an even more complex transmission than the DCT and have spent $0 dollars on its tranny. I can't even count the cost of oil changes because it uses the same oil as the engine. Not saying people don't have problems with the Honda trannies but there is no question it's been bullet proof for me.

The cash spent on my CVT snowmobile are in the $1,000's. Mostly clutch kits and belts. Even though a belt wasn't broke but just slightly worn, I'd need to replace it just to keep optimum performance, but that's ok for a snowmobile, not for a SxS.

It's time for these other manufactures to start expanding (giving more options) with their transmissions other than just the prehistoric CVT.

 

[DK35vince]

How old is your ATV?

My ATV is a 2005 Kawasaki Brute Force 750.
I bought it used around 3 years ago with 1500 miles.
I'm currently at around 6100+ miles. Clutch's have never needed anything yet. I replaced the belt once (around $80)
I can take a shim out of the secondary clutch to tighten up the original belt and rerun it again for thousands of more miles.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I do mostly trail riding, I've been looking at the new pioneer 1000.
Nice machine and Honda is known for their reliability. I like to be able to fix my own machine long term and higher mileage.
My concern with DCT transmission is the complexity. I doubt I could fix it myself and would need to go to the dealer for an issue.
The CVT transmissions are higher maintenance, but I can fix any issue myself and they are relatively easy to tune. (different springs and weights you can change the stall and shift out to what ever you want for your riding style)<snip

I was beginning to think that I was the only out-of-the-box thinker around here! I just bought a Honda Pioneer 500. What swayed me over the Polaris was the shaft drive, fuel injection, and solid state ignition. The "1000" is an awesome machine, but much larger than I can use in my trails and bridges.

I'll pick it up tomorrow from the dealer. They're installing a 3,000# Warn winch on it for me, as well as a few other comfort goodies. I'll post and update on reliability in a year or two.