To be honest I had heard some mention Polaris quality as not being up with the Japanese brands so that was a concern. After talking with the few people I could find with newer Polaris products I came to the conclusion they are pretty good machines and bought one. Looking it over closely over the first few weeks I found 3 "issues".
A wiring bundle was routed IMO too close to the exhaust so I pulled it over with a zip-tie.
The rear differential breather was vented up into a hole in the frame, that part is fine but I feel it may be able to ingest dust so I want to put a little filter on it.
At around 20 hours a squeak developed in the rear and I hate squeaks. It has zerks at all the suspension arms which I had greased. It turned out to be where the rear sway bar mounts to the frame it is clamped in a rubber mount and the slight twisting movement of the bar in the rubber was causing the squeaking. When I took it apart and greased it there were grease channels moulded in the rubber and a hole for a zerk fitting on the mounts. So I tapped in two zerk fittings and nary a squeak since. I later discovered looking at another Ranger that it had zerks there, they just forgot to put them in my unit I guess.
The suspension works very well, this along with wanting more power is why I sold my Mule 610 and bought this Ranger. It rides so much better and has more ground clearance as well. A hill on the main road where the little Mule would slow down to 15 mph this 500 Ranger will do at 40 mph if I want. One feature Rangers have that some UTV's do not is the ability to unlock the rear axle to have an open differential (like a car) and this is the way I run mine most of the time. It allows it to turn very sharply w/o digging up the trails or yard and is the only way I'd want to drive one on pavement. One click of the button locks the diff for true 2WD, another click additionally allows the front to engage in 4WD. I say "allows" because the front does not truly lock in until the rear wheels spin 1/5 of a revolution more than the front, at which point the front and rear lock up. The front differential itself is limited slip.
Other side by sides have some or all these features which include; nice suspension, good ground clearance, good power and speed, yet frugal on gas, a locking/unlocking differential and decent size dumping bed, but they're simply too large for a lot of the trails and places I want to go. Heck some of them are darn near as big as a Jeep Wrangler! Our little Mule was 52 wide and easily fit everywhere an ATV would go. The midsize Ranger at 58 is 6" wider but still fits most everywhere the Mule did although it´s a little tight on a few trails. For our use on trails I wouldn't want one any wider.
I also prefer a bench seat over buckets because it's just easier to slide on and off, especially when using it for chores, picking up sticks, firewood, etc. The midsize Ranger bench seat can also accommodate 3 persons although it helps when at least one is a small person.
?.and they really rang the bell with this model?.IMO.
