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Yamaha Wolverine 850

Creek Side

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Jan 20, 2016
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I'm looking to buy a new side by side. I'm leaning towards something between the sport models and the work vehicles. The Yamaha Wolverine 850 seems to check all the boxes. Its primarily for my wife and 13 year old son to use. Just for trail riding. We won't be doing anything to challenging or aggressive at his age. Best of all there is still a supply of them available vs most other brands are sold out with no estimated time of restocking.
Does anyone have any experience with this Yamaha or other recommendations? I've done some research but as always this board seems to have a wealth of knowledge.
 
I can't speak for the Yamaha Wolverine, but I have a Honda Fourtrax Foreman Rubicon and have beaten the crap out of it and it keeps taking everything I give it. It's an ATV, not a SxS. I have pulled stumps with it, plowed snow with it as well as mudding and trail riding. I have yet to do anything to slow it down. It's a workhorse. If I ever kill it, I may go to a SxS, but a lot of the trails I run are too small for a SxS at times. With that said, the Yamaha Wolverine seems like a solid choice.
 
First of all, do yourself a favor and get something fuel injected. To hell with carburators

I have a Honda 700r. I recommend it completely.

The back seats fold up and down. This makes it shorter and a tighter turning radius on trails. Put em up, 4 seater with seatbelts, etc. Put em down, dump bed.

You can't go wrong with a Honda anyway.

If it makes you feel any better, my 8 year old drives it everywhere, hauling wood, visiting his buddy down the road, pulling his sister in the snow on a tube, whatever. It's bulletproof.

UTVs are great. If you can afford it and live rurally, just get one. You won't regret it

Finally, a few dumb rhetorical questions: Do you have plans for maintenance? You gonna do it? Got a trailer? A truck and ramps?
 
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First of all, do yourself a favor and get something fuel injected. To hell with carburators

I have a Honda 700r. I recommend it completely.

The back seats fold up and down. This makes it shorter and a tighter turning radius on trails. Put em up, 4 seater with seatbelts, etc. Put em down, dump bed.

You can't go wrong with a Honda anyway.

If it makes you feel any better, my 8 year old drives it everywhere, hauling wood, visiting his buddy down the road, pulling his sister in the snow on a tube, whatever. It's bulletproof.

UTVs are great. If you can afford it and live rurally, just get one. You won't regret it

Finally, a few dumb rhetorical questions: Do you have plans for maintenance? You gonna do it? Got a trailer? A truck and ramps?
Nice, you've peaked my interest in the Pioneer now. I had looked at the Talon, which isn't the machine I want, but had overlooked the Pioneer. I just searched and it looks like there is only 2 places that have them new within 250 miles of where I live in Central PA. Jersey and Ohio. That fold down back seat to make it a dump bed looks sweet. I am very surprised to see that it's cheaper than the Yamaha. I'll be calling the place in Jersey this afternoon to get some details and search a little more to see if anyone closer has them.

As far a the maintenance goes I'll probably just take it to a local dealer. That's what I've done with my Polaris 4 wheeler. I've got all the other bases covered, truck, ramps, and a 16' trailer. We wanted to pick up a UTV for a couple years now and for no good reason we just didn't get one. Unfortunately this is probably the worst time to be shopping for one because there is just NO supply out there but my kid is really chomping at the bit to ride and I'm tired of dragging my feet on one.

Thanks for the information! That's the kind of recommendation I was looking for.
 
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I would also look at the Can-Am Commander. It is the sweet spot between utility and sport. The transmission is very smooth and very roomy cab. That would be my go to if I bought a SxS again.

While I have never been in a pioneer, I did see one on the trail in Montana last week that was well optioned out and it looked pretty sweet.

I think you will have way more options for accessories with the Honda or Can-Am than the Yammie.

90% of the units you see on the trail are going to be either Polaris or Can-Am. (I personally am not a fan of Polaris, but they sell more UTV’s than all others combined)

If you are just using it for utility use around the house, you really can’t beat a Kawasaki Mule for the price.
 
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I don't know how you could beat the John Deere Gator for combined sport-utility. I hunt and farm out of mine. 4 years so far, never a problem. Goes 49mph. Suspension is amazing.

For utility, can't beat the Kawasaki Mule. We use ours hard. 4 years, no problems.

I was leery about buying the carbureted Mule, living in NW PA, but it sits unheated all year and fires right up.

Check out the Gator!

I got mine with upgraded, bigger, alloy wheels (yellow) and, of course, a roof. Got aftermarket windshield.
 
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Nice, you've peaked my interest in the Pioneer now. I had looked at the Talon, which isn't the machine I want, but had overlooked the Pioneer. I just searched and it looks like there is only 2 places that have them new within 250 miles of where I live in Central PA. Jersey and Ohio. That fold down back seat to make it a dump bed looks sweet. I am very surprised to see that it's cheaper than the Yamaha. I'll be calling the place in Jersey this afternoon to get some details and search a little more to see if anyone closer has them.

As far a the maintenance goes I'll probably just take it to a local dealer. That's what I've done with my Polaris 4 wheeler. I've got all the other bases covered, truck, ramps, and a 16' trailer. We wanted to pick up a UTV for a couple years now and for no good reason we just didn't get one. Unfortunately this is probably the worst time to be shopping for one because there is just NO supply out there but my kid is really chomping at the bit to ride and I'm tired of dragging my feet on one.

Thanks for the information! That's the kind of recommendation I was looking for.
Anytime. Sounds like you're all set. There are about a trillion accessories for these things, but don't forget to buy a winch!
 
We had a lot of atvs and sxs over the last 40 years. Currently have 2 Yamaha Vikings 2 Honda foreman atv and a kawa mule. Love the mule. We do not trail ride use all of these hard and I mean hard every day for farm work. My mule only has one bench seat. Like that a lot better than the three separate seats in the Vikings. Mule has a ranch edition with to bench seats that seats six and when not in use the the rear bench slides forward so you have a nice size bed. My mules bed is twice the size of the Viking and the pioneer is similar in size to Viking with back seats folded down.

We had some kubotas over the years and the diesels were under powered with the hydrostatic but the are well built machines.

I’ve seen driven them all it seems everyone in bedford county has at least one . I have buddies that have 25-30k in their Polaris rangers and jd gators with cab air and heat. They are real nice too.
 
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Don’t know where your at in central pa but cernics and 5 star are good dealers. Might have to order and wait a couple of months to get what you want. My bro in law ordered a mule ranch edition and had to wait 3 months to get it. A & d Suzuki in bedford looked to have some wolverines in stock when I drove by the other day.
 
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I don’t own a SxS UTV, but have been shopping/researching. For my money, I think I’m going Kawasaki Mule 610. It’s a SxS, but still the width of a standard ATX.
 
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Careful with the surprise seat on the Wolverine. Bo approved the design

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Don’t know where your at in central pa but cernics and 5 star are good dealers. Might have to order and wait a couple of months to get what you want. My bro in law ordered a mule ranch edition and had to wait 3 months to get it. A & d Suzuki in bedford looked to have some wolverines in stock when I drove by the other day.
Thanks for the info. I live in Clinton Co. Unlimited Cycle in Tyrone has a pretty decent selection right now and that is where I think I'm going tomorrow to look at the Yamaha and CanAm machines. If that doesn't work out Saturday I'm going to the other side of the state and into Jersey to look at Honda's.
Its kind of crazy that I have so many different dealers within a 30 minute drive from my house but none of them have any inventory and no idea when they'll be getting any.
 
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