The buddy seat has two positions for single and double-up riding, so Pat and I also did a lap two-up, as this is the only unit designed for you and a partner. We were shocked at how good the chassis still felt, even while climbing; the steering didn't get too light. Handling in the whoops was OK, though a slower pace had to be made. The footrests for the passenger are a bit too forward to allow a comfortable standing position, so the passenger has to hold onto the grab bars solidly and try to anticipate the bumps. While the buddy seat is much stiffer than the drive seat, it still offers a decent, long-mileage position [and not cramped as erroneously reported in our first X2 experience (Aug. '06)-Ed.]. For the real utility-minded of us, the rear carrier is also a tilting dump bed, holding up to 400 pounds. We found the shift lever, while convenient, a little stiff to operate. And like the Can-Am, the lack of an independent front brake left us skidding on the slippery downhills. A final cool feature that none of the others have is the Sod (as in lawn) setting for the transmission. This unlocks the rear differential to prevent shredding the grass in your front yard. It spins the tires a lot, especially on any hill on the trail, but for riding in on terrain you don't want to tear up, especially if you've put on some more aggressive tires, this feature is great.
Summary
Not unexpectedly, all of the machines stood up to the full 24 hours of abuse with no real problems, proving the reliability of the current offerings. Given that they all have proven totally dependable, the choice of units became pretty clear to us. For the budget-minded utility customer, the Suzuki KingQuad 450 is the obvious choice. It offers a competent chassis and a smooth and willing motor in an affordable package. For the sport-minded, the Grizzly is head and heels above the rest. The strong but controllable motor/transmission, good-handling chassis and excellent EPS give this quad a big advantage over the others. If you intend to install bigger tires, the EPS will show even more advantage. But for the truly utility-minded user, especially one with a friend, the Polaris is the hands-down winner. Excellent steering geometry gives steering effort and feedback almost on par with the Grizzly, and the suspension handles the weight with no problems, providing a surprisingly good and less tippy ride. The two-up feature reigns supreme, and the added bonus of the dump bed just isn't matched by the others. I'll bet it plows snow like a demon, too.