the arctic cat wildcat is an amazing machine for desert and rocks. they have the best 4wd system on the market hands down. with the selectable locker you can crawl and do things that would seem impossible with some of the others in your selection. however, the arctic cat is as long as a 16ft trailer. its a big dude. its got quick ratio knuckles so it turns just as sharp as a 2 seater but its still long. it will take whoops and bumps and things better than you can imagine. off camber stuff it soaks up and you will fall in love with its suspension. BUT its clutch is one of the worst on the market. it upshifts too fast and bogs the motor down. everyone things its low on power. its actually quite powerful and fast, but the clutch bogs down in the sand so it feels like you have to beat on it to make it go anywhere in the sand. this results in blown belts to which you will get tired of pretty quickly. if you ever do land it on the rear tires under full throttle you will snap the rear driveshaft. its smart to keep an extra one or three in the glove box. i love the 4 seat arctic cat for how well it handles and what kinda crap it will take. however, it will likely eat a few starters and other miscellaneous things. advantage- they ride better than any machine on the market, they are stable you almost cant get it out of shape even driving like a clown. the seating position isnt the most fun to get down into if you have bad knees of back but once you are in it you are comfortable. suspension suspension its the best there is and the running gear is relatively reliable. it will climb a brick wall up the side of a house. cons-they arent the staple for reliability and their sorry ass clutch makes it feel weak even though the motor has plenty of power.
the maverick is another capable machine. their wheelbase and suspension work well together. however their clutch IS the crappiest on the market. you need to spend at least $1500 right out the gate to make it worth driving otherwise you will blow belts faster than you can change them in the dunes. you will hate the machine with all its worth if you dont fix the clutch the day you get it. other than the clutch, a mav max is a pretty reliable machine. the mavericks have good power and are pretty heavily built. the suspension is relatively beefy. the trans and driveline is pretty much worry free. they ride comfortable and sit nicely. they arent a bad option for cruising and having fun but if you really wanna blast full throttle in the open desert you will end up with the rear kicking up a lot. the maverick is a pretty durable machine with very little mechanical issues. except the clutch, replace it day one or you will hate the machine. advantages - they are powerful and relatively reliable with most everything on the machine being over-built, they ride nice and feel good cons- the clutch is garbage and needs to be replaced before you take your first ride and its a bear to work on.
the RZR is most everyones choice because you can get them easily, relatively cheaply, they work well in almost all conditions and there are more accessories for them than you can imagine. the RZR is geared low so it will crawl easily, the large diameter clutches work well together in stock form. the power is nice. its a well rounded machine that works as it was intended. they ride good. they take dunes well. they work in the desert well. however they are probably the low man on the totem pole for reliability. everything wears out. the hub and spindle bearings wear out constantly. like every few rides. the clutches are worse than brake pads they wear out fast. you are lucky to get 1000 miles out of them before you have to completely replace one or both. the driveline wears out, the motor mount and trans mount is crap the engine and trans alignment constantly moves around putting the clutches out of alignment. everything is easy to work on luckily. but you need to pretty much become a mechanic and learn the RZR or be prepared to have crap wear out and take it to the dealer constantly to keep it mechanically sound. you will hear great things about them, guys who have 2000 miles on them with no issues. there are unicorns and they are a well rounded machine honestly. but they wear out. the vast majority of the things that wear out on the RZR you would not expect to nor assume you need to rebuild half the parts on the machine every 1000 miles. advantage, they work well, ride nice, they are easy to work on, they are fun and super accessible and have tons of available accessories. cons-they wear out fast and take a fair amount of maintence to keep them running in tip top shape
