It will be interesting to see how the new tires work in sand ,rocks and woods.
T
The bed really interests me. That is the only thing about the 500 that bothers me but then we just putt through the woods. I would like the bed for hauling firewood and hunting my second most important use. if I could trade mine and keep my winch and mounting plate it would be something to consider. I will go look.
Updated suspension? It was updated in 2017 or 2018 from single coil to dual coil springs, that's all.
H
HondaTech
Guest
I'm sure they changed the rates for the bed and I thought they added preload adjusters as well for 2021.
Good point, on my 2015 I think preloads are only on the rear? This new one has them also on the front? Matters not for me as I added Walker Evans shocks to mine, so much better.
there great little machine and love my 17 with over 11k km and still runs great, but for 2021 the bed is a nice feature but to bad they didn't up grade to diff lock and power steering, I would have paid the extra cash.
I got a 2020 in September. Love it. Pretty much a 75% toy-25% work unit. If it would have been a huge horsepower upgrade I would have been a bit bummed....🤷♂️ But,happens every model year to a lot of things....I’ll stick with/and be more than happy with what I got 😎👍
Is the power increase even that much? Honda is terrible at publishing power numbers (so are the others, but in the opposite direction). Is some 30cc worth all of 1.3hp? Does that offset the weight difference? I was looking up stats, but I've already forgotten. I can't imagine that the 520 isn't but quite a bit heavier given the aparatus required for the dump bed.
As for having a dump bed: I never understood why this was such a big deal for small SxS users. Who cares? The rack is so versatile, you can put anything you can think to make on it... including a dump bed if you figured out how to mount it. The aftermarket is making some really silly stuff these days, stuff you couldn't mount on a 520 without first taking off the dump bed.
Where I live, trail restrictions are based on weight. Many are already off limits to the P-500 based on gross weight, but if we keep on with "feature creep" as the P-520 does, it will soon be too heavy for those trails limited by "dry" or "curb" weight limitations which the P-500 currently squeaks past.
IMO, when the P-500 came out, when I was selling them or trying to, and even more now, Honda needed to have an under-$10,000 out-the-door SxS option. For about five minutes in 2015, that was the P-500. $10k total cost before accessories is a magic number. I think a lot of people who don't think they can afford a SxS would be happy to buy a brand with a quality reputation at that price point. Instead, Coleman and others are selling really poorly made knockoffs assembled in China, for only a shave less than what is offered by Honda. If I were to spend several thousand dollars, and all I got was the basic 50" Cub Cadet, I might just swear off SxS' forever. (BTW, pretty sure "cub" and "cadet" are ripoff branding from Honda).
advertisement
The problem with publishing HP numbers started about 15 years ago in the General Purpose Engines end. Some manufactureres were grossly exaggerating HP figures on their engines. A 5HP engine suddenly became 7.5hp with a new sticker and so on. I do believe Techumsa was caught in a lawsuit over it claiming, if you took the muffler off the engine would be 7.5hp. Right about then, Honda no londer gave HP specs for their engines and used just the cc's of the engine as it's capability.
I think Honda's reticence to publish numbers is older than that. Certainly, playing with power numbers is older too. For example, in the 1950's Mercury Outboard de-rated their engines. Somehow their 15hp outboards ran circles around everyone else! Yeah, (making up numbers because I don't remember the specifics, but the rhetoric still works) it makes 15 HP... at 5,000 RPM, redline is 7,500, where it makes 20 HP.
For cars, power numbers were exaggerated in the 1960's. In the aftermath of the oil crisis of the mid-70's and smog limits through the 1980's, they were very much underestimated (big power numbers implied more smog and worse fuel economy, don't you know). Today, trucks and a few cars are again being overestimated in their power development. It's all marketing, and it bugs me a lot. Give me real stats, and tell me why they're better than your competition if you're trying to sell me something. Explain why total power and maximum torque are important distinctions. Tell me what fuel consumption is not only under "best conditions," but also likely or average use conditions.
Frankly, most consumers don't understand, and cant be bothered to learn, what these things mean. So, we get a mess of relatively meaningless statistics based on marketing, not on real comparative analysis.
SouthParkColorado
Well-Known Member
520 won't show up at dealerships for a while. When the 500 was new, I complained over and over we needed as many as we could get at the dealership I worked for. They were long in coming.
That said, the MUV was sales a dog, and that reinforced Honda's reticence to jump into a new market quickly. The 520 isn't all new, it's sort of a lateral evolution. Even so, new machines will be slow to arrive, I expect.
So, what's the oil change going to be like? None of us can say for sure, because none have arrived. However, I doubt it will be a serious departure from the P-500.
F
Smitty335
Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
Supporting Member
The reason I ended up with a P1 was no bed on the P5, the dump bed wouldn't have made a difference, the dump bed's greatest asset is for cleaning on the PI, really liked the size of the P5. But made the right choice for us, two people and three dogs wouldn't fit very well in a P5, I had no
idea the pups would love to ride as much as I.
L
as far as over or understating power numbers go its a big crock imo. grandpa bought a 7060 ac new because it was rated 160 pto hp wich was the number needed to run the chopper they had, they hooked it up and could not keep the chopper together so they took it back to the dealer to dyno it and it came back at over 200 on the pto. new unmodified. usually numbers are overstated but in that case that was a big difference to the better i suppose. grandpa wound up buying a bigger chopper that could handle the hp.
plus horsepower is just a calculation. not a real thing
plus horsepower is just a calculation. not a real thing
They use engines and technology that is straight off the Honda play-list. It's usually poorly implemented.
In the small motorcycle-world, I've been terribly tempted for this project or that (look at Colin Furze's no-weld go-cart).
I also want to build something like the no-pedal version of the Moto-Ped, which also can use a Chinese knock-off (I'll stick to the CRF50 with mods, I'm trying to make it road legal in my state).
These are wannabe Honda engines. Often, parts are interchangeable. However, you get what you pay for, and caveat emptor.
This idea ramps with size and price. You want cheap? You get cheap.
as far as over or understating power numbers go its a big crock imo. grandpa bought a 7060 ac new because it was rated 160 pto hp wich was the number needed to run the chopper they had, they hooked it up and could not keep the chopper together so they took it back to the dealer to dyno it and it came back at over 200 on the pto. new unmodified. usually numbers are overstated but in that case that was a big difference to the better i suppose. grandpa wound up buying a bigger chopper that could handle the hp.
plus horsepower is just a calculation. not a real thing
I don't know if you meant to, but you pretty much made my point.
If the Pioneer 500 "only" make some 32 horse power, so what? Max torque? Useful load? What are you using it for, and where?
You gonna use that power to spin the wires into the ground? Stuck is stuck.
Also, I'm confused: You ran a chopper? I can't imagine you meant a helicopter.
advertisement
