Hey everybody, first time poster - wanted to say hi and thanks for all the information provided by different members. Myself, the wife, and the two little ones (almost 7 year old son and 4 year old daughter) made the P1000's maiden voyage this afternoon. My 16 year old son rode with us on our 2004 Polaris sportsman 700.
We had a great time and I was pretty impressed with the 1000. It felt a little rougher than the rzr 900-4 we rented last year, but I was surprised that it maintains its composure pretty well with harder pushing. There were several times I was going at a pretty fast pace and ran up on something I wasn't expecting and it soaked it up really well. I had a squeak and some rattles that I will address (I assume they are the doors or the bed) based on the easy fixes I have read about. The power is outstanding (comparable to the rzr 900-4). I had read about the reverse gearing being a little high but today was the first I realized it was because low range only applies to forward. I was thinking the subtransmission low range would be for forward and reverse since I thought of it as a transfer case, but now it makes sense. We only got in one sticky situation where I had to give strong throttle in reverse to get it moving, but I don't expect to be in situations like this often. It did back up as needed though. Stock tires, by the way.
New machine, learning the ropes with it, and I do have one question - after we had been riding for 20-30 minutes or so it seemed like it was putting off excessive valve train noise - this noise seemed to be coming up behind the front seat. I almost thought it might be the rear end due to turf mode cable adjustment (like it wasn't completely coming out of 2wd locked), so I put it in 2wd locked and the noise persisted. Changing to low range seemed to quieten it down pretty good. It seemed that it showed up the most when in a little too high of a gear under load (I kept it in auto mode 98% of the ride so it was the machine's choice of gear). I can understand if it is normal operating noise for this engine - just wanted to know if others have experienced the same noise to see if it was normal. I live in North Louisiana, and believe it or not - the pipeline we were riding on was very hilly and somewhat challenging. It had been years since I had ridden this particular pipeline and had forgot how much fun it was.
Other things I noticed is the rear end noise that I've read about and a little heat from the engine coming up right behind the front seat. Neither really bothered me. Every rzr I've been in has made this absolutely aweful noise in the front end that sounds like it is about to fall apart. Polaris says it's normal but I can't stand it. To me they sound like there is gravel in the gears. The rear drive noise from the honda is completely different - just sounds like loud gear whine.
Anyway, hope this doesn't sound as though I'm coming off negative - we really enjoyed the P1000. It's an impressive machine. Very nimble, awesome power steering, more power than needed, very tight steering. Prior to purchase, our choice for a family ride came down the the P1000-5 or the rzr 1000-4. We rode them both back to back and decided on the Honda. The rzr was just so LONG and the steering didn't turn very sharp. There are several places we went today that a rzr 1000-4 just wouldn't be able to go due to tight turns (I know this was a pipeline, but sometimes you have to take side trails for short distances for various reasons).
We have a trip to Mount Magazine planned in a few weeks, so I'm pushing to get my 100 mile service complete before we go.
By the way, my VIN ended in several zeros followed by I think 119. Does this sound like it was the 119th camo model made, or the 119th P1000-5 made? Sticker on frame says December 2015.
Thanks,
Waylan
We had a great time and I was pretty impressed with the 1000. It felt a little rougher than the rzr 900-4 we rented last year, but I was surprised that it maintains its composure pretty well with harder pushing. There were several times I was going at a pretty fast pace and ran up on something I wasn't expecting and it soaked it up really well. I had a squeak and some rattles that I will address (I assume they are the doors or the bed) based on the easy fixes I have read about. The power is outstanding (comparable to the rzr 900-4). I had read about the reverse gearing being a little high but today was the first I realized it was because low range only applies to forward. I was thinking the subtransmission low range would be for forward and reverse since I thought of it as a transfer case, but now it makes sense. We only got in one sticky situation where I had to give strong throttle in reverse to get it moving, but I don't expect to be in situations like this often. It did back up as needed though. Stock tires, by the way.
New machine, learning the ropes with it, and I do have one question - after we had been riding for 20-30 minutes or so it seemed like it was putting off excessive valve train noise - this noise seemed to be coming up behind the front seat. I almost thought it might be the rear end due to turf mode cable adjustment (like it wasn't completely coming out of 2wd locked), so I put it in 2wd locked and the noise persisted. Changing to low range seemed to quieten it down pretty good. It seemed that it showed up the most when in a little too high of a gear under load (I kept it in auto mode 98% of the ride so it was the machine's choice of gear). I can understand if it is normal operating noise for this engine - just wanted to know if others have experienced the same noise to see if it was normal. I live in North Louisiana, and believe it or not - the pipeline we were riding on was very hilly and somewhat challenging. It had been years since I had ridden this particular pipeline and had forgot how much fun it was.
Other things I noticed is the rear end noise that I've read about and a little heat from the engine coming up right behind the front seat. Neither really bothered me. Every rzr I've been in has made this absolutely aweful noise in the front end that sounds like it is about to fall apart. Polaris says it's normal but I can't stand it. To me they sound like there is gravel in the gears. The rear drive noise from the honda is completely different - just sounds like loud gear whine.
Anyway, hope this doesn't sound as though I'm coming off negative - we really enjoyed the P1000. It's an impressive machine. Very nimble, awesome power steering, more power than needed, very tight steering. Prior to purchase, our choice for a family ride came down the the P1000-5 or the rzr 1000-4. We rode them both back to back and decided on the Honda. The rzr was just so LONG and the steering didn't turn very sharp. There are several places we went today that a rzr 1000-4 just wouldn't be able to go due to tight turns (I know this was a pipeline, but sometimes you have to take side trails for short distances for various reasons).
We have a trip to Mount Magazine planned in a few weeks, so I'm pushing to get my 100 mile service complete before we go.
By the way, my VIN ended in several zeros followed by I think 119. Does this sound like it was the 119th camo model made, or the 119th P1000-5 made? Sticker on frame says December 2015.
Thanks,
Waylan
