P500 The new p500

[DG Rider]

On and unrelated topic while looking the other day I found a P500 add on that is only available overseas. It was a dumb bed attachment as well as a storage box for under the hood that was accessible through a lid made into the hood.

LOL...yeah...i posted that bed in the PUB recently as the bed Honda should offer as an accessory.
I'd never seen a good side view. It's maybe a bit too long and messes with the looks, but I'd still take it over the current serving tray Honda sells as a "bed".

I'm actually intrigued by this model G. The 500 Pioneer is, for me, and used option only. I can't see paying for one new when i don't have any width restrictions. Esp when people are selling the base 700 for under $8000 (plus BS charges) recently. I like the ideal of a smaller machine, but the price is the #1 factor in why i might end up with a 500. Several in the area for under $6K...doesn't seem to be holding its value as well as the 700/1000 (the newer Auto's will be better in that regard). Good for someone like me who insists on playing a game they really can't afford...but in an ideal world, the 500 is maybe too small for me. So, like goldilocks, the MS Rangers/Prowlers are "just right" for what i want. Except they are made by less trustworthy brands. If Honda makes their own and DOESN'T do silly things like leave diff-lock off, I'll be the 1st in line.

So please don't vote against the Model G, guys. You aren't making a choice between the 2 with this. The 50" machine isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

I should mention that Kymco,as far as i could find, has had very few issues with the 450 they sell (which Textron rebadged as the 500 Prowler). So maybe its unfair to dismiss it...

 

[DG Rider]

There are plenty of other sxs's on the market, we all knew what we were getting when we bought these machines...least amount of suspension travel, shortest wheel base, ugly as sh** and doesn't come with anything. That's why it was $8000.
We also knew that it had advantages over the rest, shorter turning radius, less likely to high point, smallest footprint for two people and gear, simple, cheap and bullet proof...what Honda built and they nailed it. That's what we paid for.

When the Suzuki Hayabusa came out, it was considered "ugly" by most anyone with eyes. The same bike is now considered iconic. and Suzuki would't dare mess with the shape much. I look at the 500 like that. Either I don't think its ugly...or its so ugly it comes off as cool. Not sure which.

There are a few guys who go back and forth about the 500 vs larger machines. About how the 500 can't do what the bigger machines can...yet they get bent and insist that the bigger machines can get in the same places (i'm excluding restricted trails here). People get upset, but they are just tools suited to different jobs...just like screwdrivers don't make good hammers, and vice-versa. I know places where the 500 would struggle...and i also grew up riding some trails that the 700/1000 wouldn't even fit on despite what some people insist. Doesn't make one or the other better. Just different. Too bad many don't see it that way.

Oh...and i can't think of a diplomatic way to say this, so I'll just say it: f*** the Clintons. Some of the most vile and despicable people on the face of the earth.

 

[William]

Why not just get a p700?

I don’t want the three speed... been there done that... didn’t care for it...

 

[JWB]

Honda sent me another email survey and it pretty much told me they were designing a new 57” p500 with dump bed and 8” suspension travel... I’m ready to buy one! I told them it needed a locker and 10 more mph on top end also!

View attachment 59837

Sounds like an even lower powered P700..? I'm totally not understanding this one. It appears that honda is going to bail on the 50" market. They may continue to offer the p5 50", but I'm thinking they aren't going to make any notable improvements to it. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[William]

Sounds like an even lower powered P700..? I'm totally not understanding this one. It appears that honda is going to bail on the 50" market. They may continue to offer the p5 50", but I'm thinking they aren't going to make any notable improvements to it. Hope I'm wrong.

Who knows... It doesn’t get much lower powered than the 700... my P500 will outrun my cousins p700-4 from a dead stop to my top speed then he slowly passes me... and mine has bigger/heavier tires... I know his weighs more though... heck his sportsman 450 outran my rincon 680. I wish Honda would put a trans like in the P500 in the p700....

 

[rocmar]

The Original P5 (2015)....is wat Honda
needs to stick with....once the started adding
crap...more problems..P5 (original ) gives a guy
..a blank canvas..to paint his own...vision...
IMO...

 

[Mudder]

And made in the USA, SC.
Honda of South Carolina

 

[trigger]

Sounds like an even lower powered P700..? I'm totally not understanding this one. It appears that honda is going to bail on the 50" market. They may continue to offer the p5 50", but I'm thinking they aren't going to make any notable improvements to it. Hope I'm wrong.

I don't think they can do any real notable improvements to this platform. For more suspension travel they would have to give it a longer wheelbase. They could offer all the extra crap we put on, bigger tires, power steering, WE shocks, at the time of sale but you'd probably pay more for it doing it that way. They could do something with the cosmetics though, chop the top, front fenders, real doors and maybe some better seats.

 

[JWB]

I don't think they can do any real notable improvements to this platform. For more suspension travel they would have to give it a longer wheelbase. They could offer all the extra crap we put on, bigger tires, power steering, WE shocks, at the time of sale but you'd probably pay more for it doing it that way. They could do something with the cosmetics though, chop the top, front fenders, real doors and maybe some better seats.

They could put a bigger engine in it and an f'n locker!!! And I would gladly pay more for it!

 

[infernored1000]

I have to admit at first and probably still do think the pioneer 500 is ugly as sin with the rear rack, but after joining the pioneer family, watching videos and reading the forum about the P500. The P500 is a badass machine, only thing I see it lacking is a front locker and do away with the rear rack and in exchange give it a dump bed. Rode with a P500 couple weeks ago and thing goes everywhere. I have no use for one but sure would like one.

 

[William]

these are priced right though!!!

 

[rocmar]

I don't think they can do any real notable improvements to this platform. For more suspension travel they would have to give it a longer wheelbase. They could offer all the extra crap we put on, bigger tires, power steering, WE shocks, at the time of sale but you'd probably pay more for it doing it that way. They could do something with the cosmetics though, chop the top, front fenders, real doors and maybe some better seats.

Leave the seat......alone
easy for us old timers. ..to slide
in & out....love it

 

[100Acre]

This is what I was referring to earlier about 50" trails, just another reason to loath Bill Clinton.


View attachment 59856

Bill Clinton=camel hair turd bag

 

[JWB]

I don't think they can do any real notable improvements to this platform. For more suspension travel they would have to give it a longer wheelbase. They could offer all the extra crap we put on, bigger tires, power steering, WE shocks, at the time of sale but you'd probably pay more for it doing it that way. They could do something with the cosmetics though, chop the top, front fenders, real doors and maybe some better seats.

By 'wheel base' do you mean length or width? Wheelbase normally refers to length, center of wheel to center of wheel. As far as more travel, the existing control arms are capable of far more movement than the idiotic stock shocks allow. Mine has 10.5" of travel in the front and 9" in the rear with the shocks I have installed. So, simple shock change= more travel, first problem solved. Add a locker, second problem solved. Install the p1000 power train, third problem solved. Of course the price goes up, that's why they're called options. Or, you could just buy a machine that already has 95% of all the usual add ons for under $11k (I've got more than that in my p5) CFMOTO ZFORCE 800 EPS Trail Side by Side ATVs | Specs + Features
If Honda doesn't get their collective heads out of their a$$e$ soon, they are going to loose yet another customer.

 

[rocmar]

By 'wheel base' do you mean length or width? Wheelbase normally refers to length, center of wheel to center of wheel. As far as more travel, the existing control arms are capable of far more movement than the idiotic stock shocks allow. Mine has 10.5" of travel in the front and 9" in the rear with the shocks I have installed. So, simple shock change= more travel, first problem solved. Add a locker, second problem solved. Install the p1000 power train, third problem solved. Of course the price goes up, that's why they're called options. Or, you could just buy a machine that already has 95% of all the usual add ons for under $11k (I've got more than that in my p5) CFMOTO ZFORCE 800 EPS Trail Side by Side ATVs | Specs + Features
If Honda doesn't get their collective heads out of their a$$e$ soon, they are going to loose yet another customer.

I cruised one..for a weekend..
impressive. ..
power...great handling....
11" longer...
2" shorter...in height..
bout 200 lbs.... heavier

 

[rocmar]

By 'wheel base' do you mean length or width? Wheelbase normally refers to length, center of wheel to center of wheel. As far as more travel, the existing control arms are capable of far more movement than the idiotic stock shocks allow. Mine has 10.5" of travel in the front and 9" in the rear with the shocks I have installed. So, simple shock change= more travel, first problem solved. Add a locker, second problem solved. Install the p1000 power train, third problem solved. Of course the price goes up, that's why they're called options. Or, you could just buy a machine that already has 95% of all the usual add ons for under $11k (I've got more than that in my p5) CFMOTO ZFORCE 800 EPS Trail Side by Side ATVs | Specs + Features
If Honda doesn't get their collective heads out of their a$$e$ soon, they are going to loose yet another customer.

 

[JWB]

I cruised one..for a weekend..
impressive. ..
power...great handling....
11" longer...
2" shorter...in height..
bout 200 lbs.... heavier

The picture is the U-Force. Did you ride the 50" Z-Force?

 

[trigger]

By 'wheel base' do you mean length or width? Wheelbase normally refers to length, center of wheel to center of wheel. As far as more travel, the existing control arms are capable of far more movement than the idiotic stock shocks allow. Mine has 10.5" of travel in the front and 9" in the rear with the shocks I have installed. So, simple shock change= more travel, first problem solved. Add a locker, second problem solved. Install the p1000 power train, third problem solved. Of course the price goes up, that's why they're called options. Or, you could just buy a machine that already has 95% of all the usual add ons for under $11k (I've got more than that in my p5) CFMOTO ZFORCE 800 EPS Trail Side by Side ATVs | Specs + Features
If Honda doesn't get their collective heads out of their a$$e$ soon, they are going to loose yet another customer.

Smallest footprint on the market, gets where other 50" machines can't and it's bullet proof. More utility inclined and not a trail bomber.
If I were coughing up another $11k for a 50" trail bomber it wouldn't be that CF MOTO...
Maverick Trail UTV Side-by-Side 2018 Price & Specs | Can-Am

 

[JWB]

Smallest footprint on the market, gets where other 50" machines can't and it's bullet proof. More utility inclined and not a trail bomber.
If I were coughing up another $11k for a 50" trail bomber it wouldn't be that CF MOTO...
Maverick Trail UTV Side-by-Side 2018 Price & Specs | Can-Am

BRP= Bring Replacement Parts. No winch, no roof, no wheels, no tires, no diff lock, less pwr (800cc), 6 month warranty.. So what would it really cost to match the cfmoto's installed standard features, pwr, and warranty?
I will not give BRP (can-am) one cent of my money, but that's a personal thing that I need not go into....

I'm really not pushing cfmoto, just using it as an example of what I feel Honda should be, or maybe a better way to say 'could be' offering in a 50" machine, and/or options for the p5. Virtually every semi-serious to serious trail rider who owns a p5, ever since they were invented, has wanted a diff-lock, at least a little more power, a little more top end speed, and better suspension. Honda has completely ignored us, and the competition.

That's why I'm annoyed with Honda. They've done the same thing in the marine industry- always the last to get into the game, and always too little too late.

The p500 is bulletproof- I really love mine. Not one single failure in 1300 miles of quite honestly pure abuse. I've put about $4k into um.... personalizing. So in reality, I've spent prit neer $13k on a 27 h.p. machine, and I'm guessing that many other p5 owners, if completely honest, are in the same ballpark.

As far as the p5 going where no other 50" machine can go- how I wish that were true, because when it gets sticky, or real steep, the lack of power, and no diff-lock proved that isn't the case, unfortunately for me and my ego...

 

[trigger]

Lol, I know where you're coming from JWB and would love to see Honda put out a little 50" trail bomber. Or a race inspired machine in any class for that matter!