[Freedomflyer]

Okay.

I need honest feed back to this quandry: How bad is the ES on these newer machines? Is it worth spending the extra $$$$ for the extended warranty Just in case? If you buy a new ES machine is the first thing you do remove the shift motor clean out the factory grease and replace it with white lithium grease?

Reason for asking: For kicks and giggles the wife and I went out to the dealership and test rode some new machines with Power Steering, IRS, and with Electric shift. They have one Honda Foreman with PS, IRS, and manual shift but it is the most God awful yellow I've ever seen on an ATV. Wife absolutely hated the color. It must be a (and I didn't even ask due to color) 2016 leftover that they can't get rid of. Full retail is $9200 Said if I wrote them a check I could have it for $8100 plus an additional $630 something for the extended warranty, but my goodness the color:shocked::sad.

I could get another Rancher in red with PS, IRS, but ES and am just not sure I want to go that route. But my goodness, what an unbelievable difference in ride and steering, I would have never thought it! But rode IRS and SRA back to back and was dumbfounded.

So the question stands: Is it worth the risk of the ES? Or should I just start saving, and when the time comes sell one of my Ranchers and make up the difference with savings to get a Foreman with the Manual transmission and a different color of course? (down the road) The wife reeeeaaaaalllllllly liked the IRS and PS!

 

[shadetree]

honestly ?, well..you know my answer !, DON'T BUY ANY ES MODELS !. I don't care what extras you get with it ?, IT'S NOT WORTH IT IN THE LONG RUN !. sure, some one, some where, will chime in and say , '' hey..I've owned a es model for such and such years ?, no problem ''. okkkkkkk, now..look on CL's, etrader, or anywhere, and see how many es models are there ?, then see how many manual shifts are there ?!. nuff said.

 

[shadetree]

oh, and you COULD ask the dealer on that manual shift model to swap out the yellow plastics ?, or, ask them to discount it a ton, then buy red plastics yourself, problem solved .

 

[fishfiles]

If all I had to pick from was a ES ATV , I would find another hobby !

 

[Menard_LaPue]

Took the mother-in-law out for a ride today. She has never driven a car in her life. She has never seen an ATV either. She doesn't speak English. The trails are rugged this year, due to the 65 feet of snow and the mess with all the runoff, missing roads, deep gullies and the like. So I got her driving the quad! Like a blind person discovering eyesight... She had a blast and will definitely continue to drive more. Good thing I had that ES! Teaching her to turn the key was hard enough. Shifting gears would not have worked. I sure hope the ES lasts forever. I guess it won't. But it is a luxury ride. Power steering. IRS. All I have to do is putt putt along, find a good rock, laser blast it for some elemental isotopes, gps the point, and keep on driving. I tested manual shift quads before I bought this one. It reminded me of motorcycling. Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingeee, Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiingeee, Whooooooooooooooooom. What a PITA. That stuff is ok. But there are better things to be doin... ####

 

[fishfiles]

if crippled up or mentally challenged and you don't want to shift with your foot then the Yamaha 700 or the Can-Am 570 are good choices ---------- we had a blow out ride this weekend past with 21 bikes on a night ride , all the major hold ups / brake downs were all the same thing ES electrical problems , stuck in gear , won't go in reverse , flashing codes , drained out batteries and the bad thing about it is that these same people keep throwing money at the same problem and it don't stay fixed , new controllers , angle sensors , batteries over and over , they are terrible ATV's as far as I am concerned

 

[redtherocket]

My 2000 ES never once had a shift issue in 7000km or whatever I had on it...

Its hit and miss... But I would imagine looking after the bike helps..

I ran mine through a lot of water as well..

As I said in anther thread about my experiences with the early 2000 fourtrax models up in northern Quebec... Bullet proof... all were ES models..

But I was washing and looking after them.

I would imagine corrosion plays a big part in the ES failure... Washing without idling to evaporate sitting water..

 

[Macarena Man]

Buy the yellow quad ........ the color will grow on you.
Deal on a further discount.
Manual shift is virtually foolproof.

Have fun!
Think of that old tune by Donovan Leitch ...... 'Mellow Yellow'

 

[mac102004]

The yellow is a 2017 color. Therefore you should be able to get it in whatever colour you want (green and red are also available with that setup).

Personally I wouldn't touch an ES machine. Smart people don't pay extra money just to cause themselves problems down the road....however the Rubicon doesn't come in 5speed ES, it only comes in footshift or the DCT auto/ESP. I've heard both good and bad about the DCT, personally if I'm buying a Honda I'm buying it for the reliability, so I don't want a transmission that can cause potential problems down the road. If I want an auto it's going to be a belt drive CVT. Honda's auto's are junk, KISS.....CVT belt drive.

 

[ATC4ever]

Lol ....you guys are funny. Mustve be still new to wheelers or something
If you had a real reason not to buy it other than peer pressure then fine. But what kind of riding are you doing? Some ppl only ride wheelers & no other shifting rig so they like to shift, others might not want to get their feet wet. They still make them, so they cant be all that bad. If you have a chance to test ride both back to back, do so. Then you will know, or at least have an idea...might take some practice on the ES model tho. After all....a belt driven quad had no shifting at all.

 

[SamUK]

The yellow is a 2017 color. Therefore you should be able to get it in whatever colour you want (green and red are also available with that setup).

Personally I wouldn't touch an ES machine. Smart people don't pay extra money just to cause themselves problems down the road....however the Rubicon doesn't come in 5speed ES, it only comes in footshift or the DCT auto/ESP. I've heard both good and bad about the DCT, personally if I'm buying a Honda I'm buying it for the reliability, so I don't want a transmission that can cause potential problems down the road. If I want an auto it's going to be a belt drive CVT. Honda's auto's are junk, KISS.....CVT belt drive.

Simplicity equals reliability, generally speaking, the less electronics the more reliable and maintenance friendly it will be. I would also avoid ES.

 

[SamUK]

Not quite sure why I quoted Macs post there, sorry about that!

 

[Goober]

The ES option is handy if you're wearing muck boots. The one 02 Rancher we have in the shop has 7k miles and was used at the stable for pushing manure. I replaced the battery and push button multi switch got the clutches adjusted. No problems.
Now, having to shift into neutral before shutdown or operating the reverse sequence with heavy winter gloves--I can deal with that routine but not something I would choose.
Lols one other thing if your gloves are covered with dirt the push button switch will be too put plastic wrap on that sucker

 

[Goober]

Yellow, or bright gold if you will is good for hi vis--my helmet is "bright gold" too. I bought this 2013 from a friend who needed the $.
Looks too top heavy and big to me but my wife and daughter love it. I am used to simple chili peppers and Trx 300s

 

[mac102004]

Not quite sure why I quoted Macs post there, sorry about that!

I'll let it slide this time.

 

[Macarena Man]

Yellow, or bright gold if you will is good for Hi-Vis --- my helmet is 'bright gold' too.
I am used to simple chili peppers and TRX 300's

Years ago, Honda's came in three colors ...... Mustard, Ketchup, and Relish.

Didn't like the yellow color when I first got my 450S ....... now, it's the only color ...... just sayin' ...

 

[Freedomflyer]

I think I will more than likely visit with them again to see if they can do any better on the price of the foreman. I just do not want to have issues down the road period so will be checking with other dealerships as well to see if they have any machines like that that have what we're looking for. I think the fact that my brother is having so much trouble with his machine confirms my conviction of wanting to stay with a manual transmission 4 potential future issues period have been lurking in a bit on a couple other forms Can-Am Forum being one of them. Ask some questions as to what they thought about Honda's in general and was very pleasantly surprised to the responses I got they seem like a great group of guys. Most of them that are about the power but most agreed Honda was probably most dependable. They asked as to what type of riding I do which is not balls to the wall type of riding. One gentleman actually said one of cannons major issues is riding slow, there is a serious problem with heat from the exhaust on the left leg two find a place where he can speed up to cool things snore stop and let it cool down because he is worried about potential melting of his Plastics. but that is generally when he is going under 15 miles per hour. And with the type trail riding we do there are times we are navigating pretty tight corners and Rocky Terrain so we don't get much of of 10 miles an hour. So that is just another issue I do not want to deal with. So thanks for confirming but I probably already knew do we'll work through another summer and plan to cell one of the Ranchers and get what we want possibly next year period and less the dealership here drops another six or seven hundred bucks so we can get different Plastics.

 

[shadetree]

I think I will more than likely visit with them again to see if they can do any better on the price of the foreman. I just do not want to have issues down the road period so will be checking with other dealerships as well to see if they have any machines like that that have what we're looking for. I think the fact that my brother is having so much trouble with his machine confirms my conviction of wanting to stay with a manual transmission 4 potential future issues period have been lurking in a bit on a couple other forms Can-Am Forum being one of them. Ask some questions as to what they thought about Honda's in general and was very pleasantly surprised to the responses I got they seem like a great group of guys. Most of them that are about the power but most agreed Honda was probably most dependable. They asked as to what type of riding I do which is not balls to the wall type of riding. One gentleman actually said one of cannons major issues is riding slow, there is a serious problem with heat from the exhaust on the left leg two find a place where he can speed up to cool things snore stop and let it cool down because he is worried about potential melting of his Plastics. but that is generally when he is going under 15 miles per hour. And with the type trail riding we do there are times we are navigating pretty tight corners and Rocky Terrain so we don't get much of of 10 miles an hour. So that is just another issue I do not want to deal with. So thanks for confirming but I probably already knew do we'll work through another summer and plan to cell one of the Ranchers and get what we want possibly next year period and less the dealership here drops another six or seven hundred bucks so we can get different Plastics.

if they want to sell the yellow atv ?, just tell them to replace the yellow with red plastics, problem solved. or, like you said, knock off a few hundred bucks, and you might buy it.

 

[Freedomflyer]

Shade, that's what I was thinking if they want to sell it they'll be willing to deal especially if it is a 2016. my wife just picked up a part time job so maybe we will be able to use those funds toward what we want and it could happen sooner than later. Plus if we ride through the summer with what we have, there might be some deals in the fall with dealerships wanting to get rid of machines that didn't sell over the summer. At least we have a goal to shoot for and will be exciting when it happens.

 

[Freedomflyer]

I want say thank you to everyone who responded I value the knowledge and Council given.