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Kodiak vs. Grizzly -- What made everyone choose their Kodiak?

76K views 143 replies 50 participants last post by  Vincent 
#1 ·
Fellow Kodiak owners, I'd like to hear your thoughts and reasoning behind choosing the Kodiak over the Grizzly. I am curious as to what swayed your decision, and think this could be a helpful thread for those looking to pull the trigger on either machine.

My reasoning for going with the 2019 EPS SE:

- Coming from older (and smaller quads), the Grizzly just felt unnecessarily cumbersome. At 5'11" and 200 pounds, the Kodiak is plenty comfortable. I can see how the extra seat height and machine length/width of the Grizzly would be preferred by much larger riders however.
- I ride a lot of narrow trails, especially when hunting. The narrower frame and general nimbleness of the Kodiak make a big difference here.
- I don't do a whole lot of deep mudding, where the extra lift and flotation of the larger, non-staggered tires would come in handy.
- It's essentially the same machine & motor for over $1300 less. That savings got me a brand new utility trailer and some new ratchet straps.
- There has been lots of talk about Yamaha updating the Griz with a more powerful engine. If the writing's on the wall, I'd rather have Yamaha's absolute top of the line '2nd tier' quad than one that struggles to compete with the major players in the '1st tier' big bore category. It seems like the Kodiak knows its place and performs exceptionally well within it.

Cheers!
 
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#4 ·
The Kodiak - simply due to the fact that I found a screaming deal for a machine with four miles on it from a private party. Saved thousands over what I would have paid for a new one at a dealership.
I have to admit, I had been looking at both the Kodiak and Grizzlies at the dealers. Even then, I was leaning towards the Kodiak due to the compactness and price.
If you want Grizzly performance, just install 20 gram weights and 1" wheel spacers.
I prefer the lower cruising rpm's with the 30 gram weights though.
 
#5 ·
Sounds like a **** of a deal!

I hear a lot of guys do the Grizzly mods. It's good to know the option is there if need be. For me this quad is plenty so far as-is...+1 on the low end cruising. For those who are obsessed solely with displacement a Grizzly wouldn't really cut it anyway.

The 650's - 850's are obviously in a different league but just didn't make sense for me. I mean, how **** fast do you need to go on a utility quad? Not to mention the overheating, poor fuel economy, reliability issues, much higher price tag, and loud exhaust spooking all the wildlife within miles.
 
#6 · (Edited)
For me it was the price first, I found 2 repossessed with low milage , power steering for the wife and I at a great price .now after having rode them I love the the sealed rear brakes for playing in the mud. I will be modding mine and hers over this winter.

Oh and I agree on the big 850-1000cc machines, they are impressive no doubt. but I just didn’t see the need for that kind of power .
 
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#7 ·
+1 on the sealed rear brakes.

I was riding a friend's Outlander 650 last week. It's a nice machine, but just has a cheaper overall feel compared to the Japanese quads, especially Yamaha.

It's geared more towards mid-range cruising and higher top speeds and it completely lacked that jumpy torque off the line. That's what I enjoy the most about the Kodiak.
 
#8 ·
I prefer the “Smallish” feel of the Kodiak and love the Sit In style seating instead of Sit On Top. Price between the Kodiak SE and Grizzly SE was 1900$ at my dealer which really made the decision easy. I liked the Grizzly handlebars better but that was fixed on my Kodiak with the ROX riser/bar combo. Test rode a bunch of similarly powered ATV’s and the Kodiak just had the perfect combo of Power/Ride/Handling for me. The Can-am 570 felt a touch stronger but the extra weight and size was very noticeable to me, and it gave up too much handling for a cushier ride. Actually I’d like to go heads up now against an Outty 570 since I’ve swapped to 20oz weights.
 
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#10 ·
I bought the Kodiak because I was sick of shopping for a bike to be honest. I had looked at several machines by this point and was sick of stealerships that could care less wether you bought or not. In the end, I chose the Kodak eps over the griz more for the price savings than anything else. It still took them 4 days to uncrate and prep it lol.
 
#12 ·
How are you liking the Reptile Radials? I'm planning to run my stock 25" Maxxis rubbers until they are toast. Might consider stepping up to a light 26" set so i won't have to change clutch weights. But I'll cross that bridge when the time comes.
They ride great once I figured out they needed less air than stock tires. Handling and traction are far better but they do take quite a bit more power to turn. At 26.25” tall they measure a bit short @ 4psi but are 2.5” taller than the stock Maxxis. Also I have a small amount of wobble in the 30-35mph range but I didn’t do any balancing.
 
#15 ·
P R I C E

I could afford either one, but the Kodiak is a better value and when I sell the Kodiaks I will get a much higher percentage of my original cost back, than I would with the Grizzly. If the Grizzly had a bigger engine then I might have gone for that, not because it is necessary, but because the larger engine would help it hold more value and differentiate it from the Kodiak.
 
#16 ·
I was looking at all the brands and the value of the Kodiak for what you get made it rise to the top of the list. Polaris has some good prices and the Sportsman 570 has comparable horsepower but, without firsthand knowledge of this I just thought Polaris vehicles are going to have issues. Their clutch issues steered me closer to Yamaha's 10 year warranty.
The price of the Grizzly put it in a class with the Brute Force and the King Quad which have quite a bit more horsepower.
I'm very happy with my Kodiak. It's given me zero problems and a tremendous amount of fun.
 
#17 ·
I liked the size of the Kodiak, felt like home as soon as I sat on it. Having never owned an ATV before I went with Yamaha because of the build quality, this I know well from my VMAX.
 
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#18 ·
I just purchased my second Kodiak 700 EPS SE. I traded my 2016 SE in with 7,000 miles on it. I went with the Kodiak again for two reasons: 1. The Price. This 2019 was $2,000 less than the 2019 Grizz. 2. I had 4 Grizzly's prior to my 1st Kodiak 700. Had two 660's and two 700's and put almost 30,000 miles on those 4. Since I have acquired the Kodiak I have been unable to tell the difference between it and the Grizzly's. I ride a lot of narrow trails in Colorado, all types of terrain. Why pay more for what I deem as almost the same machine!
 
#21 ·
The only issues I had was 1st, replacing wheels bearings which are always the case with a Grizzly or Kodiak and 2nd, I had to have the one way bearing in the clutch replaced twice under warranty when my engine braking went away. I traded it in for the same reason I have on all of my ATVs which is I wanted to do it while it still held value, in the later case it was down to $3500 and the Dealer will try and get $4500.
 
#20 ·
i was deciding between a grizzley vs can am outlander 570..one day i found a 2016 kodiack EPS with 8 miles on it listed for $6800 and i talked him down to $6600..i basically got a brand new EPS kodiack for 6600...that said i like the simplicity and low maintenance of the sealed rear drum and the lever switch 4wd--i dont see how that could ever break..i too like the smaller frame of the kodiack compared to the wider grizz
 
#23 ·
The size of the Kodiak is what first drew me in. I am 5'-4" tall on a good day and bigger quads are just too much for me to handle comfortably. The value (EPS model)and quality over others in the dame class was very good.

I love medium speed crusing through twisty narrow trails. I am going to West Virginia next fall so the 4 wheel drive system with the diff lock is a must.
 
#25 ·
I got the Kodiak, for the way it looks and it is a power house for working with, even if it is dark metallic blue with a gray.. silver metallic wheel... wanting to change out the wheels though... mine was one of the last ones left with a 1500lbs warn winch and heavy duty back 2" square hitch. And it has lots of extras now. Thanks for letting me into the Kodiak Forum as well.
 
#30 ·
Mine was the feel when seated on the two.
The Grizzly had a wider tank area at the front of the seat that just didn't fit me well, and the Kodiak felt like it was custom made for me. Perfectly comfortable.
There have been times that the Kodiak just squeaked through or by something that the Grizzly just would not have been able to do.
Zero regrets, cost/mods and all.
 
#32 ·
Nice!
 
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