Over the years, the ATV and SxS market has been growing and expanding considerably. Now, there are so many brands to choose from, how do you choose. Well, generally you pick based on what your friends ride and what everyone around you is saying. But, at the end of the day, all of these ATV brands do a great job on building machines that are fun to ride.
These are the top 5 best ATV brands out there now, as far as quality and popularity goes. We will briefly talk about each company and give a list of the products they are offering.
Can-am
Can-am, many years ago, used to be a motorcycle division under Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), based out of Canada. BRP has been making many moves in the industry ever since then. Since 2006, Can-Am has been an off-road brand, creating ATV’s, SxS’s, and the most popular, the 3 wheel motorcycles the Spyder and the Ryker.
Since they started in the off-road scene, they have been making some noise in the industry. They’re most popular sport SxS being the Maverick X3, is arguable the best side-by-side on the market. Can-Am makes great products and you are going to pay high for them. They are on the pricier side things, but you get what you pay for.
| Sport | Utility | Youth |
| Renegade | Outlander Outlander 450/570 | DS |
Polaris
Polaris is a huge, worldwide company. They have been around forever, and actually was founded in Roseau, Minnesota. They still have facilities there today. They make ATV’s, SxS’s, snowmobiles, motorcycles, and boats. Everything that is a lot of fun, they make. They are constantly improving their ingenuity and thinking outside the box to try and stay ahead in the industry.
The ATV brand that they offer is called the Sportsman. But, you can get the Sportsman in many different editions, including sport, utility, touring, and special editions.
| Sport | Utility | Touring | Youth |
| Scrambler 850 Scrambler XP 1000S Scrambler XP 1000S Limited Edition | Sportsman 450 H.O. Sportsman 570 Sportsman 850 Sportsman XP 1000 | Sportsman Touring 570 Sportsman Touring 850 Sportsman Touring XP 1000 Trial | Outlaw 70 EFI Outlaw 110 EFI Sportsman 110 Phoenix 200 |
Honda
Everybody knows who Honda is, and don’t get me wrong they’re great. They do a really good job at making engines. That’s the reason they are on this list. Honda loves to create a simple and easy product, that will generally last forever if you take care of it. They don’t go out of their way to create 8 different versions of their machines. I mean, they only have 2 categories, utility and sport. In the sport category you only have 2 options, one for adults and one for youth. In utility you have 5 options and that’s it.
They know how to make good machines that get the job done, and they have been doing for long time. They must be doing something right.
| Sport | Utility | Youth |
| TRX250X | Fourtrax Rincon Fourtrax Foreman Rubicon 4×4 EPS Fourtrax Foreman 4×4 Fourtrax Rancher Fourtrax Recon | TRX90X |
Arctic Cat
Arctic Cat may be known for their snowmobiles, but recently they have been putting a lot of time and effort into their ATV’s and SxS’s. Arctic Cat is at the forefront of engineering in the industry. They make powerful machines that also look great and ride great. All of their newer machines have top of the line suspensions, making the ride comfortable and you don’t feel sore after you spent all day on the trails.
Most of their ATV’s are just for utility and trail purposes. They haven’t gotten into the sport category yet, or maybe they won’t ever. Arctic Cat has ride or die fans, and for good reason.
| Utility/Trail | Youth |
| Alterra 600 Alterra 600 EPS Alterra 600 XT Alterra 600 LTD Alterra 600 SE Alterra TRV 700 Alterra TRV 700 EPS Alterra 450 Alterra 300 | Alterra 90 |
Yamaha
Like Polaris, Yamaha has been in the ATV racing scene for quite some time. They build high performance sport quads. That’s not all they do, they also offer a handful of utility ATV’s as well. There are some people in the competitive racing community that are die-hard Yamaha fans and will always ride their Raptors whenever they race.
| Sport | Utility | Youth |
| Raptor 700R SE Raptor 700R Raptor 700 YFZ450R SE YFZ450R | Grizzly EPS XT-R Grizzly EPS SE Grizzly EPS Kodiak 700 EPS SE Kodiak 700 EPS Kodiak 700 Kodiak 450 EPS SE Kodiak 450 EPS Kodiak 450 | YFZ50 Raptor 90 Grizzly 90 |
Like I had said in the beginning, nowadays any brand of ATV you decide to get is going to have a quality product of some sort. These just are the most reputable ATV brands and companies out there. Most of these companies have been in business for many years and it’s because they can manufacture a great product that won’t give you any headaches every season when it’s time to ride.
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