Kawasaki Prairie 700 4x4 ATV
The Kawasaki Prairie 700 4x4 turned out to be a complete pleasure to drive! Owning a Honda Foreman for the past few years, there were certain things we got used to when it comes to a 4x4 quad, but the Kawasaki Prarie 700 broke some our preconceptions of what you had to live with and gave us a ride that is second to none.
First, was high speed wobble. Our Foreman was full time 4x4, and, above 45mph, we got a severe wobble from the front shaft. This is from a steep angle from the U-joint to the shaft. The 2005 Kawasaki Prairie 700 and Kawasaki Brute Force 750 used a unique style of front shaft coupler called a Cardan joint. This is a light weight coupler that replaces a u-joint, reduces vibration, and absorbs speed fluctuations better than a u-joint or CV-shaft. Its an industry first for any quad manufacturer and we expect to see the other manufacturers playing catch up, as the ride was noticeable smoother.
I was leery about the thought of an “automatic transmission” on a ATV quad runner. Automatics tend to eat up precious horsepower that you can pay the big bucks for. This was not the case with our Kawasaki 700 quad. The continuously variable transmission (CVT) delivers power just as smoothly from 0-15mph as it does from 15-65mph. Being an old hat at riding, it was just weird not down-shifting when you see obstacles coming up in front of you. The learning curve was quick, and the 4-wheeler was super easy to handle despite its large size. The throttle response was always there with plenty of power to help keep all 4 wheels facing down even at high speeds and hard turns.
When you're looking for a 4x4 ATV, the sales pitch to yourself is: It’s a tool. You need it to get some work done. The reality winds up being that it’s only a part time tool and a full time toy. Even when your off working your quad, it's not really work. You're on a Kawasaki 4-wheeler--the entire outlook is better. When you need that quad to be a tool though, it has to perform its tasks flawlessly. The way you achieve that is with torque. Lots and lots of torque. Any hunter will tell you torque is what makes the world go round when you're towing, dragging, pushing, crawling or maybe even playing.
Ride is something lots of people talk about, but I will bet you didn’t know that most writers only get 30minutes to an hour on a ATV to write their annual “review”. We challenged Kawasaki, and they were proud to stand up to this extended, 4 month test. If you have ever ridden a quad for more than a few hours, you are aware that your back gets tight and you tend to cramp up and get stiff. The racing inspired Macpherson suspension is fully adjustable and you shouldn’t be afraid to crawl under your new Kawasaki 700 prairie and let some air out of the rear shock. Man, did it make a difference; logs, road ruts, even at higher speeds were so smooth and hardly even noticeable. The suspension can be taken the other direction for a stiff ride for racing or heavy loads but we didn’t need to apply that advantage to the type of riding we were using our 4x4 which was a nice pleasure ride through the mountains. It was a complete shock to us psychologically to not have to slow down so much for rough road. We were capable of keeping our butts in the seat over rougher terrain. This is why our legs didn’t stress and cramp, and the smooth ride, even while seated, kept back pain from creeping in late in the evening.
Another feature that impressed us instantly was the Kawasaki Engine Braking control system. For novice and experienced riders a like this is a fairly intelligent system. It eliminates nose-diving when letting off the throttle and yet still provides the engine braking on downhill drops that helps keep your hands and feet off the brakes. I had concerns with this type of system when I first heard of it, but I found it to be very intelligent and couldn't find any fault in the system in its response to my riding techniques.
Mud was where we were the most impressed. It wasn't that it that it handled well in mud--we expected that and would have been disappointed if it didn’t. It was how clean we stayed while driving around in muddy fields and on muddy roads that really impressed us. We found that 2-6 inches of sticky mud wouldn’t even splatter on the rider, not even that racing stripe you get from other quads up and down your back. Even at around 30MPH, we had no problems with splashing or splatter from the rear wheel spin. Whether hunting or working on a nasty day, the fact that you can stay dry and clean “at least from the bottom side” was just a complete pleasure back at camp when everyone else was wet and muddy...I had mild splatter from someone else’s ATV.
We feel the need to mention the reverse override button. The Kawasaki Prairie 700 has a lot of power, and the CV transmission is capable of going just as fast in reverse as it can in forward gears. Kawasaki put a computer limitation of 6mph on the reverse and placed an override button on the handlebars to allow full power in reverse. This was excellent as a safety feature and the fact it could be “and was” overridden when needed was just excellent thinking on the part of the engineers and for that a big kudos. And yes it will do the full 65MPH in reverse (we had to test it).
I have owned a Kawasaki Bayou 300 for 10+ years now, and there is just a lot of little things that impressed me about the improvement over the years with these ATV’s. Knowing the reliability that we have had with Kawasaki, I am always proud to recommend them to friends and family. I fully expect to get 10 years of service out of the Kawasaki 700 Prairie just as easily. The big 700 v-twin didn’t suck down gas. We got 70 miles off road rough housing on only 4 gallons of gas. The big saddle was comfortable all day long, and controls were nicely located. I would highly recommend the Kawasaki 700 Prairie for someone looking for both a toy and tool. If you are looking for a workhorse, I would recommend going up one level to the Kawasaki 750 Brute force. As for me I am going to keep our test model and sell off our Honda foreman. The Kawasaki really did impress me that much with high marks in the fun and rideablity column.
Kawasaki financing is fairly liberal these days, and you can get financed in minutes online with payments starting at $39 a month by going to:
http://www.kawasaki.com/community/promotions/leadingedge_fall04.html
Author: GunMuse Date: Friday Nov 05 2004 13:49:37 pm
