New from Swiss due to snow

[sjeupie]

Dear all,

Let me first introduce myself: My name is christian, live both in Holland and Switzerland (dutch nationality however), and I'm currently completely cut from civility cause since a couple of days there is a snow blizzard going on here (at 1500m altitude in Switzerland). I'm pretty proficient in riding through snow and off road but this time both my Land Rover and Toyota don't even get up the driveway!

So here I am, completely newb to the ATV's (do know quite a lot about wheeling off road though in cars), trying to find out if a ATV in my garage is the way to go for! Because this time I'm just waiting till the blizzard is over and I simply cancelled all my appointments. But the next time maybe I need to get to the hospital for an emergency or whatsoever, and I want to be always able to 'escape' lets say.

So I'm going to read through the forum and do my research. Main concerns are:
1. obviously I don't want to get stuck.... Snow ranges from just a couple of cm (1') covering the roads to currently over 50cm (20').
2. It shouldn't be too dangerous to drive since the rest of the family should be able to handle it as well (do lsd exist on a polaris e.g.?)
3. it should be legal. I know that putting tracks on a Polaris do the trick, but not sure weather I'm allowed to drive through the village with those.
4. It is for driving through snow on paved roads mainly. Would be cool to just go and drive trough the forest behind my house as well, but that would just be a cool extra. Oh, and obviously just on paved roads in summer.

So, that's my introduction including questions as well. Hope to get some straight forward reply's In the meantime, i'm surfing through the forum to suck up info!

Gr
Christian

[Diesel man 03]

Welcome to the forum.

[Bruce!]

Welcome to the board!

[Wheelie Man]

Welcome.. I would say you need a 850xp with tracks. you can drive them on the road in the winter and in the summer time you can put the tires back on.

[sjeupie]

Hey everyone,

Thank you all for a warm welcome in these cold days

I have done quite some research today and have narrowed down my options to only Polaris ATV (don't know exactly why.....I just prefer it above any Japanese brand) and pretty much to 2 or 3 models.

The Sportsman 850 and 550 XP and Tourer. However, I'm sill wondering about a couple of things:

- Do I really 'need' all that hp? I do live in the mountains, however, I assume a 550 does the job as well? Saves weight, fuel, money and is smaller between the legs as well (correct me if I'm wrong). Not an issue for me (6,5') but might be for the ladies in the house.
- How do the tracks hold up upon relative clean paved roads? Cause in the village itself the road conditions are far better then here....
- I love the 'X2' models with the built-in second seat in the cargo area! Is a second seat like that possible on the tourer models as well? The seat on those looks a bit too beefy and eats away storage area....
- I'm a bit worried about the salt they put on the roads here. Cleaning after driving is not always possible due to the temperature (I have to admit it is quite a pain to do as well....)
- EPS sounds like a great extra future. How about EFI? I understood it works way better in cold temperature but I'm not really understanding its function yet?
- EPS is not possible with a full body skid-plate underneath the ATV. Why not? A full body skid-plate is not absolutely neccessary I think though does give peace of mind and might as well provide better 'sliding' through deep snow cause it provides an even surface.

Regards!

[rocky201]

EFI, is electronic fuel injection. It takes the place of a carburetor, and I, personally like it a lot better. It works great in both cold and warm temperatures, and it prevents the fuel from gelling. If you are looking to have an easily-accessible choke, the EFI might not be for you, because there is no choke, differing from the models with the carburetor. However, if your ATV will not be run regularly, EFI is the way that you would probably want to go. Overall, I suggest getting it, and I believe many other guys will suggest it too. And as for the power, you will probably want an 850 if you are going to be trudging around in a lot of snow. I have a 500, and that is plenty of power for me, but it sounds like you have much more extreme weather and terrain up by you.
-Rocko

[skizmo]

sounds like you need a sled (snowmobile)...for winter emergencies.

[sjeupie]

@ Rocky201: thanks for the explanation. Sound like a nice addition.
@ skizmo: no, it is not that hardcore. Only the last mile or so. After that the communal roads start and they are much better maintained. Plus, a sled will be only useful if the roads are completely covered with snow. A week after the snow has fallen a track of asphalt will already apear due to the traffic so that would not be possible. Not mentioning a sled would be completely useless the rest of the year, which is from February till December more or less and, even worse, you need to ask permission for a sled and you may only use it one the predefined route you've got permission for (so you're not allowed to just go out and have fun one day). Yeah, bureaucratic communes exists everywhere

I've got my mind set on a 550x2 with extra Pro Tracks for winter at the moment. Wrote an e-mail to a local dealer; let's see what he says. With Rocky201 his comment on the 550cc engine in mind I started looking at an 850cc as well. Unfortunately, I found out that the 2011 models did offer a 850x2, but it has been discontinued. I'm going to look whether there's a 'left-over' 850x2 somewhere. Did the 2011 differ much from the 2012?

Thanks all to your replies! See attached a picture from today. The big snow-pile is actually my Land Rover....

[skizmo]

Originally Posted by sjeupie

@ Rocky201: thanks for the explanation. Sound like a nice addition.
@ skizmo: no, it is not that hardcore. Only the last mile or so. After that the communal roads start and they are much better maintained. Plus, a sled will be only useful if the roads are completely covered with snow. A week after the snow has fallen a track of asphalt will already apear due to the traffic so that would not be possible. Not mentioning a sled would be completely useless the rest of the year, which is from February till December more or less and, even worse, you need to ask permission for a sled and you may only use it one the predefined route you've got permission for (so you're not allowed to just go out and have fun one day). Yeah, bureaucratic communes exists everywhere

I've got my mind set on a 550x2 with extra Pro Tracks for winter at the moment. Wrote an e-mail to a local dealer; let's see what he says. With Rocky201 his comment on the 550cc engine in mind I started looking at an 850cc as well. Unfortunately, I found out that the 2011 models did offer a 850x2, but it has been discontinued. I'm going to look whether there's a 'left-over' 850x2 somewhere. Did the 2011 differ much from the 2012?

Thanks all to your replies! See attached a picture from today. The big snow-pile is actually my Land Rover....

that picture says it all....i love it..550 is a great machine