4 CHEAP ATVs Everyone IGNORES (But They're Absolute GOLDMINES)

Don't Buy a Lemon ATV the 45-minute inspection you can do with five tools from your garage: https://oldhandguides.store/lemon-atv/ Last month a man paid me eighty five dollars to fix a quad he bought for eleven hundred, and the machine on the lift next to it was waiting on a forty two hundred dollar engine. The cheap one was a 2004 Honda Recon that needed a pilot jet and a fuel line. The expensive one was three years old, cost more than fourteen thousand new, and had eaten two belts before the bottom end let go. The four wheelers nobody wants are the ones that refuse to die. Twenty two years in the bay, and these are the four I would send my own family to buy. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS VIDEO Number 4. Honda Foreman 450 S and ES, 1998 to 2004. A 433cc air cooled single mounted longitudinally so the crank runs in line with the driveshafts, a real five speed with reverse, shaft drive both ends and no belt. JD Power puts a 2004 from about fifteen hundred in fair shape to over six thousand perfect, and clean running ones sell for twenty five hundred to four thousand. Shift it through all five gears both ways, pull the rear drum cover and look for rust, and check the axle seals. A flashing N on an ES is usually a corroded connector, a tired shift motor or a weak battery before it is ever the angle sensor. Number 3. Polaris Sportsman 500 HO, carbureted, 2001 to 2013. A 499cc liquid cooled single built by Fuji Heavy Industries and used by Polaris from the mid 1990s to 2013, so rebuild parts are cheap and everywhere. JD Power has a 2008 around fifteen hundred to two thousand and a 2013 around twenty one to twenty eight hundred. It is the only belt machine on the list, and a belt runs twenty to sixty five dollars aftermarket. Pull the CVT cover and look at the belt and sheaves, rev it out in neutral and listen for a miss, and check charging voltage at the battery because the stator is the other known failure. Stop the count. A quad's price is set by fashion. Its lifespan is set by its drivetrain and by how easy the parts are to find. Number 2. Yamaha Big Bear 400, 2000 to 2012. A 386cc air and oil cooled single with a five speed foot shift gearbox, automatic clutch, reverse, shaft drive, and a sealed oil bath rear brake that mud never touches. IRS and a front diff lock arrived for 2007. JD Power has a 2008 around thirteen fifty low retail and eighteen hundred average, and dealer listings run twenty five hundred to four thousand. Start it cold and see how long it wants the choke, run every gear including reverse, spin each front wheel because the front brakes stick, and check the CV boots on an IRS model. Number 1. Honda Recon 250, 1997 to today. A 229cc air cooled longitudinal single, five speed with reverse, foot shift or push button ES from 2002, shaft drive, no belt, two wheel drive only. It is still built new, so every part is on a Honda dealer shelf, and the 2026 model lists at four thousand eight hundred forty nine before freight. JD Power has a 2009 around eleven hundred low retail and fourteen hundred average, and a running 2000s Recon sells for twelve hundred to twenty five hundred. Listen for a surging idle and a hard cold start, spin each wheel for a dragging drum, and on an ES watch the dash for a flashing light. YOUR RULE FOR TONIGHT Open Marketplace, search the words Foreman 450, Sportsman 500, Big Bear 400 and Recon, and cap the price at thirty five hundred dollars. Skip anything listed as fast, lifted, built or snorkeled. Then do the one check that matters for that machine before you touch anything else. Foreman, shift every gear. Sportsman, pull the belt cover. Big Bear, spin the front wheels. Recon, start it cold. If that check passes, the plastic does not matter. Ugly is a discount. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 The $1,100 Recon that needed $85 of work 0:50 Number 4 Honda Foreman 450 S and ES, 1998 to 2004 4:11 Number 3 Polaris Sportsman 500 HO, 2001 to 2013 7:07 Stop the count. Price is fashion, lifespan is drivetrain and parts 7:34 Number 2 Yamaha Big Bear 400, 2000 to 2012 10:40 Number 1 Honda Recon 250, 1997 to today 13:55 Your rule for tonight and how to shop for these Tell me in the comments the cheapest machine you ever bought that turned out to be the best one. Year, model, what you paid, and how long it lasted. The comments on this channel are where the real list gets written. If you are still deciding, watch my video on the 3 WORST and 4 BEST Used ATVs next. Two of the machines people cross shop against these four are on that list. Subscribe @TheQuadDoctor for two honest ATV and UTV buying videos every week from a mechanic who has no dealership to protect. I'm Cody. Keep it running.