I'm starting my search a year early for a pre-owned sled for next year. The options I'm interested in are; Electric Start, Reverse, 4 cycle. Most of my riding is done on Michigan Trail Systems. I was wanting to know the pros and cons of these three options. The pros of these options are obvious, but I'm not sure about the cons. I'm 6'3" and weigh in at 275 Lbs, so I think I would need at least a 700. Maybe I'm wrong about that. I don't know much about the newer sleds and the power they have. I'm moving up the line from a 1991 Yamaha SRV540. I really like the look of the newer Yamaha's. I'm also not sure what kind of price range I'm looking at. I would like to get into a "02" or newer model by this time next year. Also was wondering if sleds were cheaper to buy in the spring? Also wanting to know the pros and cons on Liquid Cooled over air cooled. Well I think thats enough questions for one topic. Thanks a bunch for any input.
snow_bone

I would go with Cats T660 or Yami's rx-1 or warrior. These are however going to be a bit pricy since they are pretty new models. You will have pretty good reliability as they are 4 stroke engines that have been around for a while and fitted to a sled frame. I would have to say that ride quality will have to go to the Cat.
To answer your question about liquid vs. air there are a few threads on this forum addressing this. However in general the Liquids will create more horsepower because of there design but are more prone to temperature and elevations changes. In addition when it gets really cold they pretty much don't run well. Where your riding I don't think you will ever have that problem. The fan cooled motors seem to last forever and rarely need rebuilding in addition they are not as finicky as liquids. However they also don't make the same amount of horsepower. It all depends on what you want out of a sled. If all your going to do is trail ride for fun and you don't really care about overall speed I would forget about the 4 stroke save a few bucks and buy a Z570 or any of the other fan cooled sleds 440cc or larger.
Good luck with your hunt.

everyone i talk to says to go for the liquid. but which brand is open for alot of opinions so pick a colour you like and a dealer you like. :thumbsup:

I would say the reliability if a 4-stroke is right up your alley!
Spring is the best time to buy used, because guys who buy a new sled every 2 or 3 years are selling their sled for dirt cheap to make the money for the down payment on the new spring order.

As TaxiCat says, check out Arctic Cat's T660 Turbo or Yamaha's RX-1.
Both are reliable, powerful and good handling 4-strokes. They will give you plenty of miles of fun and are both great on gas.

Buy an RX-1, turbo it...........and hold the %*!^ on!

...........But seriously any Yami 4 stroke or the T660 would be great sleds