the dark side

akrievins said:
I know we're talking about the Jag, but the F7 fire cat used to be a sled I really liked the looks of. I saw one in person and the fit and finish is horrible. The seat on that thing looked like it was off of a toy. Yamaha knows how to make a high quality product.
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I agree, while looking them over while riding the one thing I notice is the poor quality of the arctic cats. They seem to be thrown together and very chinsey lightweight.
 
Its easy to be lighter weight when they dont put the time or effort into the fit and finish. Its one thing to buy a sled but its another thing to have a sled working and working well for years. I looked at that sled today, I wasnt impressed. I think that it looked alright though but you can tell it was slapped together. I also looked at the polaris dragon today, I found it to have better fit and finish then the articrap but I still dont think that it was up to the yammis or ski doo.
 
Agreed lone wolf the doos have come a long way but if I was to jump ship it would be a dragon 8 right now thankfully I own a yamaha and its got years of life left in it and with the help and parts on this site many years. :nos:
 
Yaa its nice that this site exists to help out with our machines and the people seem really nice. Im new to sledding, this year being my first but man am I hooked. Its almost all I think about and trying to learn it all is hard, but this site sure helps. The main difference that I found between the polaris and the ski doo is the weight. The doos are so light, not saying the polaris is heavy but it must be easy to chuck that thing around when your boondockin. Personally I would love a sx viper. They are awesome machines. I have to keep looking.
 
I seem to have more cats back in the shop than any other brand combined, one thing about Arctic Crap, they are easy to work on. I have advised all of the cat owners about poor reliability. I do like to ride with them on the other hand, due to each ride I know I have another job waiting on Monday. lol.
 
uipdate i tried his sled worked good but have to break it in the biggest issue i noticed is when we stopped i noticed a light on under hood when i looked the exhaust was glowing red they say this is normal i cant see it lasting if it heats glowing red after all it a snowmobile an exhaust cooling down fast when cold has to be hard on the metal but as much as i hate to say it ,it road really good but i love my yamies.plus there has been some of the turbo cats burning when being filled thats scary
 
wantsnow said:
Let your buddy know that those Jags are A P.O.S! Arctic cat can't even give those machines away.They are way slower than his Viper! They are not as good on fuel as a Yami 4 stroke! For god sakes Arctic Cat did'nt even put paint on there hoods! It's just black plastic! I guess it there way of saving weight! My buddy has one and we bust his balls by telling him they used an ATV engine in those machines. He really hates that one! Now the new turbo Jag might be a whole different story. I still just can't get to like the looks of those newer Cats. Oh well... I kinda prefer that not everybody rides a Yamaha as it's more fun to beat and tease other brands this way!
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Many sleds don't have paint on their hoods, it is simply an injected pigment into the plastic.

I am sure you know that the 1100 cat twin is not an ATV motor. It was a clean sheet design made specifically for cat, for sled use.

I personally hate the hood/ headlights of the twin spar cats. The turbo 1100 cat looks better, but it's still not good enough for me. Fit finish and quality are something Cat has always lacked. But you can't blame cat too much, they are the smallest company of the 4 that make sleds, and they have the least amount of $$ to throw at the sleds. IMHO, if they got back to basics and quit trying to re invent every part of the sled all the time, and focused on durability, fit, finish and just bough quality parts like better bearings they would be ahead in the long run of where they are now. See I like that cat spends a lot of $$ on R&D on new parts, ideas etc, but until they get their image repaired they won't be as dominant as they want to be.

A lot of my friends rode cats. They always had stupid parts break (like suspension bearings)on new or fairly new sleds,a nd other random stuff broke or wore out way quicker than it should have. I always rode Poalris until last year when we got the 97 venture. I have always liked the 97+ yamahas, and nearly pulled the trigger on either a brand new 700SXR in 2000, or on a SRX, but I went with my xcsp instead. Had they made a long travel SRX, I would have gone that way....
 
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I had to tow my buddies F7 back to the hotel when we were up the U.P. i was leading the group going down the rail road grade at about 100mph and i stopped to wait up for my buddy on his 99 srx, he flew by me at like 90, and i then my boss came up and stopped with his F7 and we waited for his son on his F6 (f7 motor in it) he never came,so we turned around and he was on the side of the trail and said his sled blew up, there was 2 inch hole in the case and one cyl is junk. turned him around and i towed him 15 miles back to the hotel. i was going about 55mph with him towed behind me like it was nothing. He has respect for yammies now.
 
A Vector would be a much better choice. Newer ones in a Apex chassis are available. Fuel economy will be better and his sled won't look like Barney the purple dinosaur. A dealer by me has a 08 RS Vector for 7299 and a 08 RS Vector LTX GT for 7699. Yamaha has been with 4 strokes the longest and others are tryin to imitate but unable to duplicate.
 
they really arent that bad a sled, and for a good deal it is probably worth it. I rode one and personally didnt think it handled or rde as well as dads 05 vector, but it was put together a LOT nicer than the old ones. they are a lot more reliable than the old firecats, but they weigh a lot more as well. just proves the point that weight is added with durability.
 
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