A decade ago, the growing availability of ‘more affordable’ petrol-powered side-by-side utility vehicles looked set to erode agricultural ATV sales to the point of near extinction. Such thinking has since proven completely wide of the mark, with around 6,500 ‘working’ ATVs selling a year into farming. What we have here is a selection of machines that helps to illustrate why these versatile tools continue to have a place on so many farms

Profi has been here before. We gather a group of ATVs in which not all can be compared as an exact like-for-like buying choice; this reflects the UK market and the broad selection of machines on offer. First odd man out is the Foreman TRX500 FE2. Honda elected to send us this push-button manual unit in place of an ATV from its top selling Fourtrax 420 range.

Kawasaki, with just two machines on offer, could have shipped its entry-level Brute Force 300 but opted instead to go with the mighty V-twin Brute Force 750. Although neither Kawasaki falls in the ‘typical’ farm ATV class capacity wise, the 750 is priced well within the target market so it is a genuine contender. This leads us to our more typical ‘bread and butter’ selection of the Polaris Sportsman 570, the new-for-2019 Suzuki KingQuad 500, Yamaha Kodiak 450 and Can-Am Outlander 450.

These general-purpose quads are, on paper, in the ideal farm ATV class, but that in itself only tells part of the story as they varywidely in power output. The price you pay will depend on the spec you choose. Which leads to our final ATV, the CF Moto Terrain 500 EPS (also sold with Quadzilla branding). Homologated for road use and delivering a claimed 39hp, this ATV has a key stand-out feature: an ex VAT sticker price of £4,665. Not only does this model come in road ready spec, it is also fitted with a winch and power steering as standard. We were keen to see how it fared against its more established rivals.

As to our profi team, we lined up no fewer than 10 test riders working typical mixed farm tracks and fields, with some extremely steep land employed to gauge downhill engine braking and towing performance. Dry September weather limited exposure to deep mud but all the models were ridden across ploughed ground to give a good idea of their performance in tough going.

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