Yamaha is the latest ATV maker to extend its auto bike line-up. Andrew Faulkner and James de Havilland spin the auto belt aboard Yamaha’s 401cc Kodiak YFM400FWA.
Across ‘the Pond’ they build their all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) big, and drive them through auto/semiauto boxes. So that’s what we get over here. No great surprise there then – particularly when balancing the relative importance of the two markets: In round figures, the US swallows 600,000 bikes/yr, compared with the UK’s paltry average of 6,000. Indeed, given the strength of the US leisure-oriented sector, the ‘farming’ countries of New Zealand, Canada and the UK have been remarkably successful in their campaign for inclusion of more workmanlike features within the modern ATV.
As if to prove this subtle strength of the agricultural ATV lobby, the featured 401cc Yamaha Kodiak Auto manages to convey a ‘work’ look and feel despite its leisure-oriented big engine and auto box. More particularly, the new Kodiak’s modern profile represents a significant departure for Yamaha, a company renowned for producing the most hirsute ATV designs. Gone are the 595cc Grizzly’s square shoulders and raised handlebars (02/99), to be replaced by curved panels and a different, albeit only moderately so, riding position. In short, as far as its looks at least, this latest Yam has lost some of the rugged appeal that was so evident in our comparative practical test (03/00), which featured the company’s classic 350cc Big Bear 4×4.
But the market has moved on, and the Kodiak merely reflects this shift. Styling is more conventional, there’s the easy-drive auto transmission, and the operator can select between 2WD manoeuvrability and 4WD grip. This is a versatile bike for the mass market, so much so that Yamaha predicts it will account for about a third of the firm’s total ATV sales in the UK this year.
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