2017 Yamaha Grizzly 700 EPS 4x4 ATV Review

Yamaha's flagship Grizzly has been a great machine starting way back when it was powered by an air-cooled 600cc engine. Over the past two decades it has been refined appropriately with changing times and technology. The additions of EFI, IRS, then most importantly EPS, have made this Grizzly one of our favorites for years. The 2017 Yamaha Grizzly is no different.

Power in the Grizzly is very smooth and super strong. No matter if you want to creep around slow in the rocks or pin the throttle down a long dirt road, it can happen. Mid range power is equally as impressive. You can come to a complete stop while climbing a hill, and the Grizzly will get you back going again instantly. You can tell that whoever calibrated the clutch knew what they were doing. It downshifts seamlessly when needed and never falls flat.

Seating is soft and the riding position encourages you to stay seated. It's as comfortable for long rides as it is to stand up and ride hard. The Grizzly feels like a slightly bigger version of the Kodiak.

Braking is spot on. The Grizzly has front and rear brakes that stop the machine on a dime. On down hills, it’s just as good. The clutching alone holds the machine back to a slow 3MPH in low gear.

Steering is light, precise and exact. You can flick the bars around and get through tight places with ease. All of the moving parts feel secure and there are no weird noises or feelings coming from underneath, like you have with some of the competition.

If we had to nitpick something on the Grizzly, it would be storage. Although we like the great tank area storage and the fender pocket, the racks could use a few more tie down points. However, we do like the textured, no slip coating and the fender textures that don't show brush shapes that easily. In fact all of the fender sections, shapes and mounting points are well thought out as to not get caught or destroyed if you do scrape them in the bushes or along side rocks.

Yamaha also has a great selection of cargo bags, boxes and rack accessories at ShopYamaha.com.

Being there is a large range of engine and chassis sizes available in the 4x4 catagory we are in the process of looking at a group of our favorites from each brand. The comparison will be machines right at the $10,000 mark and not a specific displacement.

Shear power will not have an advantage although we payed close attention to power feel, low range grunt and overall smoothness of operation. Each machine will be judged on usefulness and rideability for work and play. We rated them all using the same seat of the pants feel on technical and smooth trails as well as how they did around a working ranch. In the comparison we will explain why we rated each section as we did.