A local dealership has a laftover 2009 Z400 for sale at pretty much half the original price. I currently ride a modified 08 YZ450 in the woods, and it's great, but I used to ride quads as well, and seeing some in the dealership kinda sparked my interest again. I used to have a LT230 Quadsport, and later a LT250R Quadracer as a teen. The Quadsport was fun, but a little underpowered, and the Quadracer was a LOT of fun but a bit much in the woods. What are the z400's like? Would it be good for trail riding, and some jumping on occasion How about reliability? My YZ has been great in terms of reliability, so if it's like that or better, then I might have to pick this thing up. Any suggestions or info is really appreciated.

Thanks.

Hello, anybody?

Z400s are awesome trail quads, good power and super reliable

Those quads are Badass. Good tractable power, good suspension, and they are BULLETPROOF. At one point we had three.

They are great quads.  If you have the means, get it. Also, with a little bit of cash you could be showing up your 450 friends .

They are great quads.  I owned a 2003 for 5 years and loved it.  Before I bought it I did a lot of research and everything I found pointed me to the Z400 for my riding style.  I mainly ride trails, gravel roads, ditches, sand dunes, etc...  I did a little easy jumping with it too.  Never any racing or big air.

I was able to ride friends' Honda 400ex, Honda TRX450, Yamaha YZF450, Yamaha Raptor 660 and 700 - out of all of them, the Z400 was still my favorite.  (although the Raptor 700 was pretty sweet).  The 450's are highly race oriented.  They have high gears (hard to ride in really tight trails), stiff ride and require more maintenance - sometimes hard to restart when the engine is hot.  The Raptor 660 I rode had some serious vibrations in bars and butt - making long rides a bit numbing...  The Raptor 700 was nice though - serious torque monster!  400ex was a nice trail machine, but I'm 6'4" and it sat to low and wasn't comfortable (plus it doesn't have reverse).

In my opinion, the Z400 was the most comfortable to ride.  Suspension setup was just right - plush enough for comfortable cruising but stiff enough to handle some moderate jumps.  There were minimal vibrations throughout so it was not fatiguing to ride.  There was enough power to get in to trouble - but you're not going to go out and win a bunch of drag races.  I thought the power band was smooth and consistent, no big dead spots or anything - very usable power.

As far as reliability goes - mine was great and I think most everyone else that has owned one would say the same.  I had it 5 years and I changed oil and greased and I had to replace a clutch cable due to it fraying / breaking. (I guess frequent washing has occasional side effects (water in cable = rust).  I did a valve check for the heck of it in year 5 and it didn't need any adjustment.  I couldn't have asked for an easier quad to maintain.

If you got the cash, I'd buy it and never look back

If you want to check out some videos of a Z400 and a few other quads in action, check out my youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/suzatv400  We've had a ton of fun in the snow on these things!  There are also some videos on a buddy's youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/coolky03

Edited by Stretch44, 29 March 2012 - 05:03 PM.

PS: If you watch the videos... yes my one buddy enjoys his rev limiter...

Thanks guys. Much appreciated. I tried the unit out yesterday and it went pretty good. Now I'm wondering if I should pick it up, or sell my YZ450 and picking up a 2012 300xc. Tough choice.

Well, ended up snagging the unit on Saturday, and took it out yesterday. I had a blast on it! Has good suspension, and pretty decent power...no where near my YZ450, but enough to be fun for sure. Gonna have my Wife try it out as well to see if she likes it more than her CRF250X.

some thing i highly recommend is removing the swing arm bolt and putting never seize or at least greasing the bolt and take it out once a year and regrease it.

Good to know. Will do. Thanks.

Just curious... how's the LTZ treating you?

If you haven't already,install a pipe,air filter and re-jet.It will make a big difference.I've had an '08 for 2 years and just recently installed them on mine.Made it a lot more fun to ride.Reilability has been great.Valves haven't needed adjustment.Just frequent oil changes and proper maintanence is all you really have to do.Be carefull when putting the oil drain plug back in.They seem to strip easily.Mine did.

Sorry I haven't been back in a while...been busy with summer and all. The quad has been great so far, so great I actually sold my 08 YZ450. I haven't done much other than put on a poly TAG skid plate, and a Yoshi RS-2 full exhaust, which really woke it up. Thanks for everyones help.

Cheers.