Polaris Industries

I bought a 2014 Polaris Brutus, and it is the biggest lemon I have ever owned. It’s been in the shop well over half of its life. Polaris opened case C3413989 and at first seemed that they were going to try to help me. Polaris coordinated with the repair facility in Lake Charles LA. After a lengthy repair I was told that the vehicle had «a clean bill of health» and to go pick it up at the repair facility. After a 1.5 hour drive to pick up my Polaris I found it still in pieces at the repair facility.
I have been calling and trying to speak with, Nate, the person who is supposed to be working my case. So far I’ve called for 8 straight days in a row and have been told that he would call me back. I have never seen such a backwards-​thinking, non-​customer service oriented business as Polaris. I’ll never own another Polaris, and I’ll be sure to take to writing about my experience on the internet every chance I get. I paid $ 36,000 for this piece of junk. Since I’ve spent my money I can’t afford to buy anything else. This was suppose to be the small tractor for my property. I regret not buying a small Kubota or something.

I finally decided to take the plunge and buy a Victory! My first stop was the Victory dealer in Brea, California. What a disappointment! Here is what they got for my Unilocal review of the dealership.
Victory’s shop was clean which is why it got a star at all! The salesmen John Pucciarelli was a sexist idiot! His sexist comments and thinly veiled insults were a clear indication of his old guard «Women belong on the back of the bike» attitude. The first thing he told me was «oh yeah, late bloomers like you (sneer) really like the touring style bikes.» He didn’t ask where or how I liked to ride… he didn’t notice and totally disregarded the fact I was drooling over the Highball. When I said I like the look of this one… pointing to the High Ball he said «no, you really want this bike over here showing me the touring bikes that I like to refer to as barca loungers. He finally relented after I was insistent that I wanted to test drive the High Ball and said he had one coming in for a trade in. He told me that when I came in for the test drive I needed to come in on my bike. When asked why I needed to come back on my current bike and not make the hour long drive in the comfort of our car, he replied «So I know she can ride» to my boyfriend not even looking at me. This would have been ok if it did not come at the end of half a dozen insulting sexist remarks. I am a serious buyer but not from this idiot! DO NOT BUY FROM JOHN PUCCIARELLI
Funny that Victory is actively targeting the woman rider and yet dealerships hire these guys!
The owner and manager both called me after this visit. They even arranged a test drive on the High Ball even though they knew I wasn’t going to buy from them.
So… I went to Pacific Motorsports! Nice people! Nice shop! A+++
They did not have the High Ball in stock but had one coming in on April 19^th, so I went back. I looked and I thought and decided to buy.
On April 26^th I purchased a 2014 Victory High Ball. My dream bike! I have wanted a Victory for SEVEN years! I rode her home (30 miles) and parked her in the garage awaiting bits and pieces to make her mine. On May 2^nd I received a call from Victory that the bike was one of a lot of 867 bikes that «might» have crank case issues. Took her for a ride on a flatbed back to the dealer for who knows how long.
How long will it take to fix? No one has answers? What are they going to do about it? No one has answers. The dealer doesn’t even have the tools to test or fix it, they have to wait for Victory to send them a «kit».
Now they have the test kits and want to «shim» it. REALLY??? Who would want a substandard motor when they just laid down 16K? A dear friend of mine owns a machine shop that makes parts for the space industry and said if it was their fault the whole case would have to be replaced. Well it’s my skin and all there is going to be between me and the road is a «shim fix»??
My dream bike has become my nightmare. I truly believe that Victory knew about the potential problem when they shipped the bike to the dealership which was only days before I purchased it.

This is probably the hardest review I’ve ever written because it regards something I’m so passionate about… snowmobiling and Polaris.
I’ve been riding snowmobiles since I was 14, my first sled was a 94′ XLT. I’ve owned an Ultra, 97′ 700RMK, an 02′ 800 RMK and recently an 09′ Dragon 800. I’ve always up until recently considered myself to be a loyal Polaris customer and enthusiast.
Well, unfortunately with my experience with my Dragon 800 I’m jumping ship. Last year I purchased a 2009 Polaris Dragon 800 with 320 miles on it. It had the 2010 update done when the sled was brand new with zero miles. This snowmobile like so many others from 07-​present day is plagued with the poor 800 CFI engine design. Because of this fault the engines WILL fail due to «piston slap» which is related to too much piston free play in the cylinder. It’s not a matter of «if» but «when!» I’ve pondered over and over what to do with my machine, if I should keep it or get rid of it to avoid having it detonate on me and take huge losses to repair the sled.
Right now as it sits my Dragon goes un-​ridden. It has 845 miles on it, looks brand new and I can’t sell it… no one wants one of these sleds because of the engine issues and I’m afraid to even start it. I talked to my dealer last week and they informed me they are seeing just as many of the new PRO’ 800 RMK’s coming in with the same issues as the Dragon, it sounds like Polaris just doesn’t care about quality control and will leave you stranded high and dry when your warranty expires. I was also told Polaris now denying warranty claims and becoming stricter on approvals because there are so many people experiencing failures.
I bought a Yamaha Nytro this year because of these issues. Faced with the potential of being stranded in the backcrountry and reliability being the up-​most important factor in that decision it was a no brainer. If you «google» Dragon 800 you will find page after page after page of people plagued with this issue. I will admit I love the new PRO design and I hear great things about the sled but Polaris has got to get it together with the engine problems and they really need to step up and «Do the right thing» to keep their long term customers loyal.