Any Honda Pioneer 500 owners on here?

[WilliamBos]

Are there any Honda Pioneer 500 owners on here? Would love to hear how you like them.

 

[ericm979]

We test drove the 500 when we were shopping UTVs. We hated the 500's transmission. It's very jerky, with a big pause at each shift. It might be more acceptable in manual mode when you'd know the next shift is coming but my wife would be driving it in automatic so that's what we tried. Our use is 100% utility around the property and private road. If you're also driving on trails in a more sporting manner the 500's trans might be more acceptable.
We ended up with a 700, which has a much smoother transmission than the 500 or the Deere that we tested. The dump bed is very useful.

 

[Code54]

We owned one for about 1.5 years. Nice little machine and always ran great and never had any issues.

I ended up selling it mainly because we have a Mule Pro and we used it about 10 x 1. The pioneer was a nice little trail machine but not really that great for utility type of work. We just found we didn't really trail ride enough to justify having it anymore.

 

[Gem99ultra]

My son bought one for me about a year ago to use around our 13 acre place. So far I have 14 miles on it total. Still on my first tank of gas.

I've used it to pull a small trailer for move downed trees and branches, but little else. Truth is, it's way to much machine for my limited need but absolutely better suited for heavy duty work that my golf cart can't handle. (I've destroyed on golf cart already tugging 12K worth of logs around here.)

In short, I think it's the best small SxS available. Technology is light years ahead of the others that I've looked at. But at the rate I"m using it, it'll last me a thousand years. hmm - that's a nice thought1

 

[bdog]

We have one and like it's small size. I carry it around on my pickup flatbed sideways. I made a bed for it the rack was useless. I hate the way you have to shift it into reverse. It is awkward but the machine just works. I know of no other side by side you can load sideways and be under 102".

 

[Gem99ultra]

We have one and like it's small size. I carry it around on my pickup flatbed sideways. I made a bed for it the rack was useless. I hate the way you have to shift it into reverse. It is awkward but the machine just works. I know of no other side by side you can load sideways and be under 102".

Not to distract from the thread, but you can bypass the 'reverse' lockout with a simple cable adjustment. Five minute fix.

 

[foggy1111]

I bought one of the first Honda Pioneer 500's for my deer property. I like the easy operation of tranny and seems to have ample power for pulling anything I need to pull for my food plots. (I also own a tractor). Nice combination of utility and sport for our needs. I really like the 4 place seating for land tours and during hunting season. It's done all we expected and more. The ride is very good. The only thing I might want if I were to replace it would be power steering.....yet that seems to be a minor annoyance.

 

[Code54]

foggy1111 - kind of sounds like you are thinking of the Pioneer 700 - the Pioneer 500 is only a 2 seat machine, the 700 will give you the additional seating. They are all really nice machines and I have to agree, power steering is a great feature.

 

[Gus3120]

I’ve had a 500 pioneer for 3 yrs now, very solid well built machine as expected from any Honda. We use ours at our mountain property doing everything from simple trail riding to pulling a 3x5 trailer full of rocks,wood, brush and deer. Haven’t been able to fill the wagon with anything that it won’t pull up the mountain, and with the geared tranny there is great engine braking for comin down with a full load. Tranny is not nearly as smooth as the belt drive machines though. As for any real trail riding, as long as your not in a hurry the machine is a fun spirited ride. This machine is more geared towards working than play. Top speed is around 42, but in my years of trail riding rarely do you need more than that in the woods. Ours has roughly 700 trouble free hours so far. All in all a great little machine.

 

[cdaigle430]

We test drove the 500 when we were shopping UTVs. We hated the 500's transmission. It's very jerky, with a big pause at each shift. It might be more acceptable in manual mode when you'd know the next shift is coming but my wife would be driving it in automatic so that's what we tried. Our use is 100% utility around the property and private road. If you're also driving on trails in a more sporting manner the 500's trans might be more acceptable.
We ended up with a 700, which has a much smoother transmission than the 500 or the Deere that we tested. The dump bed is very useful.

There is a small learning curve with Hondas electric shift but once you learn it its smooth, they are also extremely reliable.