Sport Today

While doing pricing research on the next Snowmobile Blue Book, I am surprised
by the latest data.  I am not sure how to interpret the data that says that,
on average, Arctic Cat's are retaining a higher percentage of purchase price
for model years 1991-1996 than are Polaris models.  Previous research
indicated the opposite. Did Polaris dealers get stuck with more non-current
inventory and did dumping sleds at under cost affect older years as well?
Maybe there have been more distress sales than usual since last January.
Maybe there are more distressed  Polaris owners than there are  Arctic
owners. Research is based on hundreds of Snowmobiles for sale in classifieds,
at auction,  as well as followup calls to classified advertisers to see if
they sold their sled and for how much.  Many calls are made to dealers as
well to discuss overall market conditions and specific sales.

tom fournier
Clymer Blue Book

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How did you determine the purchase price for all the used sleds in your
survey data?  Polaris typically has had bigger discounts from retail price as
best as I know.

Regardless, used sled prices are in the dumper and depreciation on a Polaris
may be worse than other brands right now.

Jon

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tom fournier
Clymer Blue Book

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Come on Greg you should be able to cut down Arctic Cat here and make some
stupid anti Cat statements.......ZR600

Actually the Cat is much more refined than the Polaris. The ergo's and
design are fresh and up to date in comparison to the Poo. They also handle
better and have a fantastic racing program (win on Sunday--sell on Monday).
This adds up to better resale value.  I'm not anti Cat, I'm just pro Poo.
My preference in sleds is based on my own experience with high mileage and
durability. Poo is still tops in my books. I considered buying a Cat or Doo
for '99. Stayed with the Poo cause they FINALLY addressed all the issues
which I was jumping ship to get. The ZR600efi fiasco didn't ease my mind
about Cat either. Nice to see I still have your attention mski!!!! Sorry to
disappoint you , but I'm all out of anti Cat comments. Enjoy your ride.

Greg

Also the 700 might figure into this.... Have you tried separating the data
by model?  To the average purchaser some (most?) of the cat models don't
appear to have changed substantially. With Polaris, Doo and Yamaha that
isn't the case...

Michael

AC has retains a better value over polaris because they start off costing a
lot more and they are a refined more.  Not some sled that has 5-10 yr old
tech. on it.

Mike

97 MXZ 583

-doug Miller

Also, IMHO the XLT used market is going to take a huge dive in the
next few years as the craze for light weight twins continues. Used
XLTs out west are diving HARD, while older 550 cats and 580 cats are
still twins, and still reasonable sellers.

Ultra 680 prices are gonna puke, especially the single pipes sleds.
Triple piped sleds may hold pretty well though. In fact, I'd bet that
the prices of used triple pipers actually comes back next year.

-Doug Miller

Greg did all these comments come from you or did something take over you or
your computer? The normal Greg would always have to get in a cut or two on
Cat after a pro Cat post and for sure after a post stated Cat>Polaris. If
you did type this and are in a sane state of mind then well I tip my hat to
you (if I had one on that is). I drive a Cat but if I didn't I probably
would be on a Polaris and if not that then a Doo.............ZR600

If you look (you can read or did going back to work***that up too?)
you'd see the reference up to '96 models.

Hey Doug, lest you forget I've actually been in the showroom selling these
things. Most buyers can't tell the difference between a ZR, a ZRT and a EXT
600 except for the stickers and colors.  "ETT what's that?" AWS IV or V is
way beyond them. Coupling? Hell, they don't even begin to understand sharing
dynamics of suspension or weight transfer. We're getting back to that
drunken talk we had at Canfield's aren't we?

Face it the average new sled buyer is by and large a cheap idiot.  If that
means by market share Polaris marketing is better aimed at cheap idiots so
be it. That however might be one heck of a leap. Perhaps it's media hype
that's done that i dunno. IMO I have found the loyal Polaris customers more
informed as a whole.

One thing for certain is the Cat guys are more brand loyal than others.
Despite having two other brands they still insist on a Cat. Brings to mind
the old "more people swear by their Chevrolets than at them". There's a
psychological reason for that but hell you can't read....    :-)

I just bought a new '97 Sea-Doo Challenger jet boat that has the 800 series
motor with rave valves.  I use Philips Injex in my Cats and have had good
luck with it.  Has anyone used Injex with rave valves?  I would like some
opinions on different oils ( synthetic and regular) that everyone uses in
their rotax with rave valved sleds or sea-doos.

Thanks, Bruce
(remove zrt for e-mail)

I use Torco...great stuff..mike