My dealer here sells a TON of these machines, & he said the same thing as the other posters here, as long as you change the air filter from the start, the problems they've had have been minimal, and they're a Honda dealer, so people expect pretty high quality stuff. Myself, I'm going to spend the $2400 for an extra 4.5 years of warranty on them, but no matter what; even with the extended warranty; it's a substantially better buy than anything I looked at from CA, Yamaha or Polaris. That being said, MAYBE they're better built, I'm not sure, but at 300+ miles or so on these, we're digging them....they work & drive awesome; fwiw.
For me the warranty really doesnt help me. The closest CF Moto dealer to me is 75 miles away and they just picked up the CF Moto brand. They are actually a GM dealer, so the knowledge regarding the brand and level of mechanical knowledge of the brand is gonna be minimal. Unfortunately, auto mechanics dont really translate well to UTV mechanics.
So if anything goes wrong I would likely just buy the part and fix the machine myself.That being said, I am this way with everything I own regardless if its my dirt bikes,street bikes,trucks,power equipment, etc regardless of brand.... The 150 mile round trip (made twice per instance) would be more trouble than just performing a repair.
Your input is greatly appreciated. Choosing my first sxs vehicle is proving to be a challenge. If I do pick up the Z 800EX the I have a list of things I will do immediately. I do tend to over maintain my toys, but I stack up the miles on my atvs. When I sold my Kawasaki Prairie 650 I bought new it had over 20k miles on it.
1. Install UNI filter.
2. Loctite and torque all arms, and power steering motor
3. Install a manual fan switch
4. Change the coolant to good stuff
I will see if the selling dealer has extra oil filters I can buy while I am there.