Hello everyone

New member and first time poster. I run an adventure tour company on Boa Vista, Cape Verde islands and currently considering purchasing a fleet of either the Z5 or Z8's to take my clients out on self drive guided tours.

I was hoping I could get some honest opinions on whether you think these side by sides would be able to endure the rough terrain on Boa Vista on a daily basis. Currently I take clients out on quad bikes travelling across dusty rocky tracks and trails, sand dunes, tarmac and cobbled roads etc. Think of any terrain and I drive it on a daily basis so looking for a very reliable, robust, durable ATV. ATV's breaking down and parts needing replaced is common especially with the punishment that the vehicles take over here but with daily maintenance and parts being replaced as and when needed my fleet of quads have covered over 30,000 kms in 3 years and still going relatively strong despite constant abuse from novice clients!

On each daily excursion I cover around 60kms four days a week so almost 1000kms a month!

It's a huge investment for me and I've seen other tour providers buy cheap Chinese ATV's that haven't lasted a couple of months so honest opinions if you were in my position would you even consider buying either the Z5 or Z8's for commercial use?

Thanks in advance for any advice and if I do go ahead with the purchase then I'd imagine I'll become a very regular poster on here.

Richard

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Welcome Richard. As these are priced, I can understand why these may look attractive for an investment such as this. Especially when there will be a number of these in your fleet. I just have to be up front and honest with my opinion and say that I would question a fleet of these being the best investment choice with the kind of usage they will see along with the additional wear and tear from operator's with no experience or care for the unit. I personally feel if I were in your shoes and felt it necessary to expand into this activity, then I would have to look into maybe a verity of vehicles that would take the daily punishment day after day such as the Yamaha Wolverine or Viking, Kawasaki Teryx or Mule, or something from Polaris or Artic Cat....a few CFM Z & U8s for sure but maybe not all. With a verity you will have vehicles your customers would want to spend all day in. Just saying not to put all your eggs in just one basket.

Welcome Richard. As these are priced, I can understand why these may look attractive for an investment such as this. Especially when there will be a number of these in your fleet. I just have to be up front and honest with my opinion and say that I just can't see a fleet of these surviving long enough to pay for themselves with the kind of usage they will see along with the additional wear and tear from operator's with no experience. I personally feel if I were in your shoes and felt it necessary to expand into this activity, then I would have to look into vehicles that would take the daily punishment day after day such as the Yamaha Wolverine or Viking, Kawasaki Teryx or Mule, or something from Polaris or Artic Cat. Can Am although nice would be too expensive to maintain I feel. Maybe get a couple of Z8s for diversity but the key here is to have most of the fleet up and running reliably every day...and have the kind of vehicles your customers would want to spend all day in. Just saying not to put all your eggs in one basket. For you, these are tools of your business...and they have to keep working.   

Not sure I agree, we have ATV tours here in Costa Rica over harsh terrain as well, all of which are run at low speeds to protect the tourist as well as the bikes, maybe higher speeds on the roads to give them a bit of a thrill. Richard leads the tours and while the terrain may be harsh I would expect that he is also concerned about his clients well being and keeps things organized and moving at a moderate pace as opposed to giving a vehicle to someone and turning them loose to bust up the bike as well as themselves. He could also leave the throttle adjustment restricted to further protect man and machine, I would also guess that his clients will never do what some of us do with our machines. As far as ROI that depends a great deal on the purchase price and the cost of the tour. JMO

Everything has problems. For an investment on machines that you will put a lot of miles on I think you are smart to consider these as they have a longer warranty. I read a lot of issues with artic cat I am glad I didn't get one. I would restrict the throttle a little bit with the stop screw. I would put good air filters on them if you have a lot of dust and I would expect to be replacing the tires with 8 ply. Maybe not right away but if you ride where the are sharp rock points that can hit the sidewall the stock tires are 2 ply and very weak. Still you would be a lot lower price point than a RZR and you don't have to add anything to them, they come with winch and roof two big plus's and pricey additions to other machines. Just keep up on maintenance and check your suspension, caliper, and wheel bolts often.  I also think these are good because of the wet clutch, you don't have to worry so much about a customer burning out a belt as easily.

I think red has hit it on the head, and made some good points.i totally agree.
These are a lot better than some give them credit.

Thanks for the warm welcome and thanks also for feedback, very much appreciated.

Encouraging to hear from folk who actually own the ATV's and speaking from experience. My biggest concern is reliability, I'm sure they would be a blast and my clients would love the excursion but living on a desert island in the middle of the Atlantic would certainly cause problems if anything needed to be fixed through warranty!

I would be excursion leader so would certainly be controlling speed not allowing anyone to do anything reckless but still having a great time.

The other problem I have is import tax importing any vehicle onto Boa Vista. This works out to be roughly 60% of the purchase and shipping cost so that would add a good around 20k to purchase cost!

Really don't know what to do. Maybe should just stick to quads instead of side by sides. Been looking at the CForce 500 so if anyone has any feedback on these quads I would love to hear.

Thanks again for feedback.

Cheers, Richard

Maybe you should just add 1 to your fleet and see how it goes. There are plenty of cases where these go for a long time. Reliability is tough to say. Everything manufacturer has it's issues and anything can happen. anything that has gone wrong with mine was really a simple fix I could do by myself without even involving the dealer except for an oil light that came on that the dealer fixed in a couple days, didn't need parts had to have something cleaned out.

I have a 2013 CF500 and the only problem has been the reverse light switch stuffed up, but it was a simple fix. Cannot kill it otherwise.

It might just come down to parts. How easy they are to get and how long the wait will be. Anything you get will need parts. Every season some machine I own needs brake pads or seal at the least. If they are not rolling, your not making money.

I'm going to say I'd be very comfortable with these being used in this capacity.. 
maybe Z5's and Z8's. Both governed of course.

Just MAKE SURE to mod your gas pedals as I have. Just a heads up.  Don't want anyone getting hurt. Especially in a commercial aspect.