Ride Time
Suzuki held the intro for the KingQuad up in North Bay, Ontario, Canada (more specifically, we rode the machine on the Voyageur Multiuse Trail System in Mattawa). We started out in the town and rode on some of the most-epic trails imaginable.

The KingQuad fires right up when you stab at the starter button, and it idles pleasantly immediately. After we warmed it up for the prerequisite minute or so, we clicked it into high gear. A gate-style gear shifter is mounted on the left side of the machine, toward the top of the fender. It's easily accessible and engages with authority. To switch into gear or switch between the gears, you have to hold in the rear brake

Initially, the steering felt so light that it felt borderline twitchy; but after riding for several hours, we hardly noticed it anymore. In fact, the more we rode it, the more we realized that other utility machines require more steering effort than we'd like! Call us spoiled, but the King-Quad steers like a champ.

The solid steering is especially beneficial when crawling over obstacles at low speed. When we rock-crawled the King in tight technical sections, it was made all the easier thanks to the light steering input; we weren't constantly sawing away at the bar, fighting the front end.

Medium-speed handling is where the King-Quad really shines. When the trail begins whizzing by, the machine feels exceptionally stable. We hit plenty of wide-open fire roads, with the occasional moderately rocky section, and it handled ably. The independent rear suspension soaks up unexpected square-edged rocks and bumps with aplomb. Many a time we'd see that big rock in the middle of the trail at the last second and brace for the resulting jarring ass-bounce, but it never happened.

Another reason mid-speed handling is so pleasant is the strong midrange the engine produces. When cruising at speed, all it takes is a stab at the throttle to get the machine going in a hurry. It was a blast cruising down twisty sections of wide-open roads, gunning the throttle from apex to apex.

How fast is the KingQuad? "On the record," mid-60s (indicated). "Off the record," we bounced off the rev-limiter at 72 mph. And guess what? Super-stable. Not once did it feel sketchy riding at that speed. When we rode it on hard-packed dirt roads (going from trailhead to trailhead), we played make-believe supermoto aboard the King, throwing a leg off to one side as we'd apex a turn at full throttle. What a blast. In fact, the quad is so confidence-inspiring that we'd blast down a fast trail, going over murderous rocks, glance at the speedometer and be pleasantly shocked we were pushing 63 mph. This happened more than once ...

The KingQuad should come with a little submarine captain's hat. We buried the machine during our testing. Some of the trails on the Voyageur system have been known to reduce men to tears with all the challenging mud sections. What better place to put the King to the test? After submerging it up to its handlebar repeatedly, we're pleased to announce the tranny never slipped, the engine never sputtered and we didn't have to dismount or get towed out. It handles mud and deep water like a, well, like a mud thingy.

The KingQuad has extremely strong front brakes. For those who like to ride aggressively, the front binders come on surprisingly strong. Only one time did we face a "situation" with them. We were riding a section of trail with uneven grip surfaces and locked up the front brakes really hard (and the front brakes only). The bar jerked to one side rather quickly and caught us off guard. We didn't lose control, but it made us take into consideration the "front brake only" braking action from then on. We're happy to report that throughout the rest of the ride we didn't encounter the situation again, so it was an isolated incident.

The rear brakes are equally as powerful, but it's harder to modulate their action. When you get on the brakes, the rear end tends to lock up (this was especially evident on hard-packed trail surfaces). When riding over more-loamy terrain, the rear brakes stopped the machine more consistently.

There's no doubt that the KingQuad is the finest 4x4 ATV Suzuki has ever produced, considering even its fabulous Vinson. How it stacks up against the competition will be determined when we gather the entire big-bore field for our super-shootout. One thing especially worth noting (and we're saving the best for last) is that the KingQuad, as feature-filled as it is, also happens to be the lowest-priced big-bore sport utility on the market. With that in mind, the competition certainly has its work cut out for it.