I had a 2003 Rancher,had a Polaris 425 before that.The Polaris definately rode smoother,but it was broke down so often that I didn't care about ride quality I just wanted to ride!So when I bought my 2006 Foreman 500 S I was looking for reliability.I didn't want the ES model because I've had trouble with the ES Recon my wife rides.Check out the thread started on the Rubicon page titled "worst ATV manufacturer".