Carter 300 GTR Review

Posts: 20

I am new here but I wanted to share my experiance for the new Carter 300 GTR. The cart actually drives great. I was concerned at first with the short front swing arms. I thought that the cart would ride rough and just bounce you off the trail. This is not the case. It handles rough terain as well almost any four wheeler. The power is awsome for a cart and the CVT transmission works flawlessly.

The first day out I put 20 miles on the cart. The only minor problem I had was that the tach did not read quite right and I had to adjust the brakes. Nothing major. The engine did backfire a lot on d-cel but I attributed this as just the engine being tight yet. I took the cart every four wheeler trail it fit on. I am from norther WV and thought the cart might now do some of the long steep hills but it did and left me amazed. With 300lbs of riders in it it when just fine. As long as I had traction the cart would climb it. I have to say I was impressed to see the cart throwing roster tails while climbing the really steep hills.

The second day I prepared for a long all day ride. I noticed that morning that the cart was backfiring bad but it was only 34 so I would wait to see if it got better. Two miles into the trip the cart just stalled. Got it running an then again it stalled. I figured one of my buddys was playing a prank and had turned my fuel off. That wasn't the case. I started to investigate all of the hoses coming from the carb to see what was causing the fuel shortage. I found two kinked fuel lines. From factory someone thought it would be a neat idea to zip tie the fuel lines to tight and had kinded both hoses. After that the cart ran better than ever. More power and no back fire. I managed to get the cart up to 45 mph through one of my fields. The cart ran all day without as much as one more problem. Even my buddys thought the whole thing was pretty neat. It goes all most as well as any two wheel drive four wheeler and doesn't beat you up at all. Carter even did it right by building a chain and sprocket guard that can take a good beating.

I agonized for three weeks on what cart to get. I read the post here and looked at Hammerhead 250, Joyner 250 and the carter 300. I think I made a good decision and all the others were tempting.

Now after all that there are some things that Carter could improve on. The dash and steering wheel are kind of high and the gauges are hard to see. Especially when your only 5'3'. The turning radius is really large even with the presence of a differential. The breather hoses for the CVT need routed higher because of the likley possibillity of mud and water getting in there. Other than that I can't complain. I have dirt bikes and four wheelers and after 20 years or riding this was the second time I was really impressed with a machine. The first was when I brought my Honda 150r home and it rode like a two smoker Laughing

Overall ratings:

Ride comfort: 3.5
Stability: 5
Power: 4.5
Trans: 4.5
Suspension: 4

Posts: 92

Welcome and thanks for the review. I have a first generation 250 GTR and I have got the joy of a test ride of the 300 at last years buggy bash. I have yet to speak to anyone that didn't have a speedo problem, so don't be surprised. THe stearing can be easyly helped by a simple mod of drilling holes about 1" up on the struts where the tie rods bolt in. This make its SO much better. Even me at 5'9" the speedo is hard to see and you get accustom to the stearing wheel placement. I'm glad that it has amazed you. Again thank you for the post.

Posts: 303

All right! Another GTR 300 owner. Glad you like it! I too was amazed at this buggy's ability to take hills so easily. It's absolutely hilarious to see the look on a friend's face when he has to shift to low on his stock Rhino to go up a hill that you can just zip by him on. We also were extremely impressed with the ride. Don't feel bad about the speedo---I'm 6 ft tall and can barely see the thing. My wife and kid have both complained about it. This buggy just seems like it was made for a larger guy, altho the seats are adjustable. I tried a Joyner 250, but my knees were in my face and the pedals felt unnaturally positioned toward the middle of the buggy. Joyner did place the battery in a better place for mudding, tho. I can stretch my legs out in my 300 tho. Anyway, welcome, and its good to see another 300 owner here.

Posts: 6290

Welcome to Buggynews and thank you for the review. That rating you used, is that out of 5? Thanks.

Posts: 20

Yeah, the scale I was using was an out of 5 scale. Guess I should have clarified. Rolling Eyes

As soon as the weather breaks up here in West Virginia I plan on really putting it thru a torture test. I don't expect anything to go wrong. Right now I have 100 miles on it and plan on changing the oil this weekend. Still no issues thought.

Posts: 200

Welcome...
We're getting quite a little GTR community on here.
A good thing... The more the better...

At 6'4" my choice for a buggy wasn't so difficult.
Tried several before buying the GTR.
This was the only one I would fit in.
If I wanted yoga lessons....
(still can't see the speedo properly)

I really liked the independend rear suspension.
And the fact that is chain driven.
The power output from the stock engine was a big plus too.
You 300 owners are even more lucky.
On any of the other machines I'd have to spend big money
to get the power that comes stock on the GTR.
And It's the one of few that is a DOHC (a much understated feature).

Only downside... the mods and aftermarket parts... still far and few between. But at least we can help each other out with this one.

So keep in touch and let us know how things are going.

Jackster

Posts: 303

We better hope they don't get wind of our evil plan of world domination before we get big enough...

Posts: 1163

Fix your speedo/tach problems for a 100 bucks or so. Get a Trail Tec Vapor!

Posts: 303

Yeah, 4 valve DOHC allows for better top end and lets that engine breathe. Keeps that torque level at higher engine speeds. I remember when Harley Davidson switched to a twin cam with the twin cam 88. That engine is legendary in its reliability and performance. Using that technology, they upped it to 96 ci. What it basically means is that SYM engine in the new Carters is a much higher quality engine. Expensive, too--have you seen the price of a new 250 SYM engine on Carter's site? Nearly $1800!!

Posts: 200