This ATV is only $4,500

UTV Driver

ATVs and side-by-sides are ridiculously expensive in 2025. Who wants to pay upwards of $30,000 for a trail rig? That problem is solved with the Denago Freelander 300 FI, a $4,500 ATV that reminds us of the rigs of old. Come along with us for an overview and first ride of one of the most affordable ATVs on the market!  Become a Channel Partner: https://octanemedia.co/home/become-an-advertiser/  Looking to buy? Get prequalifed https://octane.co/vehicle-selection/?partner=A8PrQQB&a=298&flow=long-prequal&appTheme=3a49337c5724d18079602a4ca5a91626  Favorite Gear:  Packtalk Edge ORV: Code 'octane' for 10% off https://cardosystems.rfrl.co/z8qy5   For more stories, reviews, and first-looks check out https://www.utvdriver.com/   Want to see even more shenanigans from the UTV Driver team? Give us a like and follow:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UTVdriver/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utvdrivermagazine/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/utvdriver/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@utvdriver

Transcript

00:00Hey guys, today we have something special for you. It's not a Can-Am, it's not a Polaris,

00:04it's not a Kawasaki, it is a Denego. Denego, Denego, Denego! More specifically, a Denego

00:11Freelander 300 Fi. Okay, so what is a Denego? Denego is a Texas-based company. They make

00:17motorcycles, they make ATVs, they make golf carts, they make pretty much anything small

00:21displacement. They also make EVs. But today we have one of their ATVs. This is a 2025 Denego

00:26Freelander 300 Fi, and they sent it to us like this. So, we are going to unbox this thing,

00:34we're going to take all this plastic off, we're going to go through some of its specs, some of

00:37its features, and tell you just a little bit about this machine. Stay tuned for the end of the video

00:41because we're going to take it to our local off-road park, Windrock Park, and put it through its face.

00:45Let's start busting this thing open. Moment of truth!

00:49Oh, look at that lovely blue color, that is gorgeous. Woohoo! I am liking this thing.

00:56Look how beautiful that thing is. I really love that blue color. It's not like as dark as a

01:01Polaris blue. It's not like as bright as a Yamaha blue, but I really, really like this. And look at

01:05this, it's got a winch. Okay, so a quick little tip. Since this came in like how it did on a pallet,

01:10we weren't really sure if it had any fluids in it. It had brake fluid, it had coolant, it had all that

01:16stuff, but we couldn't really find the oil dipstick. Turns out that it was behind this panel. I figured it

01:21was because most of the time on ATVs, the dipstick is right behind this rear brake. So, I went in and took

01:25this panel off, and what did you know, the oil fill is right there. Now, we don't actually have

01:29a dipstick, but this has oil in it. So, if all the other fluids are full, I assume that the oil

01:35is full. So, we're just going to run it. We haven't started this before. We don't really know if it has

01:39been started. We turned on the key and saw that it was at zero hours and zero miles. That means that

01:45this thing probably hasn't been started. So, we're going to check it. So, key on,

01:50kill switch off. It'd help if I put my foot on the brake. There it goes. Look at that beauty.

01:59That is beautiful. Now that we know that it starts, we're going to rip it around the parking

02:03lot and see kind of how it feels before we take it to the trail. All right. So, we're going to start

02:06this, get it off this pallet, but safety first as always. All right. We're going to let that sit

02:12for a few minutes, let it get up to temperature, and then we'll take it around the parking lot.

02:20Now, let's go over some specs. This says 300 on the side. It's 300 class, but it's powered by a 270

02:28CC water-cooled single. That engine is fuel injected, and it's mated to a CVT transmission.

02:34Now, CVT is only two-wheel drive. You don't get four-wheel drive on this. That CVT comes with high,

02:39low, neutral, and reverse. It's electric start. Another cool thing about it is that it is shaft

02:44drive. Lower maintenance. That's more durable. You don't have to worry about replacing CV axles on the

02:49side of the trail. There's less weight, and with it being two-wheel drive, and in the moto world,

02:53some people consider a shaft drive an upgrade. Now, it's got 24-inch tires wrapped around 12-inch

02:57aluminum alloy wheels. That's pretty impressive for a rig at this price range. Speaking of the price,

03:02this thing has an MSRP of only $4,499. That's right, only $4,500 for this thing. And that's

03:09impressive when you look at all the features. It's got hydraulic disc brakes on all four corners.

03:12It's got these fancy LED lighting. It's got a TFT display right here in front of you. You would think

03:17that this thing would feel like a 10-year-old ATV, and it doesn't. It feels like a new ATV.

03:22It feels nice, and it's nice to sit on. And it's even got this really fancy aluminum gas cap. I know

03:27that's not a lot, like it doesn't really matter, but it is nice to look at. My car doesn't even have

03:31an aluminum gas cap on it. The controls are nice and steady. You've got this really nice feeling

03:35parking brake right here. Throttle feels nice. The brakes feel nice. You saw when I come into the garage

03:40that the brakes felt nice. And as you keep looking, this thing is just packed full of cool surprises.

03:44And if you look right here, it's got a USB-C charging port. That's just cool. Not a lot

03:50of rigs have that nowadays. Okay, so some things that we don't like about it. First of all,

03:54no power steering. Now, that's not that big of a deal, but if you spend all day on a trail,

03:59you get a workout in, and you get more tired, and that means you spend less time on the trail.

04:03That's just something we don't want to do. We want to be on the trail as much as possible.

04:07The second thing is that quality control is a little bit lacking. As you can see,

04:11this piece of plastic is not tied down, and that's because two bolts are missing right here

04:16on the floorboard. And if you look back here, you'll notice that it has a monoshock swing arm,

04:21and that's not super great. Other than youth ATVs, I really don't know of a modern ATV that has that.

04:27I haven't seen it in like 10-ish years. If you also look back here, you'll notice that there is

04:32only one disc brake. Now, the spec sheet says that it has four-wheel disc brakes, and that's

04:36technically true. It only has one back here, controlling the two rear wheels. We don't have

04:42to tell you why that's a bit worse than just having one on the other side. You lose braking power.

04:46I don't really think this thing needs it anyway, but it would still be not. Because of that swing

04:50arm, there's no independent rear suspension. This is all one bit. You're all moving together back here.

04:55We've told you a little bit about this thing. Now, we're going to run to our local off-roading spot,

04:58Windrock Park, and put this thing through its paces.

05:00Starts right up. I really like this gear shifter we've got over here. It's nice. It's clunky.

05:07You know what gear you're in. Here's your emergency brake. Really neat. I like it.

05:11The Nago Freelander 300FI comes in with an MSRP of just $4,500. I don't know if you've checked ATV

05:20prices lately, but that is quite the steal. Now, how did they reach that price of $4,500? Well,

05:27if you think about it, it's pretty obvious. These things are assembled in Texas, but they source all

05:33of their parts from China. That cuts down on pricing. There's also quite a bit of features

05:37missing from this thing. It does remind me of ATVs of old, right? Those ATVs from the 90s and early

05:422000s that somehow appeared in your grandpa's garage. The fun thing about it is that you pretty

05:48much stay full throttle the entire time you're riding this. The other thing about this thing is that

05:52it is not four-wheel drive. You only get power to the rear. You can get those

05:57really squirrely bits where you're going fast around a corner and the back end comes out from

06:02under you like that. You can feel pretty much every bump on the trailer. I have not hit the

06:07brake once the entire time I've been riding this thing, and that's because the engine braking does

06:12like most of the work. Yeah, you got to use your legs as shocks because the ones on the rig

06:18won't do it for you. When you're standing up on this thing, as I am now, I can't really

06:22position myself in a way that's comfortable. I don't know if you can see my foot in position

06:28right now. My knees are getting banged on this gas tank right here. I'll say, without having

06:32power steering, all that shock from the front tires goes directly into your hands. You want

06:38to do some serious riding, you can get pretty annoying.

06:40See, this thing kind of just sounds like it's falling apart. Yeah, I got a winch. Why not?

06:59Look at that. Parking brake works. So an interesting thing about it is that you've got a brake lock

07:05right here and a parking brake right here. And that's mainly because these brakes are not linked,

07:11which means when you step on the foot brake, it's only braking your rear. Step on the handbrake,

07:14it's only braking the front. Good because you have more control over your brakes and more skilled

07:18riders can differentiate between the two, sort of like on a motorcycle. Bad for inexperienced riders

07:24with the 4,500 price tag on this thing is mainly who's going to be buying this. Sometimes that can get

07:29you in trouble. You know, if you yard on the front brake and not the rear, it's going to send you over

07:32the handlebars. If you yard on the rear, it could break the tires loose. Cool thing about that. So it

07:38can rock crawl. Can do that. Cool thing about having separated brakes is that you can yard on the front

07:45brake and do a pretty sick burnout. 4,500 bucks. That doesn't buy you anything nowadays. Where most

07:54ATVs are hitting the $10,000 price range at least, like that's where most models start. And with the

08:01right model, like you can get in well into the $30,000, $40,000 range. And if you just want to

08:05come out here and do stuff like this with your buddies, I completely understand why you would

08:10buy this. This thing maybe makes 30 horsepower. That's a strong maybe. Danego doesn't actually

08:16give the specs on horsepower. Most rigs in this class make around 20 to 30. But I mean, I'm having fun.

08:23Whirl is your oyster. Or in this case, like, clam.

08:26Also, since the front wheels aren't powered, you can go through puddles like that and you don't

08:33spit mud all over yourself. You just spit it on the person behind you. Screw them. Once

08:38you get used to the roughness of it, it's quite fun.

08:43Yeah, I get squirrely at 40. It does not have the width. Oh, this engine doesn't like low

08:50RP temps. I'm sure you can hear it. Now the wrong pavement. Let me give you my actual thoughts.

08:55It rides like a $4,500 ATV. Don't expect high performance out of it. A lot of people complain

09:00about the prices of side-by-sides and ATVs now. And I'm just here to say that this is your solution.

09:06If you want something like an ATV of the 90s, you can buy something like an ATV of the 90s. It's not

09:12going to perform like an ATV for 2025. At the same time, you're not paying upwards of what,

09:17$20,000, $30,000. Things that are annoying about it, the oil dipstick is located behind

09:22this plastic panel off of the Allen keys. Other annoying things, this kill switch is very,

09:28very easy to hit. I like having my thumb like right here. And if I like stand up, I'm getting

09:34that. It does start every time, but it does start a little rough. The rear storage compartment

09:39is about the size of my fist. So like maybe you can put your phone keys wallet back there.

09:43It's not dry storage, so it's going to get wet. Man, these brakes really do feel good.

09:48I don't mind these. The fuel gauge is very finicky. If you are going up or down a hill,

09:53it likes to change on you. If you're like at half a tank like I was and you're going up a hill,

09:59it'll start flashing empty, which is not very confidence-inspiring. It does like to backfire.

10:05Like, see? Told you.

10:07We are now back at the shop with the Danego Freelander 300 Fi. Thank you so much for watching.

10:13If you like this video, go down below, hit like, subscribe, comment if you feel like it. Tell us

10:17what we got wrong. Tell us what we got right. When you're done doing that, head over to

10:21utvdriver.com. We have news, reviews, and buyer's guides five days a week. And when you're done doing

10:26that, head over to our socials. We're on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And of course,

10:30here on YouTube. We will see you there.

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