More of the 08's had problems than the 09's did. My 08 146 had it's share of issues. Lots of blown belts, worn out clutch parts after only 600 miles, broken motor mount, handwarmer failure, blown front shock, loose y-pipe bolts, fuel guage and odometer issues, secondary adjuster randomly coming loose, snow injestion through the intake filter, loose hood, and maybe more that I can't think of right now. Most of the 08's didn't have these issues. Some had a few. A few (mine included) had a bunch of them.
But, most of my problems were eventually fixed; the majority by my dealer, some by me. Bad clutch alignment from the factory was a big issue on my sled. Combine that with worn out clutch parts and a broken motor mount and it was painful trying to get belts to last more than a couple hundred miles. Now that I fixed the alignment, motor mount, and worn out cutch, it doesn't seem to be eating belts any more.
And, even with all the issues I had with my sled, it still puts a smile on my face whenever I fire it up.
Yes, it is that good.
If you do end up buying it, make sure it has the updates done. Make sure the clutches are aligned. And, since the clutching from the factory was sketchy at best in 08, I'd recommend some clutch tuning. If you aren't comfortable tuning clutches yourself, there are a few good kits on the market that I hear are well worth the money. Other than that, I'd look at adding a tower brace, or swapping in the 09 secondary tower.
This may sound like a lot to deal with. But, like I said before, not all 08's had problems. And the problems you may run into are fixable. Once you get any bugs worked out, you'll love the sled.
