Dimensions
Wheelbase: 50.8 in.
Claimed dry weight: 602 lb
Ground clearance: 10.2 in.
Length/width/height: 83.5/47.6/48.0 in.
Seat height: 33.9 in.
Fuel capacity: 4.6 gal.
Electrical
Taillight: Yes
Headlight: Dual 30-watt high/low beam with 40-watt auxiliary
Instrumentation: Fuel gauge, speedometer, odometer, hourmeter, clock, dual tripmeters; neutral/reverse, high-temperature indicators
Colors: Shooting green, Flame red, Champion yellow
#1 Polaris Sportsman 800 Twin EFI
We have a long list of complaints about Polaris' ber-quad. It's heavy, at 765 pounds; linked braking does not help if you're an advanced rider (which we'd like to hope for in the Open class); rear-wheel-only engine-braking is a little pucker-inducing when traction is poor; and it's the most-expensive ATV (that doesn't have Cannondale on the tank) to walk the face of the Earth.
Despite these perennial criticisms about Polaris' Sportsman lineup, the Minnesota company mitigated several shortcomings with its trademark style of slowly (but continuously) evolving its products.
Nobody on our staff particularly likes a quad to weigh more than 750 pounds dry, but between the displacement bump over last year's 700 EFI and the revised suspension, it sure doesn't feel that heavy. At 760cc, the 800 EFI is Polaris' first 4x4 that can truly get out of its own way. Polaris fans, you can now loft the front over an obstacle. However, thanks to the fuel injection (and very unlike the carbureted Polaris twins), that power is very controllable and there when you need it.
The '05 Sportsmen share new, longer-travel front shocks, along with a wider stance. The setup fits the 800 like a glove. As with Honda's Rincon, it is both plush and controlled. During our test, we threw quite a few types of terrain at the Sportsman, and it took them all equally well. It's a very planted machine that does a good job of taking the jolts out of the ride while communicating what's going on to the rider.
Polaris' linked braking is not doing it any favors, however. In truly screwed-up terrain, a good rider has less control over the machine with the single lever. Collectively, we think Polaris should come out with a version (a Dale Jr. version?) of the machine with some advanced controls for the hard-core enthusiast, such as separate brakes and a manual diff-lock. Braking action itself is good and powerful (though it could be more sensitive), and there are times when the delay waiting for the front diff-lock to kick in is a bit too long.
One problem we've had on past Sportsmen is that while descending big hills the rear wheels would chatter and lock up and want to trade places with the front. The engine-braking is more controlled now (though only the rear wheels are involved), and the new PXT tires do the rest. They're radials, as is true of all the tires in this test, but feature big, honkin' lugs for loose mud and soil. We ripped on them a little in our test of the 700 EFI in Colorado, but that was there, this is here. In hard, dry dirt, big lugs are universally bad; in looser stuff, these things are magic.
A defining moment came when we looked for a quad to haul out the wounded Brute Force after we broke a tie-rod. We looked no further than the Sportsman, and it didn't disappoint. Is it worth the dubious title of most-expensive 4x4 ever? We think so.