2008 Ranger RZR - First Ride

First, a little History 101. The side-by-side or UTV (Utility Terrain Vehicle) genre has more or less been considered by ATV aficionados as a sideshow to real single-seat ATVs. However, ever since 2004, when Yamaha debuted its Rhino 660, the SxS market has just exploded. It wasn't the first, but the Yamaha model has so dominated the class that the name Rhino is as synonymous with SxS as Kleenex is with facial tissues. Especially once consumers discovered this work tool was fun and could do things not normally expected from an underpowered, heavy "farm" implement. And the aftermarket responded as the sales shot through the roof of this new breed-almost 50,000 of the 245,000 SxS units sold in '06 were for recreational purposes-and people wanted to drive them faster and sometimes jump them higher. Such was the force of its racing crush that UTV classes now run in the BITD, SCORE, WORC and WPSA series. Again, it was the Yamaha Rhino as the prevailing model.

Yet despite the vigorous aftermarket efforts to transform these workers into hot-rod racers, overcoming their utilitarian breeding was proving nearly impossible. And the basic demands of consumers-go anywhere an ATV can, more power and performance and improved recreational handling-were only achievable via deep pockets. The return on investment was hitting the point where, despite the heavy amounts of cash dropped on the likable UTV, the rate of performance gains was diminishing.

The window of opportunity was wide open for the first company to build a play-first, work-second side-by-side.

And Polaris was the first to seize the initiative with a new addition to its Ranger line, the Ranger RZR. It bears only a passing resemblance to its bench seat-equipped XP sibling and is an entirely new design. That the Rhino was squarely in the sights of the Polaris engineers is clear even to a blind man. Beyond the ad literature-with its numerous comparisons between the two and the occasional mention of the other SxS, Arctic Cat's Prowler-the new RZR now sports cush bucket seats like its rival. That's where the similarities end. This ain't no reverse-engineered project here. The RZR designers did some serious homework, surveying potential customers for their desires, scrutinizing the aftermarket to uncover the most requested mods, plus undertaking a healthy dose of seat-of-the-pants testing of the big three side-by-sides (Rhino, Prowler and Ranger) to find weaknesses in their armor and areas for improvement. A good mix of creativity was sprinkled in, and when the dust settled, the Ranger RZR was born.

Technical
The short version is the Polaris crew took the company's biggest and most powerful engine, the 760cc EFI-equipped twin from the X2 800, and dropped it into the smallest chassis they could right behind the seats. This allowed them to get the seats a whopping 7 inches lower than the Rhino yet still enjoy 10 inches of ground clearance. Using a technique called Rolled Independent Rear Suspension, the RZR sports 9 inches of wheel travel up front and 9.5 inches in back from the antisway-bar-equipped double A-arms (front and back). Rolled IRS means the wheel curves back as the shock compresses to get more travel without longer A-arms. With trail accessibility as a design goal, the RZR has a small frontal profile, with its 50-inch-wide chassis, as well as the lowest cage height of any SxS. This "narrow" track allows it to venture on most ATV trails-of course, back East we are worried about the 50.6-inch-wide Suzuki LT-R450 being too big to fit between trees. It's all relative, and out West, where the sales of this class dominate, it's a reasonable size.

Helping the twin-cylinder move the 945 pounds of machine down the trail faster is an automatic Polaris Variable Transmission (PVT) that feeds the 52 horsepower (claimed) to the Maxxis tires via shaft drive.