Polaris Ranger RZR XP 900s

An action-packed blast through the famed Mojave Desert on Polaris' flagship side-by-side sporting vehicles: the perfect way to end a Stateside adventure

As far as sexy companies go, the Minnesota-based Polaris is probably at the top of the pile. It has fully-owned motorcycle brands in Victory and Indian (which is a relatively recent addition) and also sells ATVs, side-by-sides, snowmobiles and electric vehicles. And in days of yore the company also manufactured personal watercraft.

A few months ago, the Bikesales Network joined Polaris in America for a 10-day trip, with the principal reason for the Pacific dash to ride the all-new Victory Judge cruiser around some stunning roads near Palm Springs. You can read that launch report here.

But while we were Stateside, it made sense to try out some other products in the Polaris line-up, so the plan was to go snowmobiling at the Polaris test ground in Minnesota, followed by a sortie in the Mojave Desert -- made famous in the On Any Sunday franchise -- riding the two and four-seater versions of the Ranger RZR sports side-by-side vehicles.

As it turned out, the snowmobiling was cancelled because of unseasonably warm weather in Minnesota -- ie bugger-all snow -- but the replacement activity wasn’t too shabby either -- a visit to the Victory factory in Spirit Lake, Iowa.

HIT PARADE

But the high-water mark of the trip was undoubtedly the Mojave Desert, which saw us make a 30-mile trek to a saloon bar for lunch -- where I saw the biggest cheeseburger in the history of mankind -- and then return back to base. Who said desert life is tough?

I’d ridden a few side-by-side vehicles over the years, but mainly agricultural workhorses. The Ranger RZR XP 900s (hereafter RZRs) are completely different beasts. They don't waste a single ounce of power and have a brilliant chassis and suspension.

Both the RZRs are powered by the all-new Polaris ProStar 875cc twin-cylinder 88hp engine, pared with a CVT transmission. There’s three-link trailing arm long-travel suspension and travel is 343mm on the front and 356mm at the rear.

And that’s the biggest revelation -- the suspension. Everyone knows that dreaded feeling of bracing before a big ‘hit’ -- washouts, gullies, mounds, etc -- but on the RZRs that’s akin to wasted energy as these things dig in their heels and devour road and track defects with absolute authority. Too many of those shenanigans on less-credentialled suspension and both the driver and passengers would be fatigued within minutes.

In a nutshell, the RZRs are very hard to bring down to their knees, and when it comes to cornering they deliver a beautifully consistent and predictable ride, with very little understeer. In the case of the four-seater ($26,495), that’s quite the effort, considering a fully-laden unit weights around 950kg.

The two-seater’s wet weight is about 90kg less than the XP 4, and as a result the $23,495 unit's got more spring in its step right across the board, and is a lot more agile too with 660mm less wheelbase to deal with -- not that out-and-out agility was such a prime concern on the open plains of the Mojave.

The only ‘short course’ we encountered was a layout for photographic purposes. I was four-seater mounted for that one -- and apparently scaring the other occupants with my haphazard driving. Couldn’t see it myself, though. The four-seater handled the course well, so I’d imagine the two-seater would have been an even more sharp-shooting companion.

Top speed for the RZRs is around 120-130km/h, which isn’t blindingly fast but still rapid enough that the Joshua trees in the Mojave were whirring out of sight quite quickly.

And that velocity is respectable enough considering the moderate power-to-weight ratios of the RZRs. I have no doubt that extra ponies could be extracted from the ProStar engine quite easily, but for me it’s not a huge concern as these vehicles are more enjoyable as ‘in and under’ tight-terrain practitioners rather than Bonneville salt-flat heroes.

However, I would love to race the two-seater in the Australasian Safari, which is introducing a side-by-side class for the first time in 2012. Is anyone at Polaris reading this?

The two-seater RZR has also recently wrapped up the inaugural SxS Rally Challenge, which was held over four rounds in conjunction with the 2012 Australian Rally Championship. Rally supremo Cody Crocker was the pilot (see footage below).

There are two other RZRs in the Polaris range -- the 800 S and 570 -- while there are 11 Rangers including diesel versions. For the full Ranger and Ranger RZR line-ups, visit www.polarisindustries.com.au.

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Polaris Ranger RZR XP 900s

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