00:00 [engine revving]
00:10 There are five things we love and five things we hate about the 2024 Can-Am X3 DS Turbo.
00:15 While the Maverick R has stolen the show with insane horsepower and crazy suspension,
00:19 there is still plenty to love on the entry-level end of the Maverick tree.
00:23 The X3 DS Turbo is the cheapest X3 you can buy, but it still comes with plenty of power and a lot of surprising capability.
00:29 It's also a great platform to build out the rig that you want without having to buy it from the dealer.
00:33 Let's get started. The very first thing we love about the Maverick X3 DS Turbo is just that, the price.
00:39 This rig starts at $21,999, which is a steal for a sport rig.
00:44 And you get a lot for that price tag.
00:46 We're talking 30-inch tires, we're talking 20 inches of suspension travel, and a turbocharged triple engine.
00:51 All that's everything a growing boy needs to have a bunch of fun out on the trail.
00:54 The second thing we love about this machine is the size.
00:58 It is tiny!
00:59 Sport rigs have become massive over the past few years.
01:02 We did a post when the Pro R came out that showed it was bigger than a Jeep Wrangler.
01:06 The X3 DS is right-sized by comparison.
01:09 It weighs in at just 1,546 pounds dry, according to Can-Am, which means you can tow it with pretty much anything.
01:15 You don't need a big truck, you don't need a heavy trailer, you can tow this thing with your mom's minivan.
01:19 And at just 64 inches wide, it's more than a foot narrower than a Mav-R, which means it's perfect for these tight East Coast trails.
01:26 The third thing we love about the Mav-Ric X3 DS Turbo is this engine.
01:30 It's a 900cc Rotax turbocharged triple, which puts out 135 horsepower.
01:35 That's more than competitors like the Honda Talon or the Kawasaki KRX.
01:38 Combine that with a low curb weight, this thing feels pretty quick.
01:41 And look, if you're new to sports side-by-sides, this thing is going to feel like an absolute rocket ship.
01:56 You're going to have plenty of fun in this rig.
01:57 And because it's a turbo triple, it has plenty of character.
02:00 It sounds pretty good for a side-by-side.
02:02 The fourth thing we love about this rig is just how much fun it is.
02:07 Regardless of your experience level, you're going to have a good time in this machine.
02:13 No, it's not the most powerful.
02:15 No, it does not have all the suspension travel in the world.
02:18 No, none of that matters.
02:19 We've said over and over again, it is more fun to wheel a less capable rig than it is to wheel a more capable rig.
02:26 And that is very true with this machine.
02:28 It requires you to have some skill to navigate the same trail as somebody who's driving, say, a Pro-R or a Maverick-R.
02:34 All of that will make you a better driver.
02:36 And if you're teaching somebody who's new to the sport how to wheel, you're way better off putting them in something like this,
02:41 so they learn their lines, they learn what's safe, and they learn how to have a good time.
02:44 Finally, the fifth thing we love about the Can-Am Maverick X3 DS Turbo is it's a blank canvas.
02:50 You can build this rig to be whatever you want.
02:53 You want to build a sand buggy?
02:54 Slap some paddles on this thing, throw a roof on it, have a good time.
02:57 You want to build a rock crawler?
02:58 Throw some beadlocks on it, some sliders, you're gonna have a blast.
03:00 If you live that built-not-bought life, this is your rig.
03:03 So that leads us to the five things we hate about this machine.
03:06 And we're gonna start with the obvious.
03:07 This machine's showing its age.
03:09 The X3 lineup really hasn't had an update in a good minute.
03:12 And that's starting to rear its head in things like material quality and fit and finish in a really big way.
03:17 Part of that is the market has changed rapidly over the past year.
03:20 All sorts of rigs are coming out with much, much nicer interiors and it's left the X3 behind.
03:24 This feels like an older rig, 'cause it is an older rig.
03:26 Fortunately, it's got the price tag to match.
03:28 At this price, you can forgive all that stuff.
03:31 The second thing that we hate about this machine is a complaint that we've had with other X3s.
03:36 It's the brakes.
03:37 They're perfectly adequate for trail duty.
03:38 They will always stop you, but the faster you go, the less confident they feel.
03:42 Part of that is because it has a long, soft pedal.
03:45 You know, all these machines, they run soft lines from start to finish.
03:48 There are no hard brake lines on the rig.
03:50 And I think that's part of it.
03:51 You've got a lot of expansion in the lines.
03:53 We'd like to have a little bit firmer pedal, something a little bit more confidence-inspiring.
03:57 The third thing we hate is gauge cluster.
03:59 I know, we've harped on this before, and this one ties back to the fact that the X3 is an older machine.
04:03 But these orange, backlit LCD gauges aren't easy to read, and they make the machine feel older than it is.
04:09 Blarus gets around this by using a couple of physical gauges for the tachometer and the speedometer.
04:13 Sort of distracts from the clunky-looking digital gauges.
04:16 Maybe something like that would help with the CAN-AM.
04:18 The fourth thing we hate about the Maverick X3 DS Turbo,
04:23 these door handles, or lack of door handles.
04:25 Yeah, we give Polaris a bunch of grief about this.
04:27 CAN-AM is arguably worse because you have a pole.
04:31 Imagine trying to explain that to somebody who's never seen a side-by-side before.
04:34 Look, door handles are like jokes.
04:36 You gotta explain it, doesn't work.
04:37 The good news is the Mav-R has fixed that.
04:39 You've got a physical door handle on the outside in addition to the interior pole.
04:43 We really want to see something similar on the rest of the X3 lineup,
04:47 including the full doors.
04:48 The Mav-R gets a full door, these still have these giant things.
04:51 I don't even know what this is for, really, other than to keep your purse from flying out.
04:55 And finally, the fifth thing we hate about the X3 DS Turbo is the fuel filler.
05:00 Again, not unique to this specific model.
05:02 All X3s are this way.
05:04 The fuel filler is hidden behind this floppy panel.
05:07 It's nice because, in theory, it keeps the mud away from the gas camp.
05:10 Or, at least it's supposed to. It doesn't, in this case.
05:13 But it also means this thing's hidden.
05:15 If you've got somebody who's trying to fill this thing up,
05:18 it's gonna be a Google search before they find where the fuel filler is.
05:21 Other manufacturers get around this by just putting the fuel filler behind the passenger door,
05:25 which makes a lot of sense.
05:26 And like the door handles, it just, it shouldn't take that much effort to figure out how to use it.
05:30 It's just a bad user experience.
05:31 And lastly, on our private X3, the one that we own, we've lost like five of these things.
05:35 They just go off into the ether and you wind up having to buy new ones.
05:42 Okay, so with all of that said, who is the X3DS for?
05:46 Well, number one, it's for East Coasters.
05:47 It's also a perfect rig for people who just want to knock out slow, low-key trail rides.
05:51 And it's for budget-minded buyers who want to use it as a base platform to build up the rig of their dreams.
05:57 Maybe you can't afford a Mav-R, but you want something that you can have a buttload of fun with your friends,
06:01 right out of the box, that you can then add on to as the years go on.
06:04 That's this.
06:05 And at less than $22,000, it's a really smart buy.
06:09 We'd stick one in our garage without a second thought.
06:11 That wraps it up for the X3DS Turbo.
06:13 If you like what you saw, be sure to check us out at UTVDriver.com.
06:16 We've got news, reviews, and buyer's guides every day of the week.
06:19 I'll see you there.
06:19 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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