5 Things We LOVE and HATE about the 2026 Kawasaki Teryx5 H2

UTV Driver

The 2026 Kawasaki Teryx5 is now the most POWERFUL production side-by-side in the world. With its 250-hp supercharged inline-4 engine, it loves to go fast. With top speeds up to 100 MPH, it now sits in the same class as the Polaris Pro R and Can-Am Maverick R, but there are some things we don't like about it. So strap in and get ready for five things we LOVE and HATE about the Teryx5 H2!  Become a Channel Partner: https://octanemedia.co/home/become-an-advertiser/  Looking to buy? Get prequalifed https://octane.co/vehicle-selection/?partner=A8PrQQB&a=298&flow=long-prequal&appTheme=3a49337c5724d18079602a4ca5a91626  Favorite Gear:  Packtalk Edge ORV: Code 'octane' for 10% off https://cardosystems.rfrl.co/z8qy5   For more stories, reviews, and first-looks check out https://www.utvdriver.com/   Want to see even more shenanigans from the UTV Driver team? Give us a like and follow:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UTVdriver/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utvdrivermagazine/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/utvdriver/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@utvdriver

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00:00Hello everybody, this is Jackson Cooper with UTV Driver and today we have this, the 2026

00:05Kawasaki Terex 5 H2. With a supercharger, 250 horsepower, and five seats, this thing is now

00:12the most powerful production side-by-side in the world. It's got a ton of optional accessories,

00:16but there are some things we don't like about it. So we're going to go through five things we love

00:20and five things we hate about the 2026 Kawasaki Terex 5 H2. Now jumping right in, the first thing

00:27we love is this engine. I don't know if you can see it in there, but it is a 999c supercharged

00:33inline-four. That makes 250 horsepower, but if you don't want all those ponies, it does have three

00:38different drive modes. It's got full power, mid power, and low power. So you can see it on my dash

00:43right here. Power mid, power low, back up. Mid brings the power down to about 80% of maximum, and low power

00:50brings it down to about 60% of maximum. Now why do we want that? Well, it's 250 horsepower. It's a lot

00:55for people who are new to side-by-sides and may not want that much power. Now, I'm not saying you

00:59should just go out and buy this thing if it's your first side-by-side ever. No, what I'm saying is

01:04if you buy this thing and you're experienced, you can put someone in it and put it in a lower power

01:09mode and not be super afraid if they're going to get into too much trouble. But the engine is

01:13responsive. It's super powerful, and you can feel it. You know, I hit 95 miles an hour today, and it had

01:19more in the tank. Not just a little more, a lot more. I was climbing at 95 before I backed off. That rivals

01:25the Can-Am Mavic R, the Polaris Pro R, and it's sitting near the top of the heap right now. If you

01:30asked me which one I'd want, this would be a big contender. So the number two thing we love are

01:34these rear seats. Now you can see they're, you know, bucket style, but this is a bench seat. Now

01:39this is the five-seater, meaning you get this middle seat. It's not super spaceful, I will be honest,

01:44but if you have kids, if you have smaller adults who want to fit back there, it is perfect. You know,

01:49I am 5'10". I was sitting back there with someone who was six foot, and while we were touching these,

01:53it was still perfectly viable. So if you have little ones or a family of four or five,

01:57this might be the rig for you. Now there is a four-seat option if you don't want that middle

02:01seat, and you get these same single bucket seats in the rear. It's also stadium seating,

02:05meaning that your rear passengers aren't just looking at a headrest the entire time.

02:09You're actually seeing what's coming up on the trail. So the third thing we love is this chassis,

02:14and not just the frame, but this ROPS too. This ROPS is actually integrated into the frame,

02:18making it even more sturdy. It's excellent. It looks nice. You have triangles everywhere,

02:23making sure it's secure. You got this one in the front. You got extra protection in the back.

02:27Not only do you have these right here, but you also have one going all the way back here. And we

02:32think that's excellent. You know, too often cages are made of just thin metal, and this is not it.

02:36It's thick painted metal, and it does a great job of protecting you. All right, so the fourth thing

02:41we love is this interior. Look at this. You got gray seating. You've got a Garmin tread right here.

02:46Now, this only comes in the deluxe edition, but you still get it. It's excellent. If you want

02:50accessories, you have all these buttons right here that are very easy to use. You have your

02:53four-wheel drive right here, and on the steering wheel, you actually have your power modes. It's

02:57got an excellent stereo that you can control through the Garmin, and it's really just a well-thought-out

03:01interior. I've been riding for about five hours. My butt doesn't hurt. My back doesn't hurt. The

03:05seats are comfy. It is excellent. So speaking of the Garmin, that is the fifth thing we love about it.

03:10Now, you hear us talk about Polaris Ride Command all the time, and let me tell you, this thing rivals it. It's got a media player.

03:16It's got your GPS over here. It is really great, and see, we have our entire group right here. It's

03:21only saying Lost Signal because all the other rigs are off. Don't worry about it. Those little dots

03:24right over there is where the other rigs are, but it shows you where you're at, and it has a ton of

03:28trails mapped. Garmin has been used for years in the outdoor world, and it just kind of makes sense that

03:33Kawasaki would want to put it on their rig. People have Garmin watches, Garmin GPS, just about anything

03:38else you could think of, and it feels right at home in the Kawasaki Terex H2. All right, so I love this rig

03:42so much that I'm actually going to add a sixth thing we love about it, and that is going to be

03:46this suspension. Now, this comes with Fox Live Valve internal bypass shocks. What does that mean?

03:52It means it's constantly sampling the terrain to always keep you in the perfect suspension setting.

03:56You don't have to adjust it yourself. Either set it to firm, normal, or soft, and the H2 suspension

04:01will take care of the rest. Now, one bummer about it is that that doesn't come on the base edition.

04:05You have to get the deluxe to get that, but either way, we love it. It is fantastic.

04:09Before we go any further, go down below, hit subscribe, comment if you feel like it,

04:14send us a like if you're enjoying this video. It really helps us out and lets our bosses know

04:18that we're doing a good job. Okay, so what have you all been waiting for? The five things we hate

04:22about it. I'm going to start with the transmission. That's right, this thing uses a CVT. Now, that's not

04:27horrible. The Pro-R uses a CVT, and it's fine. It works, but this thing makes peak power at 9,000

04:32RPMs, which means you have to be flat out almost all the time to get maximum power out of it. And I'm an East

04:38Coast guy. I like technical trails, and that's just not viable for those trails. We really would

04:44have liked to have seen a DCT or something similar just to give this thing an extra pep and to make

04:49it more comfortable with various types of riding styles. Again, a CVT is fine, and it's really up

04:53to personal preference at that point, but we would have liked to have seen something else. Okay, the

04:57second thing we hate are these harnesses. Now, we love a good harness. It is fantastic. It keeps you

05:02locked in, but as you can see, these are inertia reel, and that's not really that great in a rig

05:09this powerful. Before the seatbelts lock in, you're just bouncing all over your seat, and there's not a

05:14whole lot you can do to stop it. We would have liked to seen fixed four-point harnesses in this

05:18thing that really would have kept you planted in this rig. The third thing we hate, no two-seater.

05:23Now, we understand you either come out with a two-seater first or a four-seater first, and they chose

05:26four-seater because they saw where the market's going. Or don't want to spend the extra cash on a

05:30four-seater. A two-seater just makes sense, and it feels like they're just leaving out a big portion

05:34of their market by not offering it. If you like a four-seater, fantastic. Go grab this thing, but we

05:38really would have liked a two-seater option. Now, does that mean a two-seater is never coming? I don't

05:43think so. I asked one of the engineers about it, and his response was just a shrug, so that doesn't

05:47mean it is or isn't coming, but we are hopeful. Okay, the fourth thing we hate. The supercharger is

05:52awesome, but it is very, very loud. Now, everything else on the rig is fine. There's not a lot of clunky

05:57suspension parts that makes it sound like the rig is going to explode while you're driving it,

06:01and the engine sounds fantastic. And the supercharger sounds great when you're flat out,

06:05and you get that iconic whistle. But when you're going about 40 miles an hour or under,

06:09it kind of just sounds like a dying bird. When we're in stuff like this, the supercharger is very

06:14loud. Sounds like it's struggling a little bit. It's not. It's doing its job. It's doing exactly what

06:19it was made to do, but it's pretty annoying. It's constantly chirping, and it's constantly right

06:25behind your ear. And after a full day of riding, that can get annoying. It's a little bit nitpicky,

06:29but that is the fourth thing we hate about it. And the last thing we hate about it is this rear

06:33seat. Now, I talked about how much I actually liked it, and I think having three seats is a good

06:37option, but if you have three grown adults back here, they're going to be sitting on top of each

06:42other. Now, this middle seat is extruded just about an inch to help with that, but it doesn't

06:46really matter. Like I said, I'm 5'10". I was sitting back there with someone who was six foot,

06:50and we were pretty much on top of each other. This back seat is pretty much only for kids,

06:53and that kind of disappoints me. And if I don't feel comfortable putting three of them back here,

06:57then what's the point of a five-seater? Okay, some of those might have been a little bit nitpicky.

07:01Now, we're going to tell you who this rig is for. This rig is for the West Coastman. It's for someone

07:05who lives in California, Nevada, Utah, even Colorado, where you have these massive sand dunes,

07:10and you can go flat out. The H2 doesn't like tight trails. It doesn't like low speeds. It likes being

07:1510 tenths all of the time. It felt a lot more comfortable at 70 than it did at 30. That's the engine

07:20and the suspension and everything else working together to create this awesome rig. Now,

07:24should you still buy one if you're on the East Coast? Go for it if you want to. I mean,

07:28you can never have too much power, and there's still places to use it on the East Coast. And

07:32if you want the biggest, baddest machine on the market, there's your girl. This has been five

07:36things we love and five things we hate about the 2026 Kawasaki Terex 5 H2. If you like this video,

07:43drop us a like, a comment, and a subscribe if you don't mind. It really helps the channel and

07:47lets our bosses know that we're doing a good job. When you're done doing that, head over to

07:50utvdriver.com, where we have news, reviews, buyer's guides five days a week, and on our

07:55socials. We're on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok seven days a week. Thank you again for watching.

07:59We will see you there.

08:00Hey, baby!

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