- 2 days ago
Discontinued side-by-sides, new ATVs, and delayed Chinese rigs. This week's episode of the UTV Driver podcast goes over the latest news for October 2025. Plus, we got to spend some time in Wyoming with Can-Am to test out a few ATVs, the most exciting of which being the Outlander Electric. Is Electric the way forward for ATVs? Stay tuned to find out.
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SportsTranscript
00:01Welcome back to the UTV Driver Podcast. I am content editor Jackson Cooper and today I'm joined by editor Andres Carlson. Andres, how are we doing today?
00:13We're doing all right. You know, like last time we talked about the golden age. It's still a golden age, but you know, we're kind of coming off the high. We had a lot of model year 2026 stuff come out. That was really exciting. It was just bananas.
00:28And now, you know, it's kind of a month after the cycle and things are still exciting. It's still a golden age. However, you know, news is starting to die down a little bit. That doesn't mean we don't have anything exciting for you guys. There's still plenty of stuff going on.
00:45But I think one of the most exciting things that we heard was when Yamaha unveiled their 2026 lineup. And the one thing that was missing was the YXZ. The six-speed manual, the three-pedal, the actual manual side-by-side. The only one in the industry. That one was gone.
01:03And it wasn't just missing, like how the Pro-R is. We're still waiting to see something about the Pro-R. But it wasn't just missing. They officially said that the YXZ has been discontinued.
01:13You know, and that's the funny part. It's the sneaky part. You know, lost in the news cycle of all the new stuff coming out, you also have to kind of look and see, like, well, what's not there?
01:23So you've got to kind of read between the lines a little bit. And I think you were the first one to pick up on that. I didn't notice at first.
01:29But it's kind of a big omission of sorts. You know, obviously, it got discontinued for a reason. But I think it had a number of fans and adherents that really liked it.
01:41It was cool to say that our world, what, we still had a manual. I mean, like, come on. It had, like, paddle shifters. It wasn't like, you know, a stick on the floor. But still.
01:50Oh, that's where you're wrong. It did have a stick on the floor.
01:53Well, yeah. But the stick was just drive, neutral, and reverse, I think. And then everything else with the paddle shifters.
01:59So it's sad.
02:01Are we sure?
02:03Yeah. Originally, it may have had a five-speed. It went to a six-speed, I think, in the last year or two.
02:09So, actually, the YXZ had two different versions. It had the basic version, which was the three-pedal clutch with the clutch and the stick on the floor.
02:21So it did have a stick on the floor. But there was the SS version, which got rid of the clutch altogether and used an automated clutch.
02:28And you just had those paddle shifters.
02:30So you got the option of the two.
02:31So it had an actual stick on the floor, you know, like what you're used to driving, what I'm used to driving, what's in my car, what's in a lot of y'all's cars.
02:39Like, it was actually in a side-by-side. And now the market's missing that.
02:45It's a little sad. Pour one out, as they say.
02:48But the market has spoken.
02:50And apparently, American UTV enthusiasts are just not into manuals.
02:55And I kind of get it, in a way.
02:57You know, we've had our debates about CBT versus DCT and so forth like that.
03:02And I'm, you know, I've always sort of taken the point of view that, you know, more accessible is more better.
03:09But it is kind of sad.
03:10As a guy who likes manual transmissions, and, you know, I think I know what gear I should be in at all times.
03:18But, you know, I don't know.
03:21It's an interesting footnote in UTV history, and it's gone.
03:23It's kind of sad.
03:24Yeah, and it only lasted 10 years, which is kind of insane.
03:28It also leaves a hole in Yamaha's lineup for a sports side-by-side.
03:32So, right now, what do they have?
03:34The R-Max, the X2, and the Viking?
03:36I mean, we know how popular the R-Max is.
03:39But the X2 and the Viking are not as popular.
03:43Are not as popular.
03:44And it's hard to fill that hole.
03:46And it just kind of gets us excited for what Yamaha has in store for us.
03:51If they have anything in store at all.
03:52We don't actually know.
03:53They haven't told us anything.
03:55We haven't heard any news about it.
03:56But, like, you're missing out on a big part of the market by not having a sport side-by-side.
04:01I mean, Honda is still selling Talons.
04:03Kawasaki is still selling KRXs.
04:05I don't think that they're going to let that piece of the market just sit vacant forever.
04:10Well, this goes back to when all the model year, 2026 stuff was rolling out with Kawi and Polaris.
04:17And a couple of notable omissions there, it sort of begs the question, is something coming?
04:21Is something in the pipeline from Yamaha that might sort of pick up where the missing YXE...
04:28Sorry, that just doesn't roll off the tongue.
04:30I want to keep saying that.
04:30It doesn't.
04:31It doesn't.
04:31It doesn't.
04:32And, you know, honestly, I'm kind of glad to see the YXE go just for that reason.
04:35It's kind of selfish.
04:36But maybe Yamaha's got something.
04:40Maybe there's something in the works.
04:41Maybe Yamaha has not left that space completely.
04:44Who knows?
04:45Hopefully.
04:45Yeah, we can only hope.
04:46But you did something pretty exciting, which was you got to drive a couple new ATVs from
04:51Can-Am.
04:52Why don't you tell us a little bit about that?
04:54Oh, my God.
04:57So, recently, so, obviously, you know us.
05:00We're a UTV driver.
05:02But we also, obviously, run and operate ATV Rider, a sister publication.
05:08And we love, just like everybody else around, we grew up riding little four-wheelers.
05:12That's what we grew up on.
05:13We certainly did not grow up driving rigs.
05:17So, we love ATVs.
05:19And Can-Am recently flew us out to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which is an extremely classy
05:25place with lots of very successful, wealthy people.
05:29And they put us on the new Can-Am ATV lineup.
05:33So, there was a number of, they focused, so there's 34 models altogether.
05:37As far as Can-Am's ATV lineup, we cannot cover all of those.
05:42Yeah, that's quite a bit.
05:43We're going to stick to two or three, right?
05:46Right, exactly.
05:47So, the big headline is that the Can-Am Outlander Electric debuted.
05:54And the other headline, the smaller but actually the bigger headline, physically speaking, is
06:00they showed us their lineup of six-by-sixes, which was also extremely exciting.
06:06But first of all, the big news is the Can-Am Outlander Electric coming out.
06:10And that is a huge deal because it is the first mass-produced ATV on the market.
06:17Obviously, there's been, you know, smaller brands, enthusiasts, and people, you know,
06:22turning wrenches in garages and turning out prototypes and other stuff like that.
06:26But it's the first mass-produced ATV.
06:28And I think that-
06:29First mass-produced electric ATV.
06:32First mass-produced electric ATV.
06:34That's, yes, to be correct.
06:35Important distinction.
06:36That's an important distinction right there.
06:40The first ATV ever.
06:42Right, right, right.
06:43That would be, like, welcome to the UTV driver alternate universe.
06:47Anyway.
06:48So, that was really exciting.
06:50And it's kind of cool.
06:51So, first of all, like, so we have a colleague, Adam Waheed, who is amazing.
06:56He's like Rain Man with specs.
06:57I am not.
06:58So, I'm going to refer to my handy-dandy cheat sheet here.
07:03Yeah, let's start off with horsepower and torque.
07:04The torque number is what we're really excited about.
07:06Because if you know EVs, you know that they make a lot of torque.
07:11And they put down that torque pretty instantly.
07:14So, that's what we're really here for.
07:17Right.
07:17So, all the specs are kind of exciting and interesting.
07:21But the funny part is that the specs don't really tell the story.
07:24So, it's fairly simple.
07:25So, they got a sort of this 47 horsepower.
07:30There's 53 feet pound of torque.
07:33There's obviously regen braking with three levels of adjustment.
07:36There's three modes.
07:38Sport, stand, sport, normal.
07:40I'm sorry.
07:40And work.
07:41Sport, normal, and work.
07:43There's a speed limiter.
07:44There's dynamic power steering.
07:46So, you can go from...
07:47So, it's got a battery that's 8.9 kilowatt hours as far as battery capacity goes.
07:52And how much...
07:54How does that compare...
07:54Or how does that process into range?
07:56What's the range of it?
07:58Well, that's the other thing.
07:59The range is, under optimal conditions, 50 miles.
08:03So, anybody who knows anything about things that are EV and so forth knows that they often give extremely optimistic range figures.
08:16Yeah, optimal conditions is like, you know, in a perfect world, maybe for 10 minutes out of the day, you know?
08:22Right, exactly.
08:22So, if you leave your ATV, your internal combustion ATV running, idling, you're just using up power.
08:28With electric, obviously, idling.
08:30And the slower you go, the less power you use.
08:33So, with conservative riding, 50 miles is the claimed figure.
08:38In practice, it's probably closer to 30 to 35 miles, which gives a lot of people pause.
08:45However, according to Can-Am's sort of, like, thinking and their strategy, turns out that for work and utility purposes, the average round trip, the average daily round trip of an ATV user is about 30 miles.
09:03So, honestly, I think they kind of...
09:05Yeah.
09:05So, you just, you ride it around for 10 miles around the farm, plug it up on your lunch break, go back when it's got about 15% extra charge, and then charge it overnight and do the same thing.
09:16So, if you're riding recreationally, whatever dirt you're on, whether it's dirt bikes or anything else like that, you're going by session.
09:25You're absolutely going 10 out of 10, 9 out of 10 all the time.
09:28And then you rest, and then you go out for the second session.
09:33You know, and then during the rest period of time, it's quick recharging is very important.
09:37They're positioning the Outlander Electric as kind of more of a work rig, and the use cases that they envision are really that one charge can last you all day long.
09:47If you're going out and you're checking, you've got 100 acres of land and so forth like that.
09:54Yeah, you're not going 10 tenths all the time.
09:57Right.
09:57You're going out, you're stopping, you're doing whatever work it is you have to do, and then you're going to the next spot.
10:02So, they think that you can get away with 30 miles in one day, which is actually, that's a defensible claim, I think.
10:08Yeah, I mean, I don't, that's not unrealistic to me, right?
10:12Right.
10:13Obviously, there are going to be people who need more than that, which is, bottom line, EVs don't work for everybody.
10:19You know, they have a time and a place, and if 35 miles is not enough for you, then buy something else.
10:25But there is a big portion of the market that that's, that's perfect for, you know, people who just, like you said, have what, like 10 acre farms who just need something to get around, or maybe just like a long driveway who just want to run to the mailbox.
10:39Like, it makes sense in certain applications.
10:43So, I think that, you know, all these numbers, and a lot of people who are EV skeptics get hung up on range, and that's just sort of unavoidable.
10:51Anyway, I could just sit here and quote numbers and specs at you all day long, but the big story is, honestly, this thing rips.
11:01Oh, yeah, yeah.
11:02Tell me about how it, like, actually drives, because I haven't actually driven an EV ATV yet.
11:06I've driven an EV side-by-side.
11:07I've driven the Ranger XP Kinetic, and it was pretty amazing.
11:11So, I'm very curious about this.
11:13This thing is like kicking a barrel of monkeys down a flight of stairs.
11:16It is so much fun.
11:17If you told, like, after sitting on it and riding, if you told me that it had 80 horsepower, I would actually believe you, because it puts down every single one of those 47 ponies immediately, right away.
11:31Every single one of them is available to you at all times.
11:34It's really hellaciously responsive.
11:37It's to the point where, actually, on more technical stuff, I had to switch modes.
11:42I had to go back down to normal and work just to thread my way through technical stuff.
11:49Having it on sport was almost impossible.
11:51That thing was just like a light switch.
11:53It was so responsive that anything besides just sort of, like, groomed kind of fire roads and stuff,
11:59where you could really open it up and start getting sideways, was, yeah, you just had to have a very steady thumb.
12:06But that thing is a lot of fun.
12:08And I've got to tell you, any kind of new model right out of the box is going to always have growing pains in terms of, you know, glitches, problems.
12:17Fit and finish might not be up to snuff.
12:18Yeah, of course.
12:19The NM Outlander Electric is about 95% ready out of the box.
12:24Okay, so you said 95%.
12:26What about that 5%?
12:27What's the part that you don't like?
12:30You know, I think that, and this is kind of a sidebar sort of thing, on some of the other big news from Can-Am is that they've got smart shocks.
12:40So they've got active shocks on some of their upscale models, which I can't remember the names of right now.
12:47Mainly the Can-Am Mavic R and the new X3 R?
12:51Yeah, so very similar technology.
12:54It resamples terrain and all sorts of, like, data inputs from the rig in terms of lean angles and other stuff like that.
13:01This is all, like, it does it 200 times per second, which is about 199 more than I can personally do.
13:07Yeah, it works like a Fox Live valve.
13:10Yeah, exactly.
13:12So it's an active suspension, and, you know, we've been enjoying it for a number of years in the UTV space, but this is kind of a new addition to their ATV lineup.
13:21And that would have been nice to have on the Outlander Electric, as far as the rigs that they provided us, that Can-Am did in Jackson Hole.
13:30They did not.
13:31It would be nice to see, you know, paired with the Outlander Electric active suspension.
13:37I think that there, and we saw some, I think, early production models, but some of the responsiveness was a little abrupt, especially in sport mode.
13:48In the other modes, it was fine.
13:52Other than that, I can't really think of anything.
13:54They did have this one thing, which is cool in practice.
13:57So they did have a shifter, a conventional shifter, just like every UTV has, just like every ATV has.
14:03But the reverse was actually a button, so you had to press it for, like, one second, but not two seconds.
14:09And this is really handy.
14:10So if you're using it for work, like shoveling or plowing or other stuff like that, instead of having to reach down and grab, you know, reverse and go back and forth, back and forth or whatever, you could just hit this button.
14:22You could even hit it while you were still going forward.
14:24Yeah, because all it does is just reverse the polarity of the motor.
14:28Exactly.
14:29The Ranger XP Kinetic has the same thing, except it's just like a little rocker switch that you can get back and forth.
14:36Yeah, and this is actually an old trick that the Honda Goldwing did back in the day, the first reverse ever on a motorcycle.
14:42Anyway, it's a cool feature.
14:45I think they just need to sort of dial in the UI, the UX of it.
14:49There's something, it's kind of hard to get.
14:51You don't get reverse every single time.
14:53But it's really just sort of like niggling little details like that.
14:57But honest to God, it's 95% ready to go.
15:00And it is fun as, I can't say the word, because we're a family.
15:04Okay, so what about the price?
15:06All that's super cool and all.
15:08But another big thing about EVs is the price is usually astronomical.
15:13So that's kind of the funny thing.
15:14What are we looking at?
15:15So here's kind of the surprising thing about the MSRP.
15:19So the standard Outlander Electric starts at $12,999.
15:23Oh, that is impressive.
15:26That is quite impressive, actually.
15:27That is not a...
15:28I know that a lot of EVs and LEVs kind of come with sticker shock standard, but that is actually a good guy price.
15:37And there is also the Outlander Electric Max, which has a rear seat and a lovely backrest for whatever king and queen you're riding with.
15:47And that starts at $14,299.
15:50That's still wildly impressive.
15:52I mean, you can't...
15:53It's hard to find an ATV in this market below, what, $9,000, $8,000, $9,000?
15:58Exactly.
15:58So a $4,000 markup from the cheapest ATVs that some of these companies offer is pretty impressive.
16:05I am not mad about that price.
16:07That is something that, like, if I was going out and looking for an ATV to ride around my property, that's something that I would actually be looking out for.
16:15And something that would be on my list.
16:17You know, you look at stuff like the Ranger XP Kinetic.
16:21And I know I keep going back to that, but it's kind of like the only other EV on the market right now.
16:26So it's kind of hard not to.
16:28But, you know, the premium trim starts at $29,999.
16:34So, like, $30,000 for a utility side-by-side in general is kind of insane.
16:39But when you think that it doesn't have an enclosed cab, that's the base model with, like, without a winch and without any of the bells and whistles, $30,000 is insane.
16:50And, I mean, that's approaching, what, Can-Am Defender Limited money?
16:54Yeah.
16:55So hearing $12,000 out of this thing is pretty impressive and keeps me looking out for it.
17:02Yeah, and just as, like, a final sort of coda to this whole thing, I hung out with a large group of extremely nice Canadian rednecks.
17:13And all of them, to a man, were kind of blown away by the Outlander Electric.
17:19And that's saying something.
17:21That's just anecdotal.
17:22That's not, you know, that's literally just observation and opinion or whatever.
17:26But almost everyone was just kind of very surprised.
17:30I don't know if they had a lot of seat time in electric stuff, if they were electric skeptics or whatever.
17:34Everyone was very impressed.
17:35So the Outlander 6x6, they rolled out three of them.
17:41Now, this isn't exactly news because they've actually had a 6x6 since, I believe, 2013.
17:49And there's been 650 single variants and 700s, and now there's an 800, and then there was an 850, and now there's an 850.
17:56Anyway, so these have existed for quite a while, and they're kind of fun.
18:01And interestingly enough, so they gave us a whole prezo, and they go through a PowerPoint deck and everything.
18:06It turns out that 6x6s are most popular in the European and African and Asian market, which is kind of...
18:16Really? That's interesting.
18:19Yeah.
18:19So is there a reason for that, or is it just kind of how the cookie crumbles?
18:24You know, it's... I don't know.
18:26I don't know. There could be very good reasons why it's been adopted over there and not here.
18:34But the big news is...
18:38But essentially...
18:39I probably have an idea.
18:42Oh, it's speculation.
18:43Okay.
18:44So my best guess would be that there's a lot of countryside in those countries, and the people who want...
18:51More than America? Are you saying that other countries have more countryside than America?
18:54Yeah, but in America, we want full-size UTVs.
18:59That's true.
18:59But it kind of makes sense for those, right?
19:01Where you want to take those, you know, if you want to take them...
19:04I'm trying to say this without sounding...
19:06What am I trying to say?
19:10I don't know.
19:11You have a big ATV, six wheels, tons of torque, tons of traction, with a bed in the back.
19:16Like, that makes sense for any kind of farmer.
19:18Yeah, exactly.
19:20And 6x6s have been popular in commercial and military applications for years now.
19:27And they're extremely popular in places further north.
19:32Anyway, they've always been sort of like utility sort of rigs or whatever.
19:35But the real sort of headline with the 6x6 ones is the new...
19:44It's actually not a new model.
19:46The Can-Am Outlander Max 6x6 Backcountry.
19:51No, goddammit.
19:56Let's see here.
19:56So, they obviously have a 700 variant, which works off of a single-cylinder Rotax.
20:03And they've got the 850, which works off of a V-twin Rotax.
20:07The fun one is the Outlander Max 6x6 Backcountry 1000R.
20:13Now, obviously, 6x6s are all about work and utility and this and that and the other thing.
20:19You look at the side and it says 1000R.
20:21The R is in red.
20:23And no one tells you this.
20:25It's not in the product literature or anything.
20:26But this thing is an honest-to-God...
20:29And they're going to tell me on live.
20:31This thing is an honest-to-God sport 6x6.
20:34This thing is a lot of fun.
20:36So, it gets 101 horsepower.
20:38It gets 41 pounds of torque.
20:42Actually, that's not true.
20:43It gets 101 horsepower.
20:4569 feet of...
20:4669 feet pound of torque out of the Rotax V-twin 999cc engine.
20:51And it's got an auto-locking front differential.
20:55You can be in 4x6 or 6x6.
20:58And this thing, honestly, just rips.
21:02You have not dirt drifted until you've dirt drifted with a 6x6.
21:07And, you know, for someone...
21:08And I'm not going to lie.
21:09I have not spent a lot of time on 6x6s.
21:12To me, it was kind of a weird sort of freak category.
21:15You know, great for some people.
21:17Very useful.
21:18But not something that you would tool around in for fun.
21:21This thing was a blast.
21:25And, yeah.
21:26It's just instantly, like, responsive.
21:29Tons of torque.
21:30Like I said, that little red R right by the emblem tells you that...
21:34Even though no one's, like, saying this out loud...
21:36It is a really fun 6x6.
21:40Add to that, they did a bunch of stuff in the back.
21:42They put in a link locking system for adding, like, toolboxes, racks.
21:48They even had a proprietary jerry can for gas that was specially designed for it.
21:54You can fold...
21:54Kind of sounds like the perfect farm and rec-ute rig.
21:57Yeah, exactly.
21:58You can get available electric dump assist and everything.
22:02It was a lot of fun.
22:04And they even loaded one of them up with 1,000 pounds of Canadian timber in the back
22:08and had some guy go up, like, crazy hills.
22:11But the headline with the 6x6s is,
22:13It is a lot of fun.
22:14And, arguably, it is kind of a sport-ish 6x6 ATV.
22:22That's a bold statement, Anders.
22:23That is quite bold.
22:25You might get an email from Can-Am about that.
22:26I'm a bold kind of guy, so...
22:29But, yeah, we'll take it.
22:30And I'm glad you had fun on that, because I've been wondering about ATVs.
22:34I haven't been on an ATV launch, I don't think, ever.
22:37But we get ATVs here in the shop in Knoxville every once in a while,
22:40and I have an absolute blast with them.
22:42So, I'm very glad that you got to experience that.
22:46Plus, Wyoming, not a bad place to spend a few days.
22:49That's true.
22:50Jackson Hole was very beautiful.
22:52It's among America's classiest holes, I hear.
22:54So, it was very nice.
22:55Take that.
22:56Put that on a bumper sticker.
22:57Yeah, so, hey, so, speaking of all things kind of sporty and fun,
23:03did you hear about CFMoto and the Z-Force 10?
23:09Z-10?
23:10Oh, I did.
23:11The Z-Force 10 being delayed?
23:13We've been excited about this for a while,
23:15mainly just because we love CFMoto.
23:17We think they're doing great stuff.
23:20It's hard to find a better deal out there in power sports on really anything they sell.
23:25Their utility side-by-sides are great.
23:27Their sports side-by-sides are great.
23:28Their ATVs and motorcycles are great.
23:31And they were supposed to have something in their 2026 lineup that has been pushed back,
23:35and that is the 2026 CFMoto Z-Force Z-10.
23:40Now, they said that they'll push it back to mid-2026.
23:43Their engineers are basically just saying that it's not ready.
23:47Like, that's it.
23:48It's just not ready, which gives me a little bit of confidence in it.
23:53Let me close that thought for a second.
23:56Sure.
23:59So, yeah, it's a little bit disappointing to see that we're not getting it for another at least six or seven months.
24:04So, do you think this delay – I don't know.
24:08You know, when products get delayed, it can be a number of reasons.
24:11It can be engineering reasons.
24:12It can be marketing reasons.
24:14You got an opinion on what's going on?
24:17Yeah.
24:17So, the engineers actually said that it is for engineering reasons.
24:21They took it out for testing, for final testing, and it just did not live up to their standards.
24:27So, that's kind of where we're at with it, where they're still doing more testing.
24:31They're still doing more revisions to the final product to make sure that you're getting the best product available.
24:36And that's kind of huge when the – and that's huge when you're selling a side-by-side for $20,000.
24:43The MSRP on this thing is $19,999.
24:48That is unheard of.
24:50And for something with a three-cylinder engine that makes 143 horsepower with 100 pound-feet of torque, that's a killer deal.
24:57Like, you're getting into the Pro Series level.
25:01You're getting into the high-end Maverick R – I'm sorry – the high-end Maverick X3 level.
25:06So, I'm very excited for this thing.
25:09I'm very excited to get them into dealers, to get one in the shop, and to test it out at Winrock.
25:14I want to know what this thing is, and how does it compare?
25:18Because it has more horsepower than a Razer XP, more horsepower than a Maverick X3, and it looks like it might be a little bit better of a rig than both of those for less money.
25:30Yeah, you know, and we've harped on this before when we have our philosophical debates on all things UTV.
25:40But regardless of your feelings about CFMoto, whether you like them or not, whether you're a fan,
25:46the fact that one more performance-minded rig is entering the marketplace is a good thing, like we were talking about before.
25:53So, when there's horsepower wars, wars of any sort in the UTV industry, generally the consumer is the winner.
26:00Absolutely, especially with something this cheap, when, you know, you take into account tariffs,
26:05and you take into account how the economy is doing right now.
26:08Like, the market wants something cheap, and we saw that with the Polaris Ranger 500,
26:12the one that came out, what, got announced two weeks, two or three weeks ago?
26:18Sure.
26:18And it has an MSRP of just $10,000.
26:21So, you're seeing the market favor side-by-sides that are finally affordable.
26:26And we've been complaining about this for four or five years, about how side-by-sides now are just expensive.
26:33Like, bottom line, they're expensive.
26:35Yeah.
26:36For the Polaris Pro R, you're looking at, what, $40,000, $50,000?
26:41For the Maverick R, you're looking at about the same.
26:43Um, people want a sport rig that they don't have to spend, what, their entire salary on?
26:49Uh, so, so, looking at something like this, that is, like, actual used car price,
26:54like, if you have a little bit extra money in the bank and wanted a project car,
26:58why don't just spend it on this and have something you've wanted for a while,
27:02and something that'll be reliable?
27:03And, again, we've talked about this before, people are scared of it being Chinese-made.
27:09It's made in China and sent here.
27:10Um, is it actually made in China, or is it the parts just made in China?
27:15Yes, they are.
27:17Okay.
27:18Um, people are scared of stuff made in China.
27:21They're scared of quality control.
27:22They're scared of stuff breaking.
27:24But, I mean, people love them.
27:27People love CF Motos.
27:28Um, they say the quality's fine, and it comes with a one-year warranty,
27:32which is better than some side-by-side, or, sorry,
27:35better than some power sports manufacturers.
27:37Some of them only give you a three-month or a six-month.
27:39Uh, so that just gives me a little bit of confidence in CF Motos and in this rig.
27:45All the extra testing they're doing, the, the warranty, the, the, the, the buyer, sorry,
27:51the market consensus on how these rigs perform, it, it makes me excited for this thing.
27:57And I am a bit bummed that it's being pushed back because I wanted it now.
28:01But, uh, I'm fine with waiting about six or seven months for a better product.
28:06Yeah.
28:07And, you know, like you said, there's, with, with tariffs and, and a lot of economic uncertainties,
28:12uh, one great way to deal with that uncertainty is to go with, uh, a time, the timeless certainty
28:19of when something is at the right price point, people are going to buy.
28:23And, you know, I mean, that sounds like really simplistic, but in general,
28:26people are being a bit more careful with their money.
28:29Um, I think everyone in the power sports industry is concerned, at least, uh, kind of keeping
28:34a watchful eye on things and any, and so this kind of, this kind of trending towards like,
28:40a price war or anything is a good thing.
28:43And I think it's a way of kind of mitigating some of that uncertainty, um, you know.
28:47So I actually, I actually found a quote directly from one of their engineers.
28:50Um, they said, we subjected the Z10 to the most extreme conditions during the final stages
28:55of testing.
28:56While the vehicle performed admirably in almost every condition, it fell short of our high
29:00expectations in a couple of key aspects.
29:03Because of this, we've made the decision to delay production.
29:06So like we said, it's just engineering problem.
29:08It's just engineering problems.
29:10I wouldn't worry about it too much.
29:12Well, you know, there's one, the, the biggest, uh, engineering test, uh, of all, uh, has,
29:20they've, they've yet to, to, to test that.
29:22And that's the American marketplace.
29:23So that is the biggest.
29:25Absolutely.
29:25Uh, so we'll find out, but a $20,000, uh, a $20,000 rig with 143 horsepower, uh, to
29:33me, sounds like a winner, uh, regardless of, uh, your feelings about.
29:37Yeah.
29:38And CFMoto, if you're listening, send us one.
29:41It'd be great.
29:42We do content.
29:43We would absolutely love to impartially test your extremely fast and inexpensive and
29:47fun rig.
29:48All right.
29:50So speaking of, of cheap things, not cheap, but budget things, we recently did a pretty
29:55cool video.
29:56That's out on YouTube for right now, and it is, uh, testing two different razors, a cheap
30:02versus expensive razor.
30:03Uh, we had the 2025 Polaris razor XP4 1000 ultimate and the 2025 Polaris razor pro R4 ultimate.
30:13Kind of like, you know, the, the XP, the XP 1000 is kind of the first side-by-side you
30:19buy.
30:19You know, it's got 114 horsepower.
30:21It's very tame.
30:22It's a sport side by, it's the Everman side-by-side, right?
30:25You can take it anywhere.
30:26You can take it to the desert.
30:27You can take it rock crawling.
30:28You can take it down mud holes.
30:29Um, and the pro R is kind of the opposite of that.
30:32It's only for people who have $50,000 spent on a side-by-side and know exactly what they
30:38want.
30:38So, uh, what were your, your first thoughts about, about the, what's, what'd you drive
30:43first?
30:44The XP, XP 1000?
30:45Oh, I took the, uh, I took the people's, uh, UTV, the, uh, relatively inexpensive and,
30:51uh, lesser powered, um, XP 1000 ultimate.
30:54Uh, we should remember they both have ultimate in, uh, their nomenclature.
30:59They do.
30:59It is the top, the top spec for each model.
31:02So it is the top.
31:03It was a fair comparison.
31:04It wasn't the bottom spec and one and the top spec of the other.
31:07It was a fair comparison.
31:08It was a fair comparison.
31:09Um, you know, it was really kind of like the comparison was really not about the rigs.
31:14It was really more about you, the driver, the end user, which one is right for you.
31:19And I really, I've, I've always really dug the XP 1000 platform.
31:23I especially love the XP for 1000 because I love four series.
31:28I thought it was, I thought it was great.
31:29You know, it, it, it never disappoints.
31:32Uh, the problem was that right afterwards I drove the Pro R.
31:38That's where the problems began.
31:40See, that's where, that's where my argument was going to start is that you like an XP
31:45until you get into a Pro R because the Pro R is just that damn good.
31:49Uh, it just ruins you.
31:51Uh, and then it just starts making you think like crazy thoughts, like $20,000 isn't that
31:56much.
31:57Like over time.
31:58Let's, let's reiterate on that.
32:00There is a $20,000 difference between those two rigs.
32:04We put it in, we put it into perspective and our local off-road park, Winrock Park sells
32:10annual passes for about 150 bucks.
32:14Uh, you can buy about 15 years of Winrock passes.
32:19We actually did the math and that $20,000 at our local, at our local off-road park comes
32:25out to about 133 years of passes.
32:30Uh, that's, or like you said, 133 friends.
32:33You can get 133 of your buddies and that would be the same difference of these two side-by-sides.
32:38And that's just kind of insane to me.
32:40And, uh, to me, I'm going to be honest, the power of the Pro R is worth it.
32:48You can, you can criticize me all you want, but the power of the Pro R is worth that 20
32:53grand.
32:53I mean, it's 225 horsepower.
32:56And if you go back and watch the video, you can see a moment where it's this big straight
33:00away in Winrock and I just mat it, just put my foot to the floor.
33:04And the feeling of that, of the, the, you know, getting pushed back against the seats
33:09just from the power, the wind in your face, you're going to feel yourself going fast.
33:13It feels like you're going fast.
33:16And, uh, that's worth, that's worth 20 grand to me.
33:19Not to mention the suspension.
33:21The suspension is pretty crazy because the XP 1000 only uses Walker Evans needlepoint
33:27shocks where the Pro R uses Fox live valve connected to the dynamics active suspension,
33:34which means you're not getting out.
33:36You're not changing the little knobs on your suspension.
33:39It's the little computers, the little wizards inside your shocks doing all the work.
33:43It's like you said earlier, it samples the terrain at over a hundred, 200 times a second,
33:47and then makes adjustments to your suspension automatically based on those readings.
33:52Um, and it's, it's pretty amazing.
33:54Like you can, you can take it around a corner at speed and be confident in your suspension
33:59to take that blow for you.
34:00And it's, it's like, I've got the perfect reference.
34:03So we don't get into religious material here.
34:05Uh, but it's like the deity or, um, spiritual being of your choice, effortlessly floating
34:11across a difficult or impossible to, to traverse surface.
34:16It's floating on water, whatever you want to call it, the active shocks was just like what
34:21you were experiencing seemed to bear little relation to what you were actually going through
34:25over.
34:25And it was incredible.
34:26Yeah.
34:26You don't really have to do anything.
34:29You can kind of just drive it how you want to drive it.
34:32And, uh, that's, that's worth the 20 grand to me.
34:35It's, it's hard to make that when, when we just talked about the Z10, which is 20 grand,
34:40you can buy a whole Z10 for the difference between these two rigs.
34:43That's the solution right there.
34:46We've discovered it.
34:47Aha.
34:48But, uh, but to me, it's worth it.
34:50I mean, I love, I love a pro R.
34:52I love big wide open rigs.
34:54I love a turbo R.
34:55I love a Maverick R.
34:56And, uh, to me it's, it's worth it.
34:59I, I love those rigs.
35:00And I think that Polaris is doing a great job with both of them.
35:03Again, both of them are missing in the 2026 lineup.
35:07So who knows if they're coming back or not?
35:10We heard rumors that there was going to be an announcement at the Sandsport Super Show.
35:13That was last week.
35:14That didn't happen.
35:16Uh, so who knows, who knows what Polaris has in store for the rig?
35:19Who knows indeed.
35:21Yeah.
35:21I, I, I love the pro R.
35:23Um, but you know what?
35:25Uh, I get paid to ride and very hellaciously expensive rigs that I myself probably would
35:32not lay out the money for.
35:33And honestly, the XP4 1000, the standard, even though it's ultimate, um, I gotta say that
35:40was kind of my pick.
35:40And I, I think it's because I'm, I'm sort of a, I'm sort of like a people's person, a
35:45person of the people, uh, not in a communistic way.
35:48Uh, what I'm saying is that for that amount of money and price, you can literally just
35:52haul more people, more people can drive it, can enjoy it, can experience it.
35:57Then with the pro R and honestly, more people, uh, doing, doing our thing, enjoying UTVs,
36:04enjoying side-by-sides and getting out there and tearing stuff up is a good thing.
36:08So honestly, the pro R was a lot of fun, but I have to go with the people's rig.
36:13That's, uh, not actually in the product literature, people.
36:16Uh, so again, I think, again, I think the thesis of that entire video was that just
36:21like, you can't really go wrong with either one of them.
36:24Um, so, so I, I think that's your answer.
36:27Go with the one that you'd like.
36:28If you have 40, 50 grand to spend on a pro R and you, you are going to take it out
36:32to Glamis or out to Utah or wherever you want to take it to, go for it.
36:36If you're out here in the woods and the sticks like us, and you just need something to ride
36:40on the weekends with your buddies, the XP4 1000 might be for you.
36:44Um, but yeah, it, it really just depends, you know, check out our buyer's guides, check
36:49out anything on the internet you can find.
36:51We have reviews on both of those rigs on our YouTube.
36:54You can get off, click off this video and go watch reviews on both of those rigs right
36:58now.
36:59Um, but you know, it's, it's up to you.
37:02I think they're both good rigs, razors.
37:04You can't really go wrong with the any razor besides maybe the trail S, but we won't
37:08get into that.
37:10Uh, but you know, I think, I think it's fine.
37:13I think pick the one that you like and go with it.
37:16As long as you don't, uh, you know, so, uh, as long as you don't do what Ferrari owners
37:22do, which is buy a pro R and then just park it, uh, you know, in your sort of UTV museum
37:28and never ride it or enjoy it, you know, but, uh, sorry, that probably never happens.
37:33Actually.
37:35Uh, you would be surprised.
37:37What?
37:38Are you serious?
37:38Are there people that actually have like, there are people like that in every sort of
37:43car culture.
37:44And yes, I'm considering UTVs car culture.
37:46Uh, yeah.
37:47There are people who will buy a thing and just stare at it.
37:50Uh, I'm skeptical of your claim, man.
37:53I, I think we're there, there's half of the earth.
37:55We're not like, this isn't Ferris Bueller's day off, man.
37:58I don't think we're like that, but listen, I had a culture shock when I bought my Miata
38:03and I got on the Miata forums and there are people who put less than 2000 miles a year
38:07on their cars.
38:09That's tragic.
38:10I just put 6,000 miles on it in a week.
38:14Yeah, no, it's, uh, well, you know, you know, you and me and everybody watching this
38:19were enthusiasts.
38:20So, you know, I guess.
38:22Oh, he's saying that people who don't, who keep things in their, in their basement aren't
38:26enthusiasts.
38:27That's both play monitors.
38:28There's enthusiasts and then there's collectors.
38:30Guys, you can quote him on that.
38:31The world needs both.
38:33Okay.
38:33The world needs, well, actually that's not true.
38:35The world needs a lot more enthusiasts.
38:37The world only needs a few collectors.
38:40Uh, yeah.
38:40I mean, if we didn't have rich people buying these cars just to look at them, a lot of these
38:44companies wouldn't have the, the, the, the funds to build these things.
38:47So, you know, give or take, whatever.
38:49I guess I'll accept it.
38:51In conclusion, we love everybody.
38:53Yeah.
38:54And nobody should have any complaints with us whatsoever.
38:57And you should give our, our podcast five stars.
39:00You should absolutely give it five stars.
39:01You should subscribe.
39:03Anyway, thank you guys so much for watching.
39:05This has been the UTV driver podcast.
39:06I am content editor, Jackson Cooper.
39:08That is editor Anders Carlson.
39:10We will see you next time.
39:11But in the meantime, go down below, give us a like, give us a comment.
39:14If you feel like it, tell us what we said, right.
39:16Tell us what we said wrong.
39:17Uh, when you're done doing that, head over to utvdriver.com where we have news reviews
39:22and buyer's guides five days a week and all, and on all of our socials.
39:27So we're on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
39:30We will see you there.
39:31We'll see you there.
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