UTV SHOOTOUT: Maverick R vs Teryx H2

UTV Driver

https://dirthammer.com/ is the best place online to buy and sell side-by-sides! No more Facebook Marketplace weirdos, no more “is this available,” no more sketchy parking lot meetups. Just buying and selling side-by-sides, simplified. Check out www.dirthammer.com for your next side-by-side purchase!  HEAD TO HEAD: the two most POWERFUL side-by-sides in the world. The last time we did this, we put a Can-Am Maverick R against and Polaris Pro R, and the Pro R came out on top. But now there’s a new challenger: the 2026 Kawasaki Teryx H2. Is 250 ponies enough to claim the Maverick R’s title?  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

Transcript

00:01oh why did i do that my passenger is not happy with me right now behind us are the two

00:06fastest

00:06production side-by-sides in the world and we're pitting them against each other the last time we

00:10did this we put a 2024 polaris pro r against a 2024 maverick r and the maverick r came out

00:16on top

00:16at the time those were the biggest baddest rigs on the market but now we have a new challenger

00:21the 2026 kawasaki terex 5 h2 with 250 freaking horsepower from a supercharged inline-four engine

00:28the h2 is undoubtedly indisputably the king of the hill in terms of power but is power king does all

00:35that power matter do all those ponies make for a better rig today we are going to find out we

00:39are

00:40going to thrash and abuse and make questionable decisions within reason with both of these rigs

00:45a debuting in 2024 the maverick r was can-am's answer to the pro r this thing makes more horsepower

00:51per

00:51cylinder than a lamborghini aventador aventador lamborghini aventador regardless that engine

00:57gets mated to a dual clutch transmission which for these days is as close to a manual as we're

01:01going to get now i don't know about you but i like being fully in control of all those ponies

01:05uh

01:05unlike say a cvt the suspension features a tall knuckle design that lowers the roll center which

01:10in turn reduces the chance of a rollover add in fox live valve and 32 inch tires and you've got

01:15a rig

01:16that's ready to take on the king of the hammers the maverick r was a horsepower king for a total

01:19of

01:20two years until the kawasaki h2 came out the kawasaki terex h2 the first supercharged production

01:26utv in history piggybacking on engineering design and spirit from the legendary h2 sport bike it's

01:32an exercise in marketing and imagination deliberately tuned to win the horsepower wars with 250 horsepower

01:38it's power for power's sake like that's a bad thing it's about killing a fleet with a nuclear

01:43powered hammer does anyone actually need a supercharger probably not but the idea of additional

01:48power coming directly from the crank instead of the exhaust manifold is a fine idea turbochargers

01:53are great for the dunes and high rpm situations but superchargers give you power down low where

01:58you actually need it on these tight east coast trails the terex h2 doesn't share exact specs with

02:03its motorcycle siblings engine but there's no doubt that the bike's development made this terex possible

02:08in other words kawasaki did it because they could which is one of the better reasons to do anything so

02:13which one's better and which one's right for you we're at winter rock park in oliver springs tennessee to

02:17lay down some miles and find out this week's sponsor is dirthammer.com do you love looking at

02:21rigs on facebook marketplace or craigslist heck yes you do do you love selling or buying rigs there

02:25heck no you don't buy or sell your buggy or four-wheeler with dirt hammer the only auction site in

02:31america dedicated to the off-road vehicles that we love you get high quality photos and videos and

02:36listings written by industry experts you'll never get is this still available messages from some yahoo

02:41because dirt hammer works with verified buyers and sellers with all listings written by dirt

02:46hammer's team of expert appraisers race ricks crawlers recutes utility you name it dirt hammer

02:52selling it head over to dirt hammer.com to sign up to bid or just hang out and be a

02:56looky lou thank

02:56you so much to dirt hammer for sponsoring this video now back to the action now let's get into how

03:01this

03:01works we're not going to get into points or scoring or anything having to add up stuff who's got time

03:06for

03:06math instead we'll be judging these rigs on three categories first up is power because duh that's one

03:12of the reasons we decided to do this both are fire breathing rigs at the top of their game they

03:16both

03:16sound great but how does that power feel how does it come on power is just more than a number

03:21and

03:21we're going to get into how these rigs actually put it onto the ground second of all capability with

03:25all those ponies at your right foot how did the chassis and suspension feel is the tall knuckle suspension

03:30design really superior or is the tried and true double a arm the way to go we'll be testing these

03:34rigs to go over obstacles and see how the chassis feels when you're not just blasting through a dirt

03:38road lastly comfort both of these rigs are made for parties of four and in the case of the h2

03:43five it's one thing to cram people in a side by side and floor it it's another to actually enjoy

03:48the

03:48ride what's it like for your fellow human beings inside and could you actually spend all day with

03:52your butt planted on the seat those are our three categories but before we get on the trail let's take

03:57a closer look at these first up the mavar this thing feels like a rocket ship and it drives like

04:01one too

04:02the massive center screen shows you everything you need to know about your rig right in front of you

04:06is a steering wheel and behind that are paddle shifters that let you control the dct you can keep

04:10that transmission in auto mode or shift it to manual and do your best max verstappen impression

04:14this thing won a ton of races in its first eligible year in basically stock form and with smart shocks

04:19and fox live valve it'll make you feel like a pro now the challenger the 2026 kawasaki terex h2

04:25this one's actually a terex 5 this rig shocked the market when it debuted with an incredible 250 horsepower

04:32999 cc supercharged four banger wait did you just say supercharged that's right and it's the first of

04:37its kind instead of using exhaust gases to spin up a turbo the supercharger is attached directly to the

04:42crankshaft offering almost instant boost now i can't help but notice but this rig feels a little

04:47nicer than the mavar yeah i'm getting that too the seats are nice and plush the steering wheel feels

04:52good in your hands and the visibility is much better than the mavar also there are far less sharp plastics

04:57to

04:57cut your hands on this rig feels like it rolled off of an automotive line not like something that's

05:01meant to blast through the desert also the integrated garmin infotainment center is much

05:05better than the mavar's it looks like it was all designed all at once instead of just added on over

05:10time well it looks like we have an early lead in the comfort category all right enough talking let's

05:15get these things on the trail all right so i am starting with the kawasaki h2 and andres is starting

05:20in the mavar we have two different perspectives on this because i have driven both of these and andres has

05:25driven neither of them right uh listen in my head i won the car with this thing it was a

05:29fabulous dream

05:30but i've never actually spent any real seat time in here so i am excited to get in this green

05:35monster

05:35and i also have not been in the mav either so this is kind of like i don't want to

05:41say newbie because

05:42i'm not a newbie but first impressions i'm kind of a newbie here we are off oh my lord i

05:49missed this

05:49thing dude i actually tested this rig back in the summer in the desert i could not get enough of

05:55it dude i

05:56feel like i'm in my car right now like these seats are some of the most comfortable i've ever been

06:02in

06:02in a side-by-side i'm gonna give you a fit and finish on the h2 however we are on

06:06rough and tumble

06:07trails and i feel like a little rough and tumble uh fit and finish maybe that's just synergy i don't

06:13know you know the mavar feels like a race car if you want to feel that feeling of like dale

06:18earnhardt

06:18going past the finish line uh the mavar is your girl the seating position and the way you just step

06:24into

06:24it instead of actually like you know getting into it like a normal car like you have to lower your

06:30body to get into it and that just gives you that race car feeling and it gives you the feeling

06:34of

06:34speed where the h2 um it looks and feels like a uh an old perex you know i will say

06:42obviously the

06:42seating and the interior are all better basically the mavar feels racier to be in now this is kind of

06:49interesting now there is a bit of lag on these barrier foots there's just that kind of like

06:55little lag and it takes about a thousand or two rpm to like really kind of like wind up now

07:01that's

07:01kind of part of the fun uh sort of like on open like kind of crazy trails like this but

07:06it's gonna

07:06be really interesting to see what the h2 does in terms of like supercharger power working right off

07:11the crank and all that that was a lot of fun and you know this is kind of an aside

07:15i gotta tell you

07:16the tennessee mud tastes particularly nice there's kind of a little tartness a little tungsten a little

07:21lime kind of a little brimstone it's very tasty all right so the taste of mud aside how did you

07:26like

07:26the mavar i love the mavar i love the fox live valve shocks it's so great in fact they're almost

07:31too great because you don't really get a sense of like what you're going over you just kind of hover

07:35over everything i'm not going to make a religious joke about you know like walking on water whatever

07:39but you kind of just sort of go over everything you don't get a lot of feedback but as soon

07:43as you

07:43start learning to trust it and what it's doing and what it's putting you through just hit the

07:47throttle and just go it's great what did you think of the green beast everything you said about the

07:51mavar it being low to the ground you're not having to think about anything that's kind of not what

07:55i'm getting out of the h2 oh yeah i'm getting a classic side-by-side feeling out of the h2

07:59i've

08:00tested other terraxes i've tested x3s i've tested razors and they all feel like this the double a arm

08:06suspension it feels like the rigs that i've been driving for the past four years you know it's a little

08:10bit

08:10more upright so you're kind of rocking a little bit more stuff out of that which is what i really

08:15like about it in the mavar you're down low you're in the cockpit in this you're you feel like you're

08:20sitting on top of it that helps even more because the interior is actually nice to spend time in you

08:26know we've tested the expedition and the r max and all that and you get those nice bolstered seats

08:30and that's what you get in this you get nice padding under your butt and it feels nice to actually

08:35spend time in which is not something you can really say about the mavar at least in my experience driving

08:40it

08:40i love this thing i love the turbo i love the triple there is a bit of lag however the

08:44next

08:45round that we're going to do i think what you said that there is what is it called with sport

08:48plus

08:48mode there's anti-lag i just noticed when we parked here that i did not have that on we're going

08:53to do

08:53a couple more rips around here and we're going to see if that makes a difference it's not really a

08:56big

08:56deal if you know where the sweet spot is as far as like where the power is you can kind

09:00of keep yourself

09:01there all the time honestly you stay in second and third most of the time you're good to go you

09:05don't

09:05really have to sit and like fiddle a lot with the paddle shifters and what do you think of the

09:08green beast

09:09i adore the power you know we were coming down this mountain this trail that we just got off of

09:14there was one straight away and i think i came into it doing 25 maybe 30 miles an hour maybe

09:18a

09:19quarter mile long floored it and by the end of that quarter mile i was going 70. so it is

09:24the

09:24acceleration of the supercharger and not having to wait on that turbo lag is phenomenal would you

09:29say it's game-changing i absolutely think it's game-changing i think a supercharger has been well

09:34overdue for a side-by-side well there you have it there you have it jackson cooper reporting for utb

09:38driver

09:38we're going to get back into these we're going to swap rigs i'm going to try out the mavar

09:41andres is going to get in the h2 and we will report back at the top of the mountain let's

09:45do it

09:50i was wondering why i wasn't going any faster is because i was in manual again i was like why

09:55are you going out of first gear that's a mud hole we're not going through that

10:03i'm gonna be honest manual mode is kind of annoying i'm not used to it

10:06all right let's see what we can do about this mud hole

10:11so onders was kind of right i'm not really thinking about what i'm going over right now

10:15i'm kind of just going um obviously i'm slowing down when it comes to these mud holes but uh

10:21yeah the the mavar just kind of like eats up whatever is in front of it i didn't bring a

10:26change of clothes i know that how the mavar is notorious for covering you in mud no matter

10:31how deep or how fast you go through a mud hole and another thing i will note about it is

10:36that

10:36it's a five seater which means it's a family rig four seaters are becoming ever more popular

10:41like that's what what families are buying

10:48screwed myself there

10:52i've got a lot of mud on my visor that's all right it's gonna have to deal with a oh

10:58oh my

11:00why did i do that my passenger is not happy with me right now i will say i think i

11:06like the turbo the

11:07sound of the turbo a little more than the sound of the supercharger you know what this is so classic

11:12but it's so easy right here look at this that is an emergency brake on off it is so much

11:19easier now

11:20there's really nothing wrong with the mavar the button and all that but buttons buttons are dodgy

11:25buttons stop working sometimes but the interiors of rigs lead really really really tough lives like

11:32the interior of a rig is literally as inhospitable an environment as the outside we hose these things

11:39off with high pressure hoses so all that moisture over time is going to get into like little

11:44crevices wiring and stuff like that so to me and this is such a minor thing but man i just

11:50love a

11:50lever that just clicks i gotta say the brakes on this h2 are really sorted these are some of the

11:56best

11:56brakes i've ever actually tested really responsive no bushiness like these honestly these are like

12:03these brakes get a chef's kiss yeah so going up those trails i feel that the pavagar

12:08is a lot more stable around the corners you feel planted it doesn't feel like it's going to uh to

12:15do anything you don't want it to do all right all right so how was that extra 10 horsepower if

12:22you

12:22told me that it was 50 i would believe you it's just so much more tractable and usable and it's

12:27right

12:27there on command like you don't even have to ask all you do is think and it's right there oh

12:31and i had

12:32it on full in all sorts of technical stuff but if you know what you're doing and i'm not saying

12:36that i do

12:37what's really great is you can just scooch the rear end out like at will you can use that power

12:41and

12:42just like little tiny bursts to get over anything and i felt like there's just no lag like i just

12:46thought and then it happened oh yeah as we were coming up with the mavr i wanted that power as

12:51we

12:51were going through mud holes or around corners i wanted to press down on the gas pedal and just take

12:57me through a corner the turbo lag uh did not do that obviously the anti-lag was a little bit

13:02better but

13:02you still get that like grinding noise from the engine in there because it actually turns off a

13:07cylinder to do that until it spins up and then when the turbo is fully spun up it it does

13:12full power

13:13you get kind of annoying noise in the back and it doesn't sound too great for the engine obviously it

13:18doesn't matter but still that instant power with the supercharger you don't need a specific mode for

13:23it it just does it because mechanically that's what it does i gotta say cvt like it or not this

13:29thing is

13:29dialed in it's really wonderful the gear ratios and everything honestly i couldn't think of really

13:35no notes as far as the cvd the transmission and the power delivery and all that so i did notice

13:40one

13:40thing i'm really i'm really proud of you i think you went through way more mud holes this time than

13:45in past time i don't think i went through it more i just think i hit two very very hard

13:50um as you can

13:51tell by uh how i look i i went through a few mud holes and that's something to say with

13:57the fenders

13:57of this obviously because you have this tall knuckle suspension you don't really get fenders

14:02so these tires are just throwing mud on you where when i was in the h2 it didn't really matter

14:07because

14:08these tires are behind these fenders most of the mud that's coming off these tires are going to get

14:13blocked by these fenders and that's just not the same with the mavr and obviously we're off-roading

14:18it doesn't matter if would you trust a mechanic who wasn't dirty i don't think so i don't think so

14:22and

14:22i wouldn't trust an off-road or it wasn't dirty either so here's my notes for the h2 i i

14:26felt it

14:26was way more softly sprung but i was felt like i was getting feedback from it and it was a

14:31lot of

14:31wallow and everything but i like that because i like knowing what i've hit what i'm going over so

14:36what sort of feedback i'm going to disagree with your first point when you first got out of the maverick

14:40r and it could be because we were on different kinds of terrain as we were coming up when you

14:44were

14:44driving the mavr we were on semi-flat terrain when i was driving it we were going over tons of

14:49rock

14:49gardens and through mud holes i felt almost everything i went over the h2 when i would go

14:55over an obstacle it was very plush i almost liked it because it it felt like getting hit by a

15:00pillow

15:01where this kind of feels like getting hit by a lead pipe where when you go over something it's very

15:05sudden and it sends a shock through your body well mr cooper you're making me rethink my driver's notes

15:10you know what we're gonna have to do we're gonna have to switch rigs again i'm sorry just to be

15:14thorough

15:14i don't want to do this but i i might just have to take another turn in the mavr and

15:18see if my

15:19notes hold up oh no how awful how awful god it's so hard being a power sports journalist but i

15:24think

15:25with our notes right now i think we can declare a winner don't you think one two the h2 yeah

15:31god

15:31it's the h2 i hate agreeing with you the whole point is to like disagree and everything but i i

15:36feel you

15:36man so the h2 has its problems um mainly of which i do like the tall nuggle suspension better i

15:42feel like

15:42it's more stable through the corners on almost every other point i think it's the h2 i think

15:48it wins all three of our categories it has the power and it delivers that power well it has the

15:53capability the suspension is just better than the mavrs it has the fox live valve 3.0s instead of the

15:592.5s it's literally a new generation of fox live valve and in comfort i think it's a dog walk

16:05you know

16:06what i'm gonna throw all the specs out the window and just say i just felt like i had more

16:10fun in this

16:11thing i felt like if you took a you know a pro driver if you took brock hager kyle chaney

16:16whoever

16:16and put them in the rig you know what they might actually make better time with that thing i had

16:20more fun in this thing i don't know if it's actually faster it felt faster and it felt more fun

16:25and it

16:26felt like i could use the power whenever i wanted to it's the same thing that we've been reiterating

16:30this is a side-by-side and this is a race car and obviously pick the rig that you like

16:34if all of your

16:35friends are outing in can-ams then go with a can-am if all of your friends are getting kawasaki's

16:39get a

16:40kawasaki ultimately it's not really a case of the right rig it's a case of the right rig for you

16:45yeah as always this is meant for someone who really knows what they're doing someone who's experienced

16:49seasoned this thing forgives a lot of mistakes yes yeah it's just so friendly and i think at the

16:56end of the day both of these rigs do that and again it's we say all the time certain comparing

17:01certain rigs are like apples and oranges i don't think that's the case i think it's like

17:05out oranges and tangerines in this case where they're almost exactly the same thing it just

17:10really depends on what you prefer but this thing is so much fun and the actual user experience of

17:14just hearing the chirping in the back to me it was like having the three stooges behind me it was

17:18like

17:19and i love that i don't know about an entire day an entire day gets a lot which is kind

17:23of why i like

17:24this and the turbo in it because the turbo only reacts when you do something where the supercharger

17:29it's going all the time thank you so much for dirt hammer for sponsoring this video i cannot say how

17:34much fun we've had thank you so much for watching this has been utv driver if you like this video

17:38go down below hit like hit subscribe comment if you feel like it tell us what we got wrong tell

17:43us

17:43what we got right and then head over to utvdriver.com where we have news reviews and buyer's guides five

17:48days a week and when you're done doing that head over to our socials we're on instagram facebook

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17:58welcome america

17:59you're welcome

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