Is this the BEST Utility Side-by-Side?

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!  The Polaris Ranger XD 1500 has been killin' it on the farm for two years now. When we first reviewed it back in 2024, we said that not only was it the best utility side-by-side in the world, but the best side-by-side PERIOD. But how does it hold up in 2026? Is it still the same beast that we fell in love with two years ago? To find out, we took it mudding. But that was last month's video. While we were mudding, we put together five things we love and five things we hate about the 2026 Polaris Ranger XD 1500 Northstar Edition.  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

00:00There are two major conversations happening in America right now in the year of our Lord,

00:042026. One is that new car prices are, on average, $50,000. Another conversation people have is that

00:10side-by-sides are getting really expensive. This rig right behind me starts at $50,999. Is it worth

00:17it? We're going to talk about five things we love and five things we hate about the Polaris Ranger

00:22XD1500 North Star Ultimate. Let's get into the number one thing that we love about the Polaris

00:26Ranger XD1500 North Star Ultimate, and that is the HVAC and the enclosed cab. Now, obviously,

00:32the reason that this thing hits the price point in the MSRP it does is because it's got windows and

00:37doors, and they're all sealed, and there is an AC unit in here to keep you cold or warm. We

00:43love

00:43the fact that you get a real glass windshield and real glass windows with power windows. Fancy,

00:47fancy, right? And you get these deluxe seats. These seats are fantastic, among the best we've

00:52ever tested. These things are going to hug your hiney no matter what you're doing, out on the trail

00:55or on the farm or out hunting or whatever it is that you plan on doing with your Ranger XD1500.

01:01Overall, the fit and finish of this interior is just fantastic. And if you're wondering,

01:05is a $50,000 rig worth it? Spend a couple hours in this cab, and it's a powerful argument for

01:09it.

01:09The number two thing that we love about the Polaris XD1500 North Star Ultimate is the cargo bed. Now,

01:15one of the first things is that this has a payload capacity of 650 pounds, but you also get 3

01:20,500

01:20pounds towing, which is also extremely impressive. Industry standard is generally around 600 to 1,000

01:26pounds, 600 in California. So 1,650 pounds is that extra sort of push, the kind of thing that you

01:31would

01:31expect with a $50,000 rig. And one of the other things that we love about this cargo bed are

01:36these

01:36tie-down points right here. Other systems, other proprietary systems like the Link system that

01:40Can-Am uses are great, smartly designed. But look at this. This is a giant, huge anchor point. You can

01:47put

01:47anything with a hook. You can have 50-year-old bungees. You can have tie-downs, anything. It's

01:52really nice that it's general, and it's simple. And also, as well, you get four bucket holders. Yes,

01:57these are sort of anchor points for five-gallon buckets. Extremely handy for whatever you're towing

02:03or hauling around the farm or on the trail. I don't know this for sure. However, this looks like a

02:08cup holder, and that's kind of boss. And this is not breaking news. This isn't anything radical or

02:12revolutionary, but the fact that it's got a measuring tape on the bed is kind of nice. And

02:17lastly, we have an electronically-assisted hydraulic dump bed. So when you have filled

02:21the back of your XD with 1,500 pounds of whatever it is that you're hauling, all you've got to

02:24do

02:25is press a button, and away it goes. The number three thing that we love about the Polaris Ranger

02:29XD-1500 North Star Ultimate is the engine and drivetrain. We've got a 1,498 cc dual overhead cam

02:36liquid-cooled triple-cylinder motor in there that puts out 110 ponies. And as befitting any kind

02:42of like RecU to this size, there is no turbo or anything else. There is just naturally aspirated

02:46power when you need it available at your right foot. And what's even better than that is that

02:50it's made it to a CVT with a steel belt. Now that steel belt makes a huge difference. It is

02:55probably good

02:56for the lifetime of this machine. It's one more reason that the Polaris Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate

03:01is about as bulletproof as you can get. Befitting something that costs $50,000, the throttle response is

03:07just fantastic. There's no lag, no delay. It's smooth. It's almost like being in a car. That

03:12triple combined with throttle by wire means that this is one of these smoothest rigs we've ever

03:16tested. And the number four thing we love about the Polaris Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate is

03:21the shifter. On some Polaris models, we complain endlessly about what content editor Jackson Cooper

03:26calls a bucket full of wrenches. Now we're going to turn this thing on. I'm going to show you how

03:30smooth

03:31this thing is. Oh, did you hear that? That's like a click. This thing is still super slick, super nice,

03:37and you can tell exactly where you are. This is a very nice slick sort of unit. And we do

03:43actually

03:43like the fact that once you turn it off, you can't move it around. How many times have we gotten

03:49into a

03:50rig? We've got it in high or low, and we just stop and park it. And obviously these things don't

03:54come

03:54with emergency brakes or whatever. This is a nice fail-safe feature. The number five thing that we love

03:59about the Polaris Ranger XD-1500 Ultimate are the specs and numbers. TLDR of this is that all of

04:06those numbers help justify the other number that we were talking about before. $50,000 is a lot for

04:11a rig. However, all of these specs, honestly, give you your money's worth if you've got $50,000. We

04:16already talked about the 650 pounds of payload in the back, which is beyond respectable, and you get

04:213,500 pounds of towing capacity, which is above and beyond what most four-door cab models get. Add to

04:26that, you get 15 inches of ground clearance, which is one more than the Defender Max. And in back in

04:31the bed, which we already talked about, you get really nice things like the lock and ride system,

04:35which means that you can customize the bed to do all the things that you want to do with Polaris

04:40products, of course. And last but not least, it gets a 6,000-pound winch. Yes, you heard that

04:45correctly. I had to actually look that up and make sure that it wasn't a typo. They give you this

04:49really awesome key fob to use with the winch so that you can stand outside remotely and operate it,

04:53or you can use the classic switch here on the dash. However, I have to say,

04:57it's a lot cooler using the little fob here. All right, it's intermission time, kids. Like what

05:01you've seen so far? Like and subscribe. Crush that button down below. Oh, hold on. Shut up for a

05:06second, Anders. Do you want to win this side-by-side? Good news, you can, and it's completely free to

05:11enter. Our sponsor, DirtHammer.com, is giving away this 2023 Polaris Razor XP-1000. But it doesn't stop

05:18there because the guys at DirtHammer are going to be putting some killer mods on this thing. We're

05:23talking a new roll cage. We're talking bigger tires, suspension parts, the whole nine yards.

05:28And they're going to document the entire thing on their YouTube channel so that you can keep up with

05:33the build. All you have to do to enter is to make an account on their website. It's just an

05:37email,

05:37name, and general location. Want a better chance at winning? You get extra entries for spending money

05:42on their merch shop, making bids on live auctions, submitting listings, and even winning auctions.

05:47So head over to DirtHammer to get bidding. You could be the winner of a sparkly new Razor.

05:52Thank you so much to DirtHammer for sponsoring this video. Now, take it away, Anders.

05:55So that was five things we love. Now, we're going to talk about everybody's favorite,

05:58the five things we hate about the Polaris Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate. So the number one thing

06:04that we don't like, that we hate even, are the seatbelts. Now, these are inertia wheel seatbelts,

06:09which is very common in rec utes and so forth. But they don't seem to catch when you're out on

06:15the

06:15trails. Now, for farming and other sort of like work-related stuff, tasks and other stuff like

06:20that, it's probably not a big deal. But this is a $50,000 rig, and it is a lot of

06:25fun out on the

06:26trails and mud holes. And we noticed that when we were out at Windrock, that it wasn't kind of

06:30catching us in certain situations. Like, we even tried a couple of brake checks, and we couldn't get

06:34the seatbelts to really catch. Kind of not really confidence-inspiring. I'm sure that if we had some

06:39sort of incident or anything else, they might have worked just fine. However, it's one thing that we

06:44did kind of notice. That said, I don't spend a lot of time in the back seats of side-by

06:48-sides,

06:49and I have to say, this is really plush. There's even lumbar support. Okay, anyway, now back to the

06:53hate. And the number two thing that we hate about the Polaris Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate

06:58is the lack of a 10.4-inch TFT. When we were spending time in the Pro-R, we loved

07:04the big,

07:05giant, huge vertical screen. It allowed us to see whatever we were playing, calls we were getting,

07:10texts, alongside the Polaris Ride Command navigation system. Having a big, giant TFT would give us that

07:15split-screen capability, and it would just be that little extra thing that just kind of puts it

07:18a little bit over the hump, you know? Now, the number three thing that we hate about the Polaris

07:23Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate is the size. This thing sits at 164 inches, and that is 13.6

07:32feet.

07:32That is a lot of rig. One of the problems that we're having with it is that it doesn't fit

07:36on

07:36either of our 12-foot ramp techs. Our longest trailer is a 22-footer, and it's fine. However,

07:41we cannot fit this and then a small two-seater at the same time. The sheer size of this thing

07:47is a

07:48consideration for a buyer. How easily can you tow it around? You might have to upgrade your trailer

07:52game. And to be fair, this is the four-door, six-seater model, which is obviously an upgrade

07:58and is much bigger. The two-seater, no problem transporting anywhere. But the sheer size of this

08:03thing should give prospective buyers pause to think, how are they going to tow it around, and how are

08:07they going to get it to where they want to go? Now, the number four thing that we hate about

08:11the

08:11Polaris Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate is, wait for it, you knew this was coming, it's the price.

08:17Now, it starts at $49,999 for the six-seater, and if you upgrade to the camo, the Pursuit camo,

08:25you are sitting at $50,999. Given all the post-COVID inflation and so forth, and all these kind of

08:32things that we can't control, it's understandable that prices are nudging upwards. And you do get a

08:37lot for this rig. There are a lot of features. And personally, we, UTV driver, think that this thing

08:43is worth exactly what the MSRP is. I'm not an expert, I'm not a psychologist, but the difference

08:48between $49 and $50 is kind of a big one. It's going to give buyers pause. It's going to make

08:54people think twice when they step in the showroom and look at their wallet and think, can I really

08:59afford this? Do I really need it? Drum roll, please. And now the fifth thing that we hate about the

09:05Polaris Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate is, we're really trying hard to find things we hate about this

09:12thing. Now there's all sorts of like little nitpicky things, but none of those things really

09:16rose to the level of hating it. And we hate that we have to give it back. Polaris, can we

09:20keep it

09:20just a little bit longer, please, please, please, please? That's the five things we love about the

09:25Polaris Ranger XD-1500 North Star Ultimate, and the five things we hate about the Polaris Ranger XD-1500

09:31North Star Ultimate. Anyway, if you like what you have seen almost as much as we love this rig,

09:36you will hit like and subscribe. I believe the term is crush those buttons. After you're done with

09:41that, hit the comments section. We love comments, good or bad. It lets us know if we're doing all

09:46the things right. And when you're done with that, go to utvdriver.com. We have news, reviews,

09:51buyer's guides, weirdo, oddball news, five days a week. And when you're done with that, hit us up

09:55on the socials. We are on Instagram. We are on Facebook. We are on TikTok. And of course, YouTube.

10:01Thank you so much for watching. We will see you out on the trails. You're welcome, America.

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