Disclaimer: this is just one guy’s opinion, I am not professional. I’ve built, raced and tuned AutoX/Road Course cars at a purely amateur level. I’ve never raced off road in any formal manner. Again, I am not a professional. What I am is a regular guy that buys and drives off road toys. Yes, these days I mostly pay people to turn wrenches for me because, well “because life" (I like to look at it like I’m putting LRS’s first born through college, bettering the Nation). I’ve turned wrenches in my day (try changing the clutch in a C5 ‘vette track-side on jack stands) but there are many far better than me at it. I can hold my own behind the wheel, on or off road, but there are many far better than me at it. If you think I’m under-qualified to give my opinion on a RZR that’s fine, you don’t need to read it. Otherwise, here’s my $0.02…

The Quick Version: I picked up the RZR XP Turbo Thursday AM and headed right for Mammoth. Unfortunately I only put about 120 miles on the Turbo over only about a day and a half, I would have loved to ride more and explore more of Mammoth, but time was limited. Anyway, I’m impressed and satisfied with the purchase. I don’t know if it’s a “Game Changer”, but it certainly is a great evolution of the RZR. There will be changes to make, particularly in the suspension setup, but it’s a great machine.

The Long Version:

• Power – the power increase is very, very noticeable. Particularly at 7k+ feet of elevation. My riding buddy was in his stock-motor 2014 1000 with only a Gibson pipe. We did a little drag race and it wasn’t even close, right off the line I was gone and the gap just kept opening until he lifted because he was literally eating my dust (it was really dry up there, as you can imagine). In one section of trail where I hit the 78mph factory speed limiter, had to back off, then ran it back up to the limiter again he couldn’t even hit 70. Like I said, the elevation certainly widens the gap, but the XPT really does have a nice power band and delivery. Mid-rpm/throttle feels much "fuller" and even at altitude Turbo lag was pretty minimal, but indeed noticeable. The surge of power as it builds full boost is a lot of fun, but even at lower rpms/throttle it builds enough boost to feel strong.
• Drivetrain – I don’t have a belt temp gauge on it yet, (as I said, the car is 110% stock, literally off the showroom floor) but I never so much as smelled belt or felt any slip. Granted, I broke everything in very easy over a ~40 mile ride Friday afternoon. I waited until 50 total miles to start exploring past half throttle, and until about 75mi to hammer it so the belt “should” be properly broken in. I do like how the belt engages from a stop a lot better with this clutch setup than either my 900 or 1000. It feels more like a torque converter getting you moving smoothly from a stop than the rev then "snap" feeling of other RZRs. However, a consequence of this is that sometimes it’s a bit tougher to shift between gears and has that little "jump" as you knock it into gear almost like a dirt bike. That “jump” seemed to go away some as I put the miles on, probably as the belt and clutching broke in… though the extremely smooth takeoff from a stop also seemed to reduce with miles. I did remember my 1000 being smoother when I first got it than it is now, but it never was as smooth as the Turbo from a stop. Otherwise, you obviously don’t notice the drivetain upgrades a ton. But not noticing them is great, that’s the drivetrain just doing its job. Nothing broke, and it has none of the drivetrain noise or vibrations some XP1000 owners experience (my 1000 doesn’t suffer from that).
• What’s Lacking – for a $25k MSRP this thing absolutely SHOULD have the Polaris Interactive Digital Display. I was missing the IDD from my 1000 (I added it, not factory on a "base" 1000 either) instantly. It’s super annoying having to switch around to know coolant temp and RPM – the two things I was monitoring religiously during break-in. Also, what about a boost gauge? Okay, unless you’re actually tuning yourself and changing boost it’s just a toy, but toys are what we’re here for, right? I had fun playing around building boost and then lifting and listening to the recirculation/blow-off valve, a boost gauge would just sort of add to that fun. It probably should have some nice beadlock wheels and a bespoke tire too. In all honesty I really think the Big Horns are a great tire, I like how they work in all sorts of situations so it’s not like they are a problem. But for the $5k premium of the Turbo, and to make it “special” the wheels/tires should be upgraded. Perhaps like the setup on a Desert Edition but it should be unique to the Turbo. Finally, it should have Polaris’s harness setup. I mean it is a 144HP machine off the showroom floor, why wouldn’t they have the best of their safety equipment in it?
• Suspension – the Fox IBP shocks function pretty well, but it just feels like the setup is all wrong. The front sway bar and softer rear bar really do their jobs. The machine stays way more level than my 1000. However, softening the rear roll-rate and stiffening the front has another effect beyond reducing roll in the chassis. This sway setup also increase rear bite mid-corner or neutral throttle, reducing front grip. The whole thing just feels really pushy in “normal” driving. It would seem the Turbo was setup for running 10/10ths on a groomed track with berms building up. When you do run it really hard, trail-brake into every corner and throttle hard out of every corner it seems to come into its own and work a bit better. Even still, I think there is just too much front spring rate which required dampening to match. Strangely, Polaris really under-sprung the 1000, but I feel like they went too far the other way with the Turbo. Running a front sway bar gives the suspension tuner the gift of being able to run softer spring rates and accompanying dampening, but it doesn’t seem Polaris did this. The more I softened the front shocks, really all of the shocks the better it was getting. I was probably taking 2 clicks out of the front for every 1 click in the rear, sometimes just front only. This got the front starting to bite without having to really provoke the machine and everything smoothed out… to a point. Eventually you hit the point where you’re getting under-damped and things get a bit bouncier and you can feel the suspension movement isn’t well controlled. The net effect is a machine that is a bit harsh, pushy on entry/mid-corner and more “snappy” to get loose vs. my 1000. The 1000 leans and “moves around” more, but it allows the tires to get loaded up at the right time and work. On low-traction surfaces like dirt and gravel, especially when they are wash-boarded out a very stiff, flat platform doesn’t seem to work as well. I’ll have to wait to get the Turbo in the sand to see if the setup works better there, I suspect on high speed, big bowl runs it will. However, in the slower, tighter stuff or any chop I still think it’s not going to work as well. Granted, my 1000 has the 2.5” Walker Evans fronts built by Ed with his spring rates and of course valving, as well as his valving in the stock rear 2.5”s with the upper spring from the factory fronts so I’m not comparing apples to apples exactly. I don’t think this is a knock on the Fox’s or their potential as much as expressing the room there is to improve, and perhaps a tip ‘o the hat to Ed on my 1000 setup. At the end of the day my 1000 is more confidence inspiring to drive at the limit, and works better there, yet is smoother and more comfortable cruising around.

What I’ll Change:

• Cage/Seats/Harnesses – right now I’m thinking the cage and seats from the 1000 will go on the Turbo. The Turbo will get new harnesses since I’ll keep harnesses in the 1000.
• GPS/communications – I’m pretty sure I’ll just do the Polaris Interactive Digital Display again. I just prefer the gauge readouts it provides, and the GPS is good enough. It’s annoying not having both gauges and GPS displayed with the IDD, but right now It’s the best option. Of course, the Turbo will have radios with car-to-car.
• Tune – I’m sure I’ll end up with a tune in it, there is just too much already being gained to skip a tune. Evo is getting about 15 peak RWHP, but as much as 27 RWHP gains where the gap is the biggest on just their Stage 1 91 octane tune. That gets it to nearly 50% more RWHP than a stock XP1000.
• Sand Wheels/Tires – it’ll inherit the Method 406s and STUs from the 1000. The 1000 will run on the 32" tires exclusively. I’ll probably end up going to #2 cuts for the Turbo, but it’ll start on the current #1s and we’ll see how they work.
• Suspension – still unsure here. I don’t know if I’ll have Ed work these Fox IBPs for the Turbo, pull the WEs off the 1000 for the Turbo and have Ed build the Fox IBPs for the 1000 or just get an entirely new setup for the Turbo, sell the Fox IBPs and leave the 1000 alone.
• Aaaaaannndddd that’s about it, it doesn’t need a ton.

-TJ