UTV Test

A UTV for bedheads By the staff of Dirt Wheels Can-Am’s Defender line has been a real hit since it was introduced five years ago. There are many models of the Defender, and arguably the standout of those models is the pair of Defender Pros—the DPS and XT. We have come to expect a certain look for rec-utility UTVs: short front end, big cab area and a compact bed area. Can-Am has changed that look with the Pro. The concept began when a Can-Am engineer was looking at a Crew model. He realized that a standard cab on a…

Trails to anywhere By the staff of Dirt Wheels Can-Am and Honda make two of the newest and most impressive 1000cc, normally aspirated, trail-focused UTVs on the market. It seemed only natural to get them together for a rigorous comparison to see which one has the goods for trails, and to find out where they excelled. Can-Am sent the all-new 64-inch 2020 Maverick Sport X xc that starts at a price of $21,199. It faced off with the $19,999 Honda Talon 1000 X. Of the two available two-seat Talons, the X is most comparable…

Fun with friends, family and computers By the staff of Dirt Wheels We were in the room when Honda announced the 2020 Talon 1000X-4 and Talon 1000X-4 Fox Live Valve to the dealer network. There was no mistaking the dealers’ excitement; however, our enthusiasm was somewhat tempered by the announcement that the 1000X-4 siblings would be based on the shorter-travel 64-inch Talon 1000X rather than the long-travel, wider Talon R. A great percentage of long-wheelbase, four-seat sport UTVs are sold where driving conditions…

From a racer backwards By the staff of Dirt Wheels As cool and purposeful as race machinery looks, few people ever bother to drive a race build for recreation. The sad truth is, the restrictions required by race organizations (largely for crash safety) are anything but user-friendly. Assault originally created this General 4 as a racer for a NORRA Baja-based 1000-mile rally-type stage race. While it was hoped the car would make a successful weapon for that one race, the General idea (see what we did there) was to have…

Four-season fun By the staff of Dirt Wheels In this fifth year of the Defender there are nearly 20 variations of the model, and the Limited is top dog. The Limited is a cab model, meaning that it has a fully enclosed cab with sealed doors, glass windows and even a front windshield wiper. Can-Am has other Defender cab models, including six-seat Max models, that all have a heater and defroster. The Defender Limited (in single cab or Max) has a heater, but it also has air conditioning! One of the recent trends in…

-- Maverick X RS test -- By the staff of Dirt Wheels When it comes to the Can-Am sport UTV line, the Can-Am Maverick X3 X rs Turbo R sits right at the top. 2019 is the third year for the long-travel, 72-inch-wide flagship. It was truly ground-breaking when it arrived in 2017 It didn’t just raise the bar for sport UTVs, it bent, spindled, folded and mutilated the bar with more power, more suspension and more high-performance features than any other machine. Those who love and crave horsepower numbers will remember…

COMFORT AND PERFORMANCE We have been anxiously waiting our turn behind the wheel of the recently announced Teryx KRX 1000. Kawasaki Produced a remarkable desert test course for the drive. Thankfully, it wasn’t a fluffy, kiddy track, but one with fast smooth sections where we almost tick the governed top speed of 68 mph indicated. A variety of stunning steep and rocky climbs and descents were added to the real terrain. There were a number of tight, twisty areas, and some were in canyons that forced the KRX into narrow…

More storage, more cargo, more beef, it's all in the specs of the impressive new 2020 Can-Am Defender Pro. An overlander's dream!

-- On The Rocks UTV Test --  By the staff of Dirt Wheels Can-Am has made certain that Dirt Wheels has been along for the entire rise of the new Maverick line. The first release was the 50-inch Maverick Trail 800 and 1000. Fifty-inch machines are vital for some trail networks, but they are by definition a little limited in appeal, so we were not at all surprised when Can-Am released the Maverick Sport. Using the same basic skeleton and V-twin engine architecture, Can-Am announced the 60-inch-wide Maverick Sport…

When we started to hear that Honda would build a sport UTV, we assumed it would be a single model motivated by some version of the proven Pioneer power train. We never imagined that there would be two models released at the same time! In addition to the 68.5 inch wide, 20-inch travel Talon 1000R, Honda used the same frame and 104-horsepower Talon engine package to create a true trail weapon named the Talon 1000X. The car’s exterior and interior specifications are all the same, but the 1000X double-wishbone front…

2019 Honda Talon 1000R Dirt Wheels is in Hurricane, Utah at the 2019 Honda Talon introduction. Today we tested this significant new machine at the famed Sand Hollow State Park riding area. Sand Hollow combines red sand dunes with slick-rock crawling. In between these extremes are sand trails that get exceptionally rough and whooped. That was especially true today since the area has been pounded with rain. Compounding the situation, many of the sandy trails are just a thin layer of sand over ledged rock, so you are…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK0LBKa9BiY&feature=youtu.be Polaris first released the all new RZR XP Turbo S in 2018 with an all new look. In addition to the body style upgrades, the drive train was strengthened, cockpit was redesigned, it came stock with 32" tires and many of the cars components were made more durable. The new machine also came with the electronically controlled "Dynamix" suspension system, which made this model top of the line along with making the price tag jump too. This year Polaris made the…