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Discussion Starter · #2 ·
(Originally posted by Freddy)

Most of my fellow compadres are still flying probably and will be chiming in shortly.

The board members were given the priveledge to spend some time with the folks at Polaris and discuss the Ranger and the Razor and was then given the chance to do some test riding with them.

It is easily summed up in one word "<font color="blue"><font size="6">WOW</font id="size6"></font id="blue">"

I am 6'5" and weigh in at 300 pounds and I fit with no problems. We did discuss the dash and how close it was to my knees, but I gotta say that after driving it and then being a co-pilot while one of the Polaris young guns put it through it's paces not only did I have plenty of room and never hit my knee, the two of us never touched each other.

Lots of room, lots of power, let me say that again. LOTS of power and agile. This thing will flat out get it. I want one and have already put my order in for one and hope Santa is listening.

I will keep my Ranger as the Razor is in my opinion no replacement for the Ranger. The Razor is for the inner kid in us all and as one of the Polaris Engineers stated "It will cause your skin on both sides of your moth to turn up [:D][:)].

Others will post and I will get pictures up in a bit, but for now I am tired.

Thank You Polaris

freddy
 

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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
I will post more on the when I'm not so tire. My first two observations were that they were much roomier than I thought. Freddy and I sat side by side and had room between us. Secondly, I couldn't not believe hou fast they accelerated from a standstill! Plenty of power here folks!
 

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Now that I have gotten some much needed sleep I have a few more things to say.

Although the excitement and thrill for us was to see and drive the new Razor, make no mistake about it that Polaris really wanted our input on the Ranger. The Ranger will continue to evolve and perhaps with some of our thoughts will be incorporated into it.

freddy
 

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The trip was GREAT! The RZR will eat all the rest of the Side X Side's on the market today for breakfast hands down. The drag race that that the Polaris guys set up between the RZR, Rhino and the Prowler didn't even look like much of a race. The RZR blew them away without any problem at all. The power is amazing and it drives and rides like a sports car.

One of the best things about the trip was getting to see the rest of the board, some for the very first time. A special THNAK YOU goes out to Polaris for giving us the opportunity to this and a big THANK YOU to Bruce and Gary for all the hard work organizing it.

A GREAT TIME WAS HAD BY ALL![:D]


Brian
 

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I was very fortunate to have had the oppurtunity to ride the new Polarirs RZR.
For anyone that is on the fence deciding between the Rhino, Prowler, or the RZR this may help.

I have owned a Kuboat RTV, Rhino, and presently a Ranger XP. I love my Ranger XP but have missed the agility and sports car feel of my Rhino since I sold it.

The new RZR is by far the best S X S presently available. It outperformed my old Rhino in every aspect. It absorbed the bumps and whoops comparable to a well set up quad. Polaris done a great job of engineering a very low center of gravity. I have spent a lot of hours in a S X S so I knew this low center of gravity was very real as I traversed some off-camber trails that would normally make my butt pucker in my XP or Rhino. The suspension is phenominal compared to all other SXS's I have experianced. As the suuspension compresses the wheel travels rearward affording a more foregiving ride. The power pulls hard all the way through and I believe I read 58MPH. I watched a drag between a Prowler, Rhino, and RZR. The Prowler and Rhino were very close but the RZR was 5-6 lengths ahead.

Just a few other attributes that need mentioning are, infinant adjustment tilt steering, shift on the fly 4WD, solid mount between trans and engine (no more belt alignment issues), driveline mounted traversed behind cockpit which helped with stability and made it very quit for a performave machine.

Great job Polaris !
 

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I am very pleased with how this trip turned out. This was a great trip thanks to polaris. I would like to thank all the great people at polaris for making this happen. I would like to see this happen again too. The rzr is one mean machine that really will boost there sales a lot. I somehow will wind up with one after having the chance to ride one. That is when I talk the wife into it! lol I just cant say enough about how great of a machine this rzr really is. Polaris really has this machine right! The only bad thing is ----- I want one NOW!
 

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A special thanks to Polaris and all the PRC staff for putting together a great event. The RZR is a lot more than I had expected. This machine will end the days of the Rhino. The power and agility of this machine reminded me of a high dollar dune buggy. I want one. Wife says I can't have one. The Polaris people truly wanted our input on things to change on the Ranger XP and I believe that a lot of the information we gave them will become reality. They are wonderful people. When people drive this new RZR they will forget about the Rhino. Polaris has done it again.
 

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Discussion Starter · #11 ·
This trip was about so much more than just riding the RZR. Thirteen of the PRC staff members met at the Minneapolis Airport Thursday afternoon. (Randy rode his Harley and caught up with us later). We checked in at the Holiday Inn Express and found that there was a room for each of us. We shared food and drink with 7-8 represntatives from Polaris. We had a great meal, (which included some great Walleye!), and spent the evening getting to know each other. What a great "first wave" Polaris sent to greet us! They were some of the friendliest people I've had the pleasure to meet in a long time. Putting a face to some of the folks at Polaris was the highlight of the trip for me. We got to meet engineers, controllers, techs, pr staff, managers and there were experts that seemed to really care about our club. They were very interested in our input about all aspects of the Ranger.

It should be noted that I'm purposely not giving out names and specific titles because I don't want every club and side-by-side enthusiast in the country trying to contact them and disrupting their very busy work schedules. All of the staff will welcome questions and input; however, any questions will go through Bruce and I so that we can package them up for delivey, rather than filling their mailboxes with so much stuff that it affects their work.

The second day was a busy one! We started out as a single group in a classroom at a Polaris R&D research center. There were Polaris reps from all levels sitting with us as we had a short orientation. The highlight was when general manager stood up in front of the group and gave us his personal welcome. He read the PRC Mission Statement out loud to the group and I have never been prouder of our club than I was at that moment. After a while we broke into groups for test rides and product development discussions. I was proud of the technical and user input our members were able to share with Polaris. We had some of the best minds at Polaris working side by side with the staff of PRC sharing ways to make the Ranger even better serve the consumer.

I think all of us were in awe as we took our first ride on the RZR. The acceleration, the power, the ride, the whole package left us looking at each other and all we could say was WOW!!!! Folks, I thought our current Rangers were fun to ride, but this was a whole new riding experience. Polaris has put speed, quick acceleration, power, riding comfort, handling and fun all into one very attractive package.

I will add more on the trip later. It is hard to put into words how important and exciting this trip was to us.
 

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A big thanks to the reps at Polaris for such a great time and the staff of PRC for all the fun.

I would also like to give a Big Thank You to all the RZR test drivers that gave us a high speed ride around and wish them all good luck this weekend .
All I can say about the RZRs is if you have a Rhino you might want to sell it now before the RZRs come out, to me this is not a ranger, it has a cage and you sit in a seat but you ride it like a sport quad, this thing will leave my dr800 in it's dust and I can't wait to see what it does to the Rhinos.
 

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Folks, I am just now recovering from a long, delayed flight but these guys have put some great details down. I am sure I will continue to make more posts as my brain recovers but all I can say too is <h2><font color="red">WOW!!</font id="red"></h2> I want one really baaaaad!!! This trip was, like Gary said, so much more than the RZR, but let me start there since Gary has covered the other end pretty good.

This RZR is something to behold. The roominess suprised even me. The steering is adjustable as is the seat. After a short walk around and safety feature intro, we each had our own RZR. We donned helmets, gloves, goggles and Polaris supplied skull cap thingy and then climbed in. It gave you a sense of being in a race car!! You had to fasten all the netting and then buckle the three point harness system. Then, with the RZR in park and your foot on the brake, you fire the big 800 motor up. Folks, that rumble that thing emits made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and sent a chill down my spine!!! I quickly wondered if I was ready for this!!! We were divided into 2 groups of 7 each. A Polaris employee led on an atv, then 2 RZR's, then another Polaris employee on another atv and so on. Polaris had set up a trail through woods, fields and some mud with downed trees across the course, steel I beams, tires, tree roots, steep drops, off cambers and you name it. Folks, we were told this was going to be a tame ride but it was all the excitement I cared to handle for the first time!! I couldn't believe the power this RZR had. When we came to tree logs that were a good 4 to 6 inches around, we just pounded them and went over them. Tree roots, no problem, ram them and keep getting it!!! I hit steel 6 inch I beams laid out on a off camber, driver's side low, trail at 25 mph!! Folks, I couldn't believe what this thing was cable of. It is not only fast but very, very trail capable. We are used to riding tight trails and boy, they obliged us!! We went places the Ranger could not even go because of its size. There were 2 STEEP drops that made me feel like I was going to stick the nose of this missle 4 feet deep in the ground that it took with no problem!! One of the drops was followed by a hairpin turn to the right with a steep drop to the left if you missed the trail!! For me, my pucker factor kicked into HIGH!! But, after one lap, I realized the capabities of this thing was so high that I am sure I could get comfortable in short order on this rig!!! It was a truly amazing machine that had so much power that it was unbelievable. I felt like it would have pulled the front tires off the ground if it could ever quit spinning the rears!!! It was truly awesome!!!

Now, once back to the starting point, my fellow "buddies" had arranged for me to get a ride with one of the Polaris test drivers, who btw, races the RZR's!!! As soon as I strapped in and he said are you ready, I had no more than shook my head yes than when he had the throttle nailed. OMG, is all I can say!!! He took me on the ride of my life and showed me what the RZR is really capable of. Let me just say right here that there is no way in heck I would even attempt to drive the RZR to this level, NO WAY!!! We were blazing down roads and trails at speeds approaching 60 mph!! We were broad sliding curves, running through the trails in the woods at 40 to 50 mph and hitting holes and declines that I had just drove at 10 to 15 mph at nearly 3 times that speed!!! There was one point that this missle was heading for a row of tires setup on the ground like a football player would jog through. I thought, "it ain't going to drive over them at this speed"!!! Guess what, we hit them at better than 50 mph and after regaining consciencious, I realized I was still alive!! Folks I found out that the handle on the passenger side is not only needed but is a great idea. After riding with this awesome Polaris test driver, I KNOW the RZR has no equal!!! Bottom line, if you have a deposit on one, consider yourself lucky indeed!!!!
 

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What Gary said about meeting the Polaris staff and our welcome at there facility. Thanks folks, you made us feel welcome and very proud.

Now about the RZR, if you think you might like to have one or are on the fence, get off of it and just do it. The write ups you have read in magazines and written here and on other forums are no exaggeration, in fact the may be understatements.
I'm 6'1" and 225lb, (a few of us on site were even bigger[}:)][:D]) and we all fit better than fine in this machine, (which btw) was a big concern I had before seeing and riding it in person.

Guys, this thing is a flat riot to ride, I'm not sure how you would compare it to any thing else I've personally ever ridin in but suspect it would be akin to a sandrail or well made dunebuggy. You don't ride on it, it's more like you wear it. I would think you easily could ride this machine for 4 or 5 hours without nearly the fatique of any other sxs because of the ergonomics and suspension. It really does feel just that good.

The RZR really is on a different level than anything else offered today, no doubt about it. The only problem I see with the RZR is that you won't be happy riding with other sxs's (including Rangers) unless your in front of the pack.
 

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Now, part 2!!

A big THANK YOU to Polaris and all the fine folks that made the trip possible and took their time to make our event so wonderful. I truly felt that I was NOT surrounded by corporate folks who didn't have a clue, but instead, we were surrounded by folks with a passion for winning and designing great products. Like Gary said, we will leave names and titles out, but trust me when I say this, we had folks from ALL levels there. In fact, on Friday at the R&D facility, there were more Polaris folks in attendance than there was PRC staff!!! These folks truly cared about and valued our input and for that I will be forever thankful. I was truly honored to be there and was in shock as the kick off speaker stood, with laptop in hand, and read off the PRC mission statement straight from the website!!! Fantastic and once again, the hair on my neck was standing up!! What a moment! I really enjoyed the drive on the RZR but getting to meet and talk with these folks was amazing. Questions, ideas, and suggestions were exchanged. All the suggestions were wrote down on paper by the folks at Polaris for further study. The group and one on one time was truly awesome. While we didn't get the grand tour of the faciltiy for obvious reasons, I can tell you from what I saw that it was truly an amazing building. The terrain available there for testing was first rate!

I want to personally thank each and every person at Polaris for the hospitality and the great time had by all. There was a tremendous amount of work put into this by these fine folks to make this happen. I also would like to express my thanks to each of our staff that went. I could not have been prouder of you for your conduct and your professionalism in providing input to Polaris. Thanks guys, you are the best. Not only that, you are some of the finest people on the planet and it is a true honor to know you.
 

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BTW, the RZR is so awesome that Freddy was on the phone ordering one while we were on the bus back to the facility after getting to drive it!!!
 

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The Rzr will make yamaha cry like babies, this thing is smoking hot!!! it will not replace my ranger but it will be its evil twin! this machine is made to play first and it does still have the ability to do work to. i am a hunter and i believe i could easily put a deer in the back with no problems. The acceleration was incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the suspenison was absolutely awesome, i went with a spirited ride with the lead engineer of the rzr and i will tell you that young man can make a rzr hum! there were times i said to myself oh that is gonna hurt, but the suspenison soaked up the bumps, whoops and even a row tires that i thought would have been one heck of a rough ride, but no the rzr didn't even break a sweat! at high speeds this thing soaks the rough terain up and keeps giving you the confidence that you can do more.
at first the throttle took some getting use to, it felt jumpy to me, but after awhile it became less noticeable. you could power slide this thing around turns, and you can use the rear wheels for steering, just punch the accelerator and it will turn real easy. tight woods riding was great, the steering on the rzr is incredible, very responsive only once did i find myself having to back up to make a turn, and i feel that was strictly user error and i didn't want to scratch there machine. i don't thank polaris could have done much better that what they have done with this machine. its real name should be rhino killer!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Rzr is not meant to replace the ranger, i think that most people who buy a ranger will still want there ranger for the most part. The Rzr is a sports car UTV. This thing will make your blood boil, make your heart pump and will put a perment smile on your face!!!! [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]


Now i want to talk about polaris! Thanks alot for the wonderful people that you sent to meet us and that hosted our trip, i was very impressive at how well they were able to answer question, they are very knowledgeable about the utv shopper farmers hunters and so forth. There staff treated us with the upmost respect and listened very attentively to all suggestions that we offered, they did not get offened when we told them what we didn't like. They were true professionals. I really enjoyed meeting them, they were lots of fun!


THANKS TO POLARIS FOR ALLOWING US TO COME AND MEET THEM AND ENJOY THERE PRODUCTS!
 
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Guys and Gals,

Thanks for the great info and thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedules to make this event. We really appreciate it.

Now I'm REALLY excited!

AL
 
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