Demo Ride
First look
I have had an opportunity to take a Polaris 550XP out for a demo ride. The first thing you will notice when you site on the unit is how much more room you have in the cockpit. The handle grippes are bigger in diameter with a nicer fit to your hand. The controls are all comfortably placed for easy reach. Looking under the seat you see the engine is now swung 90 degrees. The engine air intake is high up by the steering shaft, as for the clutch intake and exhaust it is now right under the operators seat, seems okay but time will tell.:dunno: As for the clutch drain plug it is a little more difficult to get to but it is still doable, as you have to reach around and over the left rear tire to get to it. When it comes time to change out the belt Polaris has made part of the frame removable. This is to gain access to the clutch cover as to allow you to remove it. When you remove the front rack (it comes off with in seconds) you will see the rad is higher and tilted back and the winch mount is below the rad. Under the front rack you will also see the voltage inverter for the charging system. This unit will put out some serious current, I have been told that you will not have any trouble running the winch at idle and have the low battery light come on like in the older models.
The new wheels on the unit are 14” aluminum rims looks great with the stock tires
On To The Ride
The engine had a very slight vibration at idle very minimal for a single cylinder, drifted off quickly when the throttle was raised off of idle. The unit steered with easy and the suspensions was out of this world it soaked up the bumps and never once sent the shock back to the steering or the seat. The wheels would stay locked on the terrain followed and trailed great. I did find the 550 a little boggy out of the hole when you put the throttle down all the way. The unit did have no trouble shooting mud up with the rear wheels though once you had a little momentum. I feel the boggy-ness may be a clutching issue or may just have to break in the engine a little more as the unit only had about 6 hrs on it.
The clutch was all new as you could actually feel the engagement point on the clutch, just a little off of idle you would feel a little bump and a slight drop in RPM. Very small at best.
Dislikes
As for the dislikes of the new XP model, the first thing was the seat mount. The old series had a nice clip at the rear of the seat lift it up and raise the seat. The new seat is held in place by to rubber grommets at the midway point of the under side of the seat. To place the seat in the proper locking position you have to shift the front of the seat forward and then press down in the middle of the seat. If you don’t set the seat down right you will damage the mounting tabs. The unit I drove had this problem, it was not locked down correctly and when sat on by the operator it had bent one of the locking pins over on the underside of the seat. The mechanic that was present tried to push the plastic pin back over, I was surprised the pin did not break off from all the pushing and pulling. The shifter on the 550 still has that spring feel when shifting gears, same problem as the old Polaris 500.
Final Thoughts
Overall I feel this is a great riding machine with lots of power in the 850XP model. I have not ridden an 850XP but by talking to a few members at the dealer I was well assured that the unit will wheelie the front end up with little trouble. Lots of new innovations in the new model and I would highly recommend the extended warranty for a first year model. For an extra two hundred bucks you will get a full twelve months warranty. You can pick your self up a new 850XP for 10,300.00 CA as of October, 31. Have been told by the dealer that this price will change in the first week of November.