To sum it up even before I’ve begun, The Polaris RZR is one of the most amazing machines in the world. As an 800cc offroader that doesn’t weigh anything, it is about as much fun as you can have in a vehicle. Oh and you don’t need roads, by the way. Trees, shrubs, stones, boulders, dunes… you name the obstacles, and the RZR will simply go over them.
What’s amazing about this vehicle is the suspension, and the way the engine translates the revs into motion. There’s a button switch for selecting between four wheel or rear wheel drive.
Being an american import, the steering wheel is on the left (read:wrong) side. The gear lever is then operated by the right hand, so you’re lucky that it’s not a manual. For forward driving, the RZR has Low and High range gears, the former for when you’ve gotten stuck, and the latter for when you haven’t. One reverse, a parking, and a neutral gear can also be found on the lever. Lights are also operated by a standard, durable on/ off switch, and well, that’s about it. Everything else is pure feel. Pure analogue feel.
Let’s go through some of the nuances of this little beast:
-Safety: The body is covered with a roll cage, so worst comes to worst, it has you covered. This gives you an incredible feeling of safety, and sometimes that matters most.
I’ve heard of a few cases where the rider had his hands exposed outside the roll cage in the event of a rollover, causing extensive damage and hospitalisation. That’s why, It has safety nets (where you’d find doors in cars) To be honest I pushed it as hard as my sanity dictates, but not once did I even feel like it’ll roll. You’d have to be stupid to roll it. The safety net itself may seem to be a slight feature but trust me, it’s not! It can save your life.
Because you’re seated solidly, it doesn’t feel unstable at all. There’s no feeling of imbalance or a fear that it could roll.
When in RWD (Rear wheel drive) , you can churn out MAD drifts when the back wheels are fed with power. Power-silde your way into wherever you want! The 4×4 option is useful when you’d rather stick to the trail and skip the fancy bit, plenty of adrenaline still. This is a really happy car, if you can call it that. It’s easy to control.
There are a few problems though. The seat belts are a little hard to put on and if you’re a larger man (or woman) then that might seem like a problem at first, but you get used to it. The nets, coupled with the seatbelts are VITAL safety features that should never be ignored, not even once. If you’re driving in a forest, the nets will help you avoid getting bruised by small bushes whiplashing onto your legs as well.
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