Seat Time – 2014 Polaris RZR XP1000

Brian 'woody' Swearingen | October 3, 2013

I attended a Polaris press event a couple weeks back and while the new 2014 Polaris RZR XP1000 was not the event focus, they did have a couple machines on hand. I’ve only been a media spectator to this latest offering from Polaris, so I jumped at the chance to at least get a short run in and see how it performs.

Our testing area for this event was the Rock Run Recreation Area outside Patton PA. This private trail system is a fun area to play on, but doesn’t offer the wide open spaces you really need to open things up. But the trails are tight, rocky and there are plenty of them to play on.

My co-pilot/photographer for the day was Jon Crowley from UTV Guide. (note that Jon and I both make poor passengers…) We started out on one of the tighter twisty trails so I could get a feel for the handling and power. Power, there is plenty…the XP1000 accelerates quickly and made short work of any straight stretch I could find. Launch, turn, launch, turn, repeat…so quickly that it meant being ready with the brakes or you’d find yourself in the pickers before you realized it.

We then turned onto one of the feeder trails, something a bit straighter and wider. This stretch allowed me to open up the RZR XP1000 a bit more and get a feel for some speed. Handling is light…you almost feel disconnected from the ground, yet it’s really those 18″ of suspension travel just soaking up all the bumps. I would have liked more feedback from the steering, but that might also be something I’d get used to after more seat time. I would have also liked to take time to adjust the preload/compression settings on the Fox Podium shocks to my own driving style. Maybe next time <g>

This stretch offered an opportunity for some light air time…the XP1000 doesn’t need much space to get to launch speed, and the landings were effortless. I can definitely see where this would be entertaining in the dunes!

Lastly, back to the main Coal Road for some aggressive cornering and more high-speed testing…I was gentle here, since I live by the “you break it, you buy it” mantra and I don’t have garage space for a new RZR XP1000 (and I wasn’t sure our Polaris hosts would be impressed if I damaged it)…but I did cross the 70mph marker and there was plenty of motor left to work with. That available power, even at those speeds, should make it easy to throttle through hairy situations. And again, it didn’t seem to matter what the terrain brought out, the suspension simply soaked it up.

Power and suspension are definite high points. Seating/comfort was good, but I’d put 5-points first on my list. Steering was my only complaint, but part of that was my comfort level and part was not having the suspension set up to my preferences. And that quick power with the light handling also means its hard to know your limits…I can definitely see needing a lot of seat time to become comfortable when running close to the limits.