We’re living in a golden age of horsepower. Bone-stock Corvettes with four-figure outputs, EVs that run nine-second quarter-mile times, turbocharged snowmobiles and literbikes fast enough to warrant aerodynamic aids. In that vein, Polaris has just revealed a side-by-side with 275 horsepower. Yes, 275 horsepower.
Just think about it for a second. That’s more power than a Volkswagen Golf GTI or a Subaru WRX, and only one pony shy of a Hyundai Elantra N. Except a side-by-side doesn’t have to tote around things like airbags and windows and sound insulation. That’s sport compact car power in a side-by-side, which makes the Polaris RZR Pro R Boost the most powerful production side-by-side ever.
So how did Polaris stuff 94 more horsepower than a Mazda MX-5 in a little side-by-side? Reasonable displacement and reasonable boost, naturally. A two-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine sits just in front of the rear axle, although it’s not set up quite like the two-liter turbo four in your uncle’s Acura RDX. Peak power doesn’t hit until 7,500 RPM, and a peak 215 lb.-ft. of torque shows up at 4,000 RPM. Peaky, but considering the RZR Pro R Boost is built for high-speed off-road running and features a continuously variable transmission, peaky makes sense.
That being said, power is only half of the speed equation. Weight matters too, although it’s tricky to find. On the consumer website, Polaris quotes an “estimated dry weight” of 2,531 pounds, which is silly because you can’t drive a side-by-side without any fluids in it. I mean, considering how the human body’s roughly 60 percent water, I have an estimated dry weight of 85 pounds. See how ridiculous that sounds? However, in the media release for the RZR Pro R Boost, we do know that the actual curb weight of the two-seat Ultimate trim should clock in at 2,671 pounds, which would result in a power-to-weight ratio for the that’s in the same league as a 996 Porsche 911. In a side-by-side. Insanity.
To handle this sort of torque and pace, Polaris has beefed up the driveline, increased cooling capacity for the transmission, and gave the engine a second radiator. Downstream, adaptive Fox internal-bypass dampers keep spring motion in check, and you can option the RZR Pro R Boost with active anti-roll bar links and 32-inch BFGoodrich off-road tires. You can also spec the RZR Pro R Boost as a four-seater, although you’d best have three extremely brave passengers lined up first.
You’ll also need cash lined up, because the RZR Pro R Boost carries a starting price of $49,999. That’s an enormous amount of money for an off-road toy that you can’t really use on the street in most places. A two-door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon straight out of the dealership can be had for thousands less, and you can immediately legally drive it to Moab. However, a 275-horsepower side-by-side is a rather different experience. Presumably one of thrill and mild terror, the closest thing to being aboard a radio-controlled car. The RZR Pro R Boost exists for the same reason snowmobiles with more than 200 horsepower exist: Because it seemed like a cool thing to make.
Top graphic image: Polaris
I’m always amazed that things like this, or multi-million-dollar hypercars exist, because I imagine that they sell in such limited numbers that they can’t possibly recoup their design/engineering/tooling/marketing/etc… costs.
Like, how many people have $50K to drop on this Polaris? Some folks sure, but not an actual lot, right? Even assuming Polaris kept R&D/etc… costs down by using components from other/existing products, there’s still got to be a non-zero cost to them coming out with this thing. Will they recoup that expense, and then make a profit to make the whole effort worthwhile?
I really have my doubts about that when this or that hypercar debuts… it seems a new one comes out every few weeks, sometimes from companies I’ve never heard of. I know EVs are theoretically easier to build, have fewer moving parts, etc… but I’d be curious to know how many of these vehicles/companies continue to exist 5 or 10 years later, and how much money they made or (I suspect) lost during that time.
It’s just odd to me, you know? Like how a guy invests in indie films, or new restaurants, despite having lost money almost every time he’s done that before?
I guess some people (venture capitalists/investors, and select high-net-worth consumers) have money to burn.
americans will do literally anything but drive kei trucks
It doesn’t exist ‘because cool thing’.
It exists because ‘A fool and their money are soon parted.’
Which is fine and dandy for those who can throw around $50k like it’s no big thing for a toy.
It joins $250k-$1m RVs, $2.5m supercars, most large boats, and $110-130k diesel HD pickup trucks in a weird slice of the world I can only really admire from afar here in ‘regular schlub’ land.
…and while they are very capable machines, they bore me in another sense.
They bore me in the sense of the stories of how celebrities/uber-wealthy basically can have everything they want in a material world. So those people eventually get to the level of trying to screw each others’ wives for entertainment, because once you’ve got the Gulfstream to the private villa anywhere, what else is there left?
This is a smaller facet of that.
Agreed. 🙂
Here in OK, they can be registered for street use. However, until now, their telatuvely low top speed keeps them off the highway.
Wonder if that’s going to change now?
So, they have all the lights and signals, etc… that regular cars have? They surely can’t be as safe as a regular modern car in an accident, re: door beams, airbags, AEB and other safety systems.
And they’ve got to be registered and insured too, right? Cranky old man I may be, but I do get irked when I see everything from dirt bikes to golf cars tooling around public roads sans license plates (registration) and likely without insurance either.
Neat. I hope they can find a good CVT belt and make it easily fixable. Seems like it’ll be shredding them regularly.
Expensive toy for the rich.
Hey, real talk what do you guys actually do with these things. Where I live i never see them. Do that many people have giant sand dunes to go to, salt flats? what is the actual purpose of such a vehicle? is it like where you would take a dirt bike but you want to sit down with a buddy?
They can often be found at your local offroad park, destroying the trails for everyone else and leaving Monster Energy cans everywhere.
Our local SCCA rallycross allows some of these vehicles in a newer class, not sure this one would be allowed. So you get about 5min of driving time for an 8 hour day at a grass field. $50K and I have to trailer it wherever I go? No thanks.
You see these everywhere in SoCal because the dunes are only a couple of hours away. In some popular spots you’ll see 10K people on a holiday weekend.
There are narrower ones that are made for off road trails, but the wide fast ones like this are pretty much designed for desert running.