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
Very smart and nice of you.
This thing is a death trap. I’d rather ride on the shoulders of a monkey on meth riding a unicycle. It would be safer.
I’ve been on a SxS once and its suspension was impressive. It was a Yamaha four-seater taking my son and I up to the top of a zipline at Whistler/Blackcomb in BC. We had done a couple of other ziplines where the trip up was on benches in the back of a Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer. The trails are steep and incredibly rough. In the Pinzgauers you feel every bump. On the SxS you can see what you’re about to hit and reflexively brace for impacts that simply never reach you. And we were going at least twice the speed of the Pinzgauers. The travel and damping are amazing. It “only” had a 1000 cc two-cylinder engine, and I didn’t hear any turbo. But it was more than adequate to get up the hill quickly.
Glad it’s not 50k, that would be too much
This side-by-side weighs more than a 1992 Honda Civic? Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the spiritual successor to the M5!
My daily Insight is just under 1000lbs lighter and it’s street legal.
The WRX comparison is funny to me because the Subaru has increased from 224 hp in 2008 (when the RZR was introduced) to 271 hp now, while Polaris has gone from a mere 52 hp to 275.
An equivalent jump would see 1000+ hp WRXs for sale right now.
Even if you did it with additional horsepower rather than percentage increase, a 447hp WRX sounds like a good time to me.
It lost its appeal when it stopped being a turbo 4 that was equal to the power of the Mustang GT, but with better handling and 4 wheel drive.
Wrx at 225, mustang at 225.
STI at 305, Cobra at 305.
Then in 2005 the regular GT moved to 300 and the wrx fell a bit back.
In 2011 when the GT went to 400+ the WRX should have gained something to follow suit but they just sat there stale.
It took Mercedes to make the 400hp turbo 2.0 liter in the A45AMG but they don’t sell a boy racer in America with a stick so nobody wanted this engine in the fancy cars.
Subaru can’t seem to jump up to the 400hp league so yeah the cars are falling in desire for the tuner crowd.
Considering the DCT’s in the big Can Am’s, I am surprised they still went CVT. This is a desert runner at best, I would however have greatly enjoyed seeing all that motor in front of the 7 Speed manual from a Bronco. Just saying
The Polaris rubber belt CVT’s are dead reliable. That’s important if you’re miles from nowhere.
which is why every one of those has the tools and a spare or two on every Razor I see?
It would be interesting to know how much time these things will spend rightside up vs. upside down.
the CVT makes them rely almost solely on breaks if they try to crawl and cannot take the line the first time. Otherwise they just end up Right Side down.
So they are Jeeps?
Nope, Jeeps, even the auto ones are still automatic and as a result have engine breaking. Manuals are better.
But also, yes Jeeps do roll with piss poor drivers trying to do stuff they are not yet verrsed on how to do. But how else do some of them learn I suppose.
I have seen 2 can ams roll when trying to get onto another line, jeeps tend to tip a lot and flex a lot before rolling.
I’d say 99% right side up. Then you get to the 1% upside down and everyone is Dead. Not saying it’s a bad thing but certainly a stupid thing
Eh, they are made with roll cages for a reason.
“Roll cages”…not sure I’d trust surviving a medium-to-high speed roll in one of these. Perhaps tipping over when rock crawling, sure, but with any kind of velocity during the roll I’d expect disaster.
The comparisons to road vehicles seems ridiculous to me. And there are certainly a number of states where you can register these.
This is a toy. Or a cheap race vehicle.
There’s enough buyers to justify making this but automakers can’t keep compact and subcompact cars in their lineups?
The entire economy is shifting towards selling fewer, more expensive ( and higher margin) items to the wealthy over selling many affordable items to the lower classes. The future is bleak.
It wasn’t enough for the rich to deny us healthcare.
Well hey – When you’ve dropped $100K+ on a diesel pickup and $100K+ on a “toy hauler” camper, what’s $50K+ on the toy? I see these types heading out to the desert on Thursdays & Fridays where I live in SoCal. I am consoled by the understanding that my 401K balance is almost certainly much higher than theirs…and by the knowledge that I have a low-budget roadracing car in the garage. I guess you don’t need a retirement plan when your destiny is to die in a SxS crash.
At this point in late stage capitalism, I’d rather have the toys than the 401k. Fuck it.
Like the Miata someone is smart enough to make and sell small cars and profit. This is the same situation that allowed Asian car builders to build up a fan base and now kick the shit out of American car builders. Do we remember the big 3 wouldn’t and couldn’t build small cars and now they aren’t big 3
Our market allowed them to force actual fuel efficient vehicles out of the market and pretend 30mpg is good.
Oversea you can get 1.5 liter diesels in the same class vehicle averaging 45mpg or more that can actually be repaired.
That this is not street legal is some what of the appeal for many, they want their trailer queens on a flat bed so they do not have to worry about driving it home when they break it.
There’s an appeal about that part for sure. It’s very nice to have a toy that can be put away until ready to fix it without jeopardizing the ability to get to work or to the store.
Get a boat it’s safer and just as expensive
And this is legal for trails near me but a jeep cj-2 is not.
The ATV clubs have a stranglehold on the trail system here in MN. I can’t ride my 690 Enduro on most trails, because “dirtbikes will rut the trail out” yet every damn two track now has two big ole’ ruts around every corner because the damn SxS drivers just need to goose it and power slide no matter what…
How did you know my comment was about Minnesota, well done.
I was just on the northern sections of the trans Wisconsin adventure trail 2 weeks ago and may have taken my jeep down an atv trail or two.
The Cornucopia beach was empty because of the smoke.
Lots of waterfall hikes with an N95 on. It worked.
I know where you live.. but not in a creepy way or anything. And just the state, not your house.
The Kawasaki Teryx H2 has an even crazier power to weight ratio for far less money.
250hp
2220lb (wet including gas)
$32,899
And a better horsepower/dollar ratio.
For some reason, this article is bringing the Titan Submersible to mind, which was a heart warming story.
Underrated comment.
I’ve only ever driven one SxS, and it was old and busted in several ways, but it still was like driving a personal rollercoaster. With that experience in mind, this thing just screams “death machine”.
$50K for a SxS, wow, just wow.
My neighbor bought his and hers so they can haul all five kids. Hauls them with his F350 with the Max dB Exhaust.They also drop the kids off at school in them.In case you’re wondering, the SxS are worth more than their house
I fully get they are different markets, but sheeeeesssshhh this is priced way too close to a Ranger Raptor that has 50% more power, is street legal and can be daily driven to work or the grocery store every day, comes with actual features like HVAC, etc…..
I’m with you. But I do get the appeal. The Ranger Raptor is illegal on many trails that these can access. It’s also nice to trailer home and not stress about breaking something.
With those insane power numbers, this thing better have a roll cage made from solid titanium.
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.
You would be surprised. Having worked in the powersports industry and done the business case reviews for projects like this, these projects don’t get off the ground unless it has an ROI of less than 3 years, often times it’s closer to 2.
Wow! That’s way shorter than I imagined (as a layperson). So, Polaris, after having done all their due diligence/market research must have confidence that they’ll turn a profit on this $50K SxS within two or three years.
I’m sure they know their customers way better than I do… but… I still wish them luck. Seems like a big ask.
americans will do literally anything but drive kei trucks
The metric system is giving this comment some extreme side eye.
If Polaris had their way, we wouldn’t be able to. A lot of the state kei bans we’ve seen have been pushed by the SxS manufacturers because they know the existence of cheap kei trucks makes their overpriced products even more unnecessary than they already are.
Came here to say this, SxS manufacturers are actively trying to make it harder to register kei trucks.
Weirdly, I have not yet been able to link any side-by-side manufacturer or OHV lobbying to the passage of Kei bans. I have, however, been able to link Kei bans to car dealer lobbies and state police organizations.
If you have evidence of a direct link, email me at mercedes@TheAutopian.com because I’d love to write about it.
Have you ever driven a Kei truck? Or a Kei vehicle? Even in Japan they are underpowered wheezy and shitty ergonomics for a moderate sized American. I HOPE we ban Kei vehicles, complete liability.
Does that mean we should also ban motorcycles, SxS’s, and old cars from the roads? Like kei vehicles none of them are safe in an accident. Most of the stock mid 50s and earlier cars struggle to keep up with today’s traffic speeds. If we are purely going off drivability and safety they should all be included in your ban.
I know my postal jeep or 53 Willys Aero would crumple like a beer can in a crash, but they bring me joy to drive.
Yes and I think they’re wonderful and should be legal, and people can just choose not to buy them.
Fair enough. I was a bit heated yesterday, but I guess if motorcycles are legal why not Kei vehicles. I did rent a Nissan Dayz HIGHWAY STAR(only car available) in Saitama to go to Gunma and it was a pretty atrocious experience, so I stand by my sentiment. Also they don’t really compared to a roided up SxS. But flipside is different strokes for different folks.
I helped set up a festival in Eastern Oregon where contractors were split 50/50 between UTVs and kei trucks. My section was right near a short, steep hill. The UTVs were constantly spinning out, backing down, and trying again. The kei truck drivers were mostly fine. Anybody in a 4wd turbo Daihatsu HiJet didn’t even notice.
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. 🙂
If only that was as low as they went….
My company makes a set of SxS shocks that costs more than the last SUV I bought.
Yachts
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.
Depends on how many fatal wrecks occur with these things. They just legalized them for street use here in SC….im waiting to see how long this lasts.
Neat. I hope they can find a good CVT belt and make it easily fixable. Seems like it’ll be shredding them regularly.
This is one of the nice things about CVT belts in ORV type applications. They can usually be replaced with like two tools in 5 minutes.
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.
FIFY
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.
A neighbor a few doors down has one (not quite this extreme but close). Every weekend he pulls it out of storage and washes it. Once or twice a Summer he trailers it somewhere and it comes back covered in mud.
I’m biased but I’ve seen them in one of three places
1) at off-road parks running access roads and occasionally parked watching seriously built off-road vehicle and wondering how they do that
2) on more moderate enjoyable cruising trails ( think engineers pass) with the occupants bundled up in 20°weather and looking miserable
3) running around on paved roads in my exurb area taking their kids for ice cream.
I’m not a huge fan of these