I Was Wrong About Pricey Off-Roaders Like the Polaris RZR

Growing up with a dad who raced GT cars in endurance series and later on doing some karting myself, I’ve always been about smooth tarmac and taking the shortest line around a track. Off-roading? Not so much. During high school, I enjoyed taking my Silverado Z71 into whatever unpaved shithole for the sake of getting some mud on it, but that’s as far as I desired to go. About a decade ago, once I started blogging about cars, off-road tests became part of the grind, so I grew somewhat fond of four-wheeling. One thing I never understood, however, was the side-by-side movement.

From where I saw things, these off-road machines were pretty cool-looking and capable but very expensive. Having off-roaded everything from a $2,000 jalopy to a $200,000 Range Rover, spending real-car money (between $15,000 and $45,000) on what I thought were lifted golf carts on knobby tires just seemed ludicrous. Moreover, most owners I encountered at off-road parks often drove these things like they were indestructible, sometimes leading to dumb shenanigans.

Earlier this summer Polaris offered me a chance to test drive a RZR. Considering I don’t live in the country and don’t even own a truck—much less a trailer—it seemed a bit silly. However, the thought of doing something cool and different with the kids while they’re on break from school motivated me to work around those obstacles and take them up on it.

Much to my neighbor’s annoyance, a Polaris RZR XP 4 1000 landed in my house a few weeks later. After bringing it into the garage, I stared at the rowdy-looking four-seater and noticed it was longer and almost as wide as my four-door Honda Civic! And with a $32,000 starting price, considerably more expensive, too.

After sourcing a way to transport my newly borrowed toy, I spent several weekends at a nearby off-road park with the family. Now, I never thought driving a RZR would be boring, but I certainly never thought it’d be so much damn fun. But what I really never expected was for my outlook on side-by-sides to completely flip. That’s right, I’ve been SxSed.

What did it for me was the level of performance the RZR offers and the style of driving it allows. It simply can’t be matched—not by a Ford F-150 Raptor, not by a Ram TRX, a Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro, a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, a Land Rover Defender, or essentially any production vehicle. No street-legal truck or SUV can do what this RZR does. I’m not saying these passenger vehicles aren’t capable on and off the road, because they certainly are.

What I’m saying is that nothing else offers the handling, rowdyness, and power-to-weight ratio of a side-by-side that weighs 1,900 pounds yet has 114 horsepower, 15 inches of ground clearance, and 16 inches of wheel travel. I went into this test drive thinking “off-road golf cart” and quickly realized it was more like “off-road shifter kart.” And having raced, 80, 125, and 250cc shifters, I know what I’m saying. (It’s also worth mentioning that my loaner isn’t even the most powerful, capable, or most expensive model Polaris sells.)

A full story about my experience with the RZR XP 4 1000 is incoming, but I wanted to preface it with this: It’s okay to completely change your opinion sometimes. I’d dare say that it’s a healthy thing to do because it means that you’re open to learning from new experiences.

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