By Nick Nelson

The last 11 years I have spent November in the garage prepping a race bike, followed by a week and a half of pre-running and racing for the Baja 1000. 2011 was to be no different, as I rarely have time to do anything else. An invite to a Kawasaki Intro for ATVConnection.com this November left me wondering if I could really spare the time to fly to the east coast for a few days. My uncertainty was quickly settled when I realized that it was for Kawasaki’s new Teryx4.

As of late, driving UTV’s has become one of my favorite activities. Being slightly on the edge, where I can scare myself, is what has kept me interested in ATV’s for the past 20 years. In my mind I see a few key differences between rallying a UTV and ripping it up on a quad. The first and maybe the most thrilling are having a witness to my stupidity/ability. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody sees it? Did it really fall? A sport 4 seat RUV meant three witnesses; this was going to be exciting.

The next key difference is that you can seemingly pound out mile upon mile of extreme terrain without tiring. With the Teryx4’s available Electronic Power Steering (EPS), aggressive driving in the Teryx4 just leaves you wanting more, instead of feeling worn out like you do when pounding a quad through rough terrain for any length of time. The final difference is the safety advantages of a cage and 3 point safety belts. In the racing world the common saying is, “with age comes a cage” and at 32 years of age, racing the WORCS series on both an ATV and a UTV has me understanding where it comes from.

Kawasaki flew us to Tennessee to drive the Teryx4 at the Brimstone Recreation Park. Brimstone Recreation area has amazing trails that are both, technical and scenic, perfect for introducing a new UTV. Brimstone’s tight wooded trails, knee deep stream crossings and rutted hill climbs are a challenge to even most capable 2 seat UTV’s. Kawasaki’s confidence in the new 4 sweater on these trails was a statement in itself.

Kawasaki aimed at a very wide target market with the new Teryx4. Terxy4 was designed to entice families that want the togetherness of one vehicle, hunters who want to carry their friends, 1st time buyers who want 4 seats, people who recreate in groups or even Grandparents who want to carry their grandkids. Targeting a buyer between the ages of 35-55, the Teryx4 will entice the very experienced as well as the complete newbie.

First climbing into the Teryx4 gives off a truly roomy, comfortable feel. Controls are comfortably within reach when buckled into the driver’s seat. What’s even more impressive is the back-seat. Clearly not an afterthought, the full-size seats are as comfortable and roomy as the front. The rear doors provide plenty of room to easily enter the backseat and even at 6 feet, there was plenty of leg and shoulder room.

I spent most of the day driving the EPS model. Whether driving solo, with a passenger or with 3 passengers, the Teryx4 EPS was easy to maneuver, even in tighter situations where you would normally want to be in a 2 seat model. The EPS was incredible at lower speeds, from turning around in the parking lot to navigating rocky stream beds and trails. Negative feedback to the steering wheel is a non-issue and the Teryx4 remains easy to control.

We were given the opportunity to drive a non EPS unit for comparison. Driving the non EPS was definite reassurance that the EPS is worth the 1000 bucks. The EPS system is designed to provide less assistance at higher speeds when you don’t need it. This is the only area where I felt could use a little adjustment. At higher speeds the steering still felt really light for my preference. For the control factor I would like to see even less or maybe no assistance at all, when driving at higher speeds. I imagine the reason it still assists at higher speeds is to control negative feedback, but the non EPS unit just felt a little more in control on the faster fire roads.

Brimstone had plenty of water in November and we found a handful of deep water crossings. The Teryx4 has no problem finding traction at the bottom of a creek or river crossing. Claiming to have a 23.6 inch water forging limit, we had no problem crossing streams that were nearly 2 feet deep. What was equally impressive was that your feet stayed dry. The Teryx4’s body panels, fenders and floor do an amazing job of keeping the water and mud on the outside.

We tried out the 4’s climbing ability loaded down with a cab full of passengers. In low range 4×4 the Teryx4 will climb amazingly steep terrain. It grabs traction and makes a ton of torque that keeps on pulling when you need it too. Rallying capability with 3 passengers is equally impressive. In tight wooded trails such as the ones at Brimstone or millions of others found across the U.S., the Teryx4 would be hard to beat by any four seat vehicle that I have driven to date.

More info at:
http://www.kawasaki.com/Products/SubCategory.aspx?id=27

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