2006 Polaris RANGER XP LE

August 7, 2006
 By: Staff Report

Have you had your UTV today? More and more of us are catching the bug of this side-by-side craze. We aren’t real sure who deserves all the credit for the sudden popularity, but we know there are a few manufactures enjoying the attention. Kawasaki gave us mules in 1988, Polaris joined the game in 1999 with the RANGER and then the Yamaha Rhino and Arctic Cat Prowler got onboard in recent years.

It’s hard to say if there is one UTV that is more popular than the others, because everyone is going to use it slightly different. We do know that they are versatile vehicles that can work and play hard. The history of the RANGER is interesting. It started as a 500cc 6×6 work hourse and now they come in a few choices. You can get a 500cc 2×4 model (TM) or a 700 4×4 XP or 6×6, and the XP comes in a Limited Edition.

We were able to get our hands on a Polaris RANGER XP LE for a couple of months, to see just what it would do and how well it would do it. We rode it on a few different trail systems and quickly realized this is a wide unit. We scratched the side of the box in the first two miles on a popular ATV trail—ooops. On one of our road trips, we stopped in an RV park to overnight. Boy oh boy did we get some strange looks. “What kind of golf cart is that?” was a question more than one person asked. We quickly explained this wasn’t a golf cart and told them exactly what a UTV was. Long story short, a couple of the RV types invited us to join them for a trail ride to the top of a nearby hilltop to watch the fireworks for the 4th of July festivities. About half the way up, the guy leading in his “off-road” golf cart couldn’t make it up the hill. So…we towed him (and his passenger) up the rest of the way.

According to Polaris, the RANGER will officially tow 1,750 pounds, (on a flat surface) which is more than its competition. We asked the guy if he knew what his golf cart weighed, but he didn’t really know. If we had to guess, it had to be over 1,000 with two people included. The rear box alone carry hold 1,000 pounds, which is more hauling capacities than the Rhino or Prowler. It also has a bench seat, with seating for three, whereas the other guys only have room for two. The RANGER is a typical Polaris with soft suspension that feels much better than a Rhino in woops. The 683cc twin cylinder has all the low-end torque you would want, similar to the 650 H1 motor of the Prowler…but who wouldn’t want that extra cylinder. We found it to provide all the pulling power you could ask for, although we didn’t get a chance to play with it in the mud, we would bet that it would do just fine.

We will be honest; there was one thing we found that we didn’t like. The parking brake pedal is to the right of the gas pedal, we thought it might be better placed somewhere else. Our first couple of times using this, we accidentally hit the gas pedal and leaped forward an inch or two. We also found it (emergency brake) didn’t work very well on an incline with a payload of rocks in the rear bed…in fact it didn’t work at all. We’d ask Polaris to look into that. We did the next best thing and just put a few rocks in front of the tires and continued on our chores for the day.

The list of things we did like was much longer. The 26 inch Rawhide MT/R Goodyear tires had a great tread pattern and hooked up well in every condition we encountered; hard dirt, loose dirt and sand. The steering wheel was up high enough that we didn’t hit our legs or knee as we got into it, unlike on the Prowler. And it has a great truing radius for this big of a vehicle. Downhill braking was nice too, especially with a load. If you like the idea of having a built in cooler, under the driver’s seat there is a compartment that has a drain plug. It looked big enough to hold a case of cold beverages and a bag of ice, although we were told some people find this a great place to put a subwoofer. The friendly engineers at Polaris also thought to include cup holders that actually work. After a long day of testing, our testers accidentally left two water bottle in both cup holders. Two hundred miles later, (on a trailer) they were still there.

All in all, we had a great time with our RANGER. It helped us get a few chores done around the house, with hauling some rock for the driveway and we had plenty of fun on a few trails. If we were impressed by one thing the most, it would be how well it pulled that golf cart up a trail. Here are the specs from Polaris:

• Engine:  Polaris Twin Cylinder
• Displacement: 683 cc
• Bore x stroke: 
• Compression ratio:
• Carburetion: 
• Ignition:
• Transmission: Dual Sensing Automatic PVT  
• Final drive: 
• Frame:
• Suspension front / wheel travel: MacPherson Strut
• Suspension rear / wheel travel: Independent Rear Suspension
• Front tire: 26 x 8 – 12 PXT
• Rear tire:  26 x 11 – 12 PXT
• Front brake: Dual Hydraulic Disc
• Rear brake:  Dual Hydraulic Disc
• Overall length:
• Overall width:
• Wheelbase:  76in / 193cm
• Ground clearance:  Front – 11in/28cm / Rear – 12in/30.5cm
• Seat height:
• Lighting:
• Rack capacity, front / rear:
• Towing capacity:  1750 lbs / 794 kgs
• Fuel capacity: 8.5/37.9 gal/ltr
• Dry weight: 1185 lbs / 537 kgs
• Instruments: 
• Color choices:
• MSRP: