Ask The Editors: Single Seat SxS?
We’ll miss the single-seaters.
Based on what you describe, it sounds like you’re thinking of the Polaris ACE. It was available between model years 2014 – 2019 before meeting its discontinuation. These were available in both youth and full-size designation with available displacements offered in 150, 500 and 900cc variants.
We were sad to see it go as it filled a pretty interesting gap between a single seat ATV and a dedicated UTV (a lot of people call them Side-by-Sides, but as the designation refers to the way rider and occupants are seated next to one another, one seat makes the term a bit misleading).
Anyway, when the ACE went the way of the Dodo in 2019, Polaris didn’t leave its supports high and dry, as in 2018 they introduced the RZR RS1 line – which, unlike the ACE, weren’t so much a compromise between a quad and SxS and were instead an honest-to-goodness RZR just with a single, center-mounted seat.
Sadly, this model too seems to have gone extinct as 2022 is the last model year showing on our spreadsheets (making it available years 2018 – 2022).
We don’t have the numbers to state specifically why this machine was discontinued but common sense points to consumer demand not being strong to justify continued manufacture. A good part of the SxS experience, so it would seem, stems from the ability to transport passenger(s) and this is realized by the fact that each model year seems to include bigger and bigger machines with additional seating and storage. We certainly appreciated some of the charms of the single-seaters though, chief among these being a better sense of balance and weight distribution as well as superior rider visibility when compared to even 2-seater models.
At present, it looks like no other manufacturer is offering a single-seat UTV option for 2024.
