Hello All - New member here from NJ. I'm currently looking to purchase a Sportsman X2. It will mainly be used on 3 acres of residential land. Light hauling & light trails. Plan to put a plow on it for the winter. My local dealer has a new '13 for $7188. The '14 is listing out around $9700 & includes EPS. Huge price difference. My question is whether I should fork over the extra loot for the EPS or grab a great deal on the '13? Opinions appreciated.

 

The XP based Sportsman X2 steers a ton better than the older Sportman X2's that were made up until the 2009 model year. For that kind of price difference I'd ask to take the 2013 one out for a ride and see what you think. I do have power steering on my Can-Am Outlander and do like it a lot. Especially on long rides where you're getting tired towards the end of the day. I've also rode the Polaris quads with power steering and found it to be nice too. But, with a $2500 difference in price I'd have to need the power steering to go for the 2014.

Another thing I found was that the front end on my Polaris sagged a bit and I put on Polaris' heavy duty springs and it helped ease up the steering a bit. Also, when you have a passenger or a load in the dumpbox it didn't make the steering any heavier.

Take it for a test ride and see if you can get by without it or if you'd really like to have the power steering. I've found I don't need it at high speeds but when you're in technical riding situations like tight twisty trails or crawling over large rocks it's very nice to have. The big benefit to power steering is slow going.

One other thing about power steering is that it has a dampening effect when you hit a rock, rut, or root a little too fast. You don't get nearly the hit you'd take as you would without power steering.