Small video of EPS in action.

 

Power steering is nice to have. Never thought I'd like it as much as I do.

Kind of looks like a mix of Polaris and Can-Am looks-wise. Not bad. I do hope it's better than the Chinese quads many of us tried.

 

Well, I went to a Polaris dealer and a Can Am dealer today. Looked at the top of the line machines. Here are some of my first impressions. Do they agree with your knowledge of ATVs?

Polaris designs and builds for high features and low price. I thought the machine looked like a tank in all black. It does look more like a tractor than the Can Am. The "throttle by wire" feature is a great way to tame a 90 horse twin. They have made improvements to reduce engine heat in the chassis. Turning radius was 15', not bad. The Polaris is known for the best ride and handling. The seat was unusually soft. The footwells were large. The 2 up seat was okay, but not as comfortable as the Can Am. Passenger hand grips were good. Maintenance access to the chassis was more clumsy, maybe due to the longitudinal engine. Sales person says reliability has improved. Polaris is the ATV volume leader.

The Can Am Limited Max was very sharp to look at. Fit and finish was better than the Polaris in my view. I liked the air shocks. Both seating positions were better in my view, however the passenger seat back support was very upright for my tastes. The handgrips were on par with Polaris. Maintenance points were easy to get to, but exposing the engine and transmission requires more tools. Can Am has the two key method of "de-tuning" the engine, not as clever as the Polaris. The Rotax V twin sounded better than the Polaris parallel twin. I understand engine breaking downhill is better in the Can Am than Polaris due to the differentials. The Can Am comes fully loaded with bumpers, winch, GPS, hand guards, and the like. Put all these on the Polaris and the price comparison becomes closer. The Limited Max comes in blue only, which I liked better than the Polaris black only. Sales person says reliability is good. Imagine that. The Can Am price is significantly higher than the Polaris.

Please give me your thoughts between the two.

David

 

I have the air shocks on my Outlander Max XTP. (Not offered on the XTP anymore). It's one of those features that you wish every quad had. With my, North of 300 lb., body it's nice to set it on 3-4 when alone. If my wife comes along it goes on 4-5. If I put a heavy load on the rear rack, like firewood, it goes up to 6. If I get caught on something when I have it set around 3-4, I can lift the quad by putting it on 6 and backing up. All from the seat with a few button presses. I really like it.

One of the big things that made me go with the Outlander Max is that there is space for a big box on the rear rack, even with the passenger seat in place. Without the seat that extra space is nice. My sons got me a Yeti Tundra 35 (fantastic cooler) for Father's Day, Birthday, Christmas and it fit in between my Can-Am hard box and me. Was great on the Utah trip. Ice barely melted in full days of riding.

The Rotax V does sound a bit better to me too. Both have a nice rumble. At higher speeds you'll notice the whine of the drive belt on the Can-Am. It is what it is. I just tell people who ask about the noise that it's the turbo kicking in....

My Outlander has the older Generation One frame that Can-Am replaced with a better one. I have not been as impressed with it as the Polaris frames. I had to take my rear rack off to fix a couple bolts that held a sub-frame under the rear rack on the main frame. Stupid design. Don't know if they did that with the newer ones. One bolt broke and the other wiggled free. Never had fram issues with the Polaris quads I've owned.

The Limited also comes with one of the best GPS out there. Garmin Montana 650t. If you're a fan of a GPS readable in the sun with topographic maps it's a great one.

 

Polaris has had their frame issues too. This one was on a 2011 X2. Jumping ship from polaris to yamaha - Page 2 - Yamaha Grizzly ATV Forum




The guy that posted this is from a Grizzly forum I frequent and seems an up and up person. He was out at Tar Hollow when this happened.

I would probably lean towards the Can-am myself for a 2-up ATV and it has nothing to do with the above incident. I've ridden both Polaris and Can-am machines and I just liked the Can-ams better. Feels much more solid and responsive.

 

I've never seen anything like that. Wow! Do you know what happened? To me it looks like a tree got dropped on it. Tree would do that to any quad.

 

That's the first Polaris that I've heard of with a broken frame other than crashes that totaled out the quad. CanAms on the other hand have had a lot of bent frames on the old generation quads. You pay your money and take your chances with whatever you buy. It's gotten to the point that I don't trust any brand.

 

We see a pic here of a Sportsman folded in half. While I'm not the biggest supporter of Polaris by any means, I wonder what the rider did to it to do this. It said that he rode slow, 2up on a one up machine and it just did this. That alone would have technically voided any warranty as its not a 2 up machine. But everyone who is on here has ridden 2 up on a single rider machine. We had 3 people on a Honda Recon once, one riding on the front rack. I assume from what I read that someone didn't weld the frame very well and it folded in half like that.

 

Yes, it was said he generally rode slow and this was with a 2nd rider on it. It also says it was a X2 which I though were 2ups? Additionally said it had ~ 70 miles on it.

If you read that thread, the discussion went on to say that was a weak point on the frame and really required gussets on each side welded on to a new frame in the location where that one folded. But, those are opinions.

Point is all the manufacturers are faced with problems or defects and depends on how the company deals with it and if those problems are wide spread or not.

A lot of these problems are really minor though when compared to the RV industry.

 

Thanks a bunch Moose for writing about your experiences with the Can Am Max with air shocks. I assume the air shocks offer a good ride dependent on the weight on the machine (one or two passengers). I also think the Limited is the Cadillac of the 2 up machines available.

Do you find the ride is compliant enough, or is it pretty jerky? People say the Polaris absorbs trail bumps, ruts, rocks and the like the best of all ATVs. How does the Can Am compare.

I figure if the air shocks prove ineffective or troublesome, I can replace them with the Fox adjustable shocks like the XT-P has.

Have you ever wished for a shorter machine on tight trails? I'm told the turning radius isn't the greatest on the Can Am Max. I measured the Polaris Touring at about 15', I can live with that number, but maybe I can't live with a Can Am if it is 20'.

Your insight to the Can Am Max is very valuable to me.

David