At first I thought the Rhino was a dumb idea. But, a couple of my buddies have them, and after riding with them I think I might be coming around. My thoughts were that if you are going to go that big, why not just get a Jeep? And, the Jeep is street legal, so you can ride around the national forests on any road, where the Rhino isn't street legal (at least in this state). (Same logic goes for having a dual-sport motorcycle, instead an off-road bike that isn't street legal.)

I really dislike the trend toward huge, heavy, ungainly, monster utilitiy quads. And, to haul that monster quad around, of course you need a huge, powerfull engine. In my opinion, these machines are just downright DANGEROUS! I think we are going to see a lot of injuries from inexperienced riders running around on these things, and there is going to be a SAFETY BACKLASH from the media like we saw in the 3-wheeler days.

So, this is where the Rhino comes in......... First, it has a rollcage, so in going to be safer. (It however absolutely must have something over the door opening, to keep your feet inside the vehicle. Already one buddy rolled his and his passenger got a badly broken leg. You would have thought Yamaha's legal department would have figured out that this configuration is a lawsuit waiting to happen.) It has car like controls so everybody is going to be familiar with the operation, and this takes the years of experience that you need to be a great quad rider out of the safety equation. It is smaller and lighter than a Jeep and doesn't require the riding skills of a quad, so it isn't going to be as intimidating to a beginner (or my girlfriend) on technical terrain. And, it has more of the fun feel of a golf cart, vs the "truck" feel of the Jeep.

The Rhino is more expensive than a quad, but when you look at the fact that you can carry a passenger, it isn't more expensive than TWO quads.

 

I can't wait to take mine out.

For me, I had a tricked out golf cart (Electric, so I can drive at my summer camping area after 10pm.) and a dune buggy. My wife isn't that adventureous and only went duning once. So the buggy would end up being only used to go to the sand drags and the hill at night.
After taking every precaution, I had another 2 batteries fail on the cart and decided that I really didn't go out after 10pm too much at the river (And secturity said as long as I'm not "Cruising" they have no problem with me driving around) and only need 2 seats to go to the hill and drags, that it was smarter to go the Rhino route.
My wife is comfortable knowing that with 4wd she has little chance getting stuck where she would want to go and it's not too big that it will intimidate her.
Now when we go to hardpack areas I can take her on fun rides as well!!

TPR

 

In my case I had spent a whole lot of money modifying a series of Jeeps over the years, and had got to the stage that the Jeeps were only borderline street legal, and they were no longer all that driveable on the highway, at least not for long distances. So I ended up trailering my Jeeps to the trailhead for years, and I was starting to get kind of tired of having a $50K Jeep just sitting in the garage for all but two days out of each month.

A Rhino with mods is still less than 1/4 the price of the Jeep, and since I was trailering the Jeep it is no big deal to trailer the Rhino as well. The Rhino is more fun, more maneuverable, and a lot smoother riding than the Jeep was. My wife even enjoys going with me more in the Rhino than she did in the Jeep, because it is smaller, we sit closer together, and it is more "intimate". We are loving our Rhino. No question the Rhino is better than a Jeep for us.

DV

 

A couple of my buddies have monster utility quads, because they are "hunters" and they figure that is what they need to haul game out of the woods. I try to get them to go riding recreationally, where they can develop some riding skills. But mostly, the quads just sit there all year, then only get pulled out of the garage in the fall for hunting season. I can't imagine how they are ever going to develop the skill to handle a big ute in nasty technical terrain!

The Rhino seems to be the perfect solution, for this type of rider (forever inexperienced). If they get in over their heads and roll it, no big deal.

 

You should look at the EZGO ST 4x4 They can be licensed by The DMV here in Calif for Street use.

The Rhino Can not be due to it designers failure to design it to SAE Standards.

Yes the Rhino is faster but it is also water cooled vs the Stx4 aircooled engine.