Polaris Turbo S XP 4 Long-term Report 1: Holiday Fun
MotorTrend StaffWriter
We finally had a chance to hit the desert over the holidays to test out our long-term four-seatPolarisRZR Turbo S. The XP 4 was released to the public back in September 2018. Several dealerships began selling them in late November and early December, just in time for the holidays. Not a bad Christmas present if you were lucky.
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Our first trip took us up to Lake Isabella in Kern County the day after Christmas to visit family. We had a chance to hit some dirt on several acres of private property. The fire roads allowed us to really open up the throttle and see how responsive the Polaris Turbo S XP 4 really is. Switching between four-wheel and two-wheel drive on the machine gave us an opportunity to crawl some rockier terrain on the property.
The next day we headed out to the Keysville OHV area. Most of the trails there are designed for motorcycles. There are tight, twisty turns that wind through the trees. Our Polaris had no issues sliding sideways around these corners. The machine is just as capable as the two-seat model. Keysville OHV area sits next to the Kern River. There are several creeks that feed into the river, and during the rainy season there are water crossings on the trail—the perfect time for us to blast through the mud and get the Polaris dirty! Due to Keysville’s tight trails, we got some great feedback on the Polaris’ handling that we wouldn’t normally get in our deserts. We give it two thumbs up.
New Year’s was on a Tuesday, so naturally we headed out to the desert for an extra-long weekend of playtime. Our trip took us to Cougar Buttes near Johnson Valley for some New Year’s camping with friends. Everyone was jumping at the chance to take a ride in the Polaris. Everyone had questions about it. How did it handle? What’s the price? How much horsepower does it put out? The trails in Johnson Valley feature long high-speed sections with large roller-type whoops. We were able to blast the Polaris at 60-70 mph right through the whoops. Several lake beds allowed us to get up to speed. Johnson Valley is home to the King of the Hammers race. Round-trip to the Hammer trails from our campsite was about 50 miles. We were surprised at how little fuel we had used on the trek out there and back. Polaris recommends 91-octane gasoline. The tank has a 9.5-gallon capacity. We didn’t spend a lot of time crawling actual rocks at the Hammers, but we plan to return with the Turbo S XP 4 for King of the Hammers event week. There will be plenty of opportunities as we cover the race. Stay tuned for our next report.
