We are getting close, the new Talon releases in less than 48 hours. What will it be? Check out the video for our thoughts, for Southwest enthusiasts, if the new Talon will be up to par for Glamis, Baja, Ocotillo, Moab, Sand Hollow, Plaster City, Barstow, Geiser Loop, El Golfo, and more!

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We're less than 48 hours away from the launch of the new 2019 Honda Talon what is it going to be here's our predictions coming up next so Honda's got to 1000cc motors at their disposal they could easily throw on this new talent side-by-side the Africa twin motor is 94 horsepower the Honda pioneer is 72 - solid options similar in design the Southwest hard core side by side crowd wants 150 horsepower or more so the real question is will Honda release a turbocharged version this is what's going to separate the Honda from all the other side by sides on the market basically being this late to the game the markets been established Honda cannot come out with another Polaris meaning it can't come out with another CVT you know 90 inch wheelbase 18 inch travel exact same type of specs as a razor or even an x3 and expect to compete with competitors that are so established so the DCT is what we're gonna see looking at the spy photos it looks pretty obvious that you've got some paddle shifters right up there on the steering wheel now on the Honda pioneer you've got paddle shifters which have three modes standard sport and manual now I've driven the Pioneer 1000 on paper it's what everybody says they want option to go manual sport mode or automatic in the real world the shifting seems a little slow and sluggish I'm a dirt bike guy I much preferred the actuation of a clutch like the yxz had one initially launched but I would imagine because Honda's come out with a much higher performance version than the Pioneer it's gonna be a lot less clunky and more importantly it's gonna hold up to bigger heavier tires sand dunes and a much harsher driving situation than the Pioneer would ever see for heel base you got the razor to seat at about 90 inches the Textron wildcat at 95 and then finally the extra 102 I think most of the market has agreed that 90 is definitely the bare minimum it'd be nice to see 95 93 to 98 even close to do 100 inches just because a textual based Emmett Lee helps in all that nasty whoops and harsh rain here in the southwest so based on this prototype leaked photo of the Green Talon it looks like the wheelbase is definitely longer than 90 inch hard to tell but I'm hoping for a 95 or more ok suspension if you guys have seen some of these patent drawings online you've seen two different variations you've seen a three link and a five link what it appears to be is this leaked photo of the three talons the silver and blue right here in the front part of the photo appears to be a narrower potentially a 60-inch more of a trail model which looks to me to possibly have the three link simplified suspension system you can see the lower shock mount is up a little bit higher meaning it would have less shock stroke meaning it would have less travel not that big of a deal in a trail model on the other hand you look at the five link setup which kind of reminiscent of the old Wildcat appears to be in the photo here when you're looking closely at the green leaked Talon and that looks like a much longer shock longer shock stroke and that vehicle looks to be put out at least 17 to 18 inches of travel in the rear my personal opinion the five link looks overly complex a little overly clumsy I hope that's not it but it probably will be my reason for saying that is just because coming from more of an off-road background the more keep it simple stupid you're not seeing a lot of the fast high-end race cars running with this many types of different linkage setups it could be more of a marketing play on Honda's behalf but they're getting a little bit better geometry kind of like what Textron preaches with their wild cats it remains to be seen if it's true I think as a whole lot of customers are gonna be a little more turned off like myself if you're talking about more Alexa T more trailing arms more radius rods more things to break looking at the suspension I'm gonna say there's an 80% chance they're gonna go with Fox Fox is the industry leader they've got a much higher production volume than any other brand that's making shocks for OEM vehicles let's just hope that it's not a basic qs3 hopefully something with more adjustment there's a 10% chance of something interesting like a Showa aura Kayaba used in their motocross bikes and then I would say there's a maybe a 10% chance they might see a Walker Evans looking at the photo again of the green Talon it appears to be only a two and a half inch body in the rear not a 3.0 not a deal-breaker but definitely not ideal we definitely want to see as big of shocks as possible with as much shock stroke as possible and volume just because simply put it's gonna work better in big whoops in harsh terrain now let's talk about what it all boils down to Southwest customers are they gonna run out and buy this new unit a couple things that in my mind that are gonna necessitate that to get the real interests of the hardcore market one it's got to fit 32 inch tire stock I love he idea of going away from a CVT belt to try something new and different let's be honest the CVT belt works really good I mean plenty of turbo raiser owners xray owners comfortably pushing out above 180 190 horse with some tunes and pretty eliable for the most part and the clutching on CD T's is pretty simple and inexpensive to adjust based on paddles tires how big a tires you're running in 2018 as we head into 2019 everybody's running 32 inch tires the real conversation is do we bump up to 35 inch tires or is 32 the sweet spot for these vehicles so if this vehicle cannot handle 32 inch tires from the get-go without you know without the need of expensive clutching then I don't think it's going to be very successful in the southwest prediction naturally-aspirated 1000cc six-speed dual-clutch DCT transmission suspension travel is going to be 18 in the rear 16 in the front 64 inch wide they're also gonna release a 60 inch trail model potentially a 50 inch trail model and I'm gonna say the MSRP is nineteen thousand nine ninety nine just to keep it under twenty thousand competitive in the marketplace the seats appear to be really high quality the doors look really well designed so we're gonna be there Tuesday at the reveal in Los Angeles and comment below if you have any questions you'd like us to ask while we're there we'll be reading all these comments on our YouTube channel Facebook and Instagram when we received the invite it said it was a release from the power sports division as well as automotive division so Honda released this open air rugged concept vehicle right before SEMA just a few weeks ago just if I draw some attention it's probably something that will never see the light of day but also think about the Honda Ridgeline Baja racing effort that's been going on for almost three years so Honda's committed to off-road racing on some level I love this quote from the founder of Honda himself you know they love racing it's obvious that they're this big sleeping giant in power sports they have the amazing capability amazing brand loyalty amazing a reputation for quality and reliability so we're all really excited I hope so my predictions are wrong I want to be excited I'm sure most of you do as well so tune in Tuesday we'll talk all about it we'll talk about what we thought it was gonna be what it is if we miss anything thanks for watching and we'll see you on Tuesday another chupacabra fighting the wrong across as we watch do you believe in that Yuma.