The top 3 high-performance SxS brands have announced their 2021 model offerings, so we decided to compare each of the “top model offerings” from each company and see how they stack up against each other.

For CanAm, we could have chosen the X3 RC edition, with its bigger MSRP, 32” tires and skid plates, but the Smart Shox is the latest performance update from X3, so we chose that model for the comparison

For RZR, the leaked photos of the new Pro R are VERY interesting, but, until it’s revealed by Polaris, it’s pure speculation, so we went with a Pro Xp Ultimate. We could also have used the Turbo S, which is a fantastic SxS, but again, the Pro XP is the “top of the line” and future of the RZR lineup.

I’d call the Speed the “new kid on the block” but the bun is still in the oven. Those of us on the Speed Facebook group are waiting patiently for some prototype vehicle testing, motor testing, and something more tangible than renderings. Still, we have no doubt this SxS will see the light of day this desert season, and the stats and info are too overwhelmingly awesome to leave it out of this conversation.

I think this season will be a “wait and see”, comment below and let us know what you think of these new model releases.

Transcription:

So now that we’ve seen all the 2021 model offerings from can-am speed and polaris let’s compare them and see which vehicle is going to be top of the heap this desert season what’s happening everybody nicholson chubacabra offroad thanks for tuning back in and if you guys want a little bit more in-depth breakdown we’ve got a lot of videos on our channel most recently last week we talked about the 2021 polaris offering also recently we talked about the 2021 can-am x3 lineup and we’ve done four videos so far and counting of the new speed utv so if you want a little more in-depth go ahead and check out our channel you can learn more about what we think about the whole product offering and how they compare against each other so guys dinner season is approaching and for the purpose of this video let’s compare the flagship 2c models of each of these top three brands now you guys are watching the channel you know I’m a 4c guy I love the longer wheelbase but by far and large two-seaters are what most of the marketing across the entire country even in the overall desert season or the west sell more so let’s focus on the flagship models for each of these three brands so starting off with can-am for 2021 we’re going to be using their can-am x3 xrs turbo r r smart shock model which retails for 29 299 now for the purpose of this debate I could have gone with the rc edition it is a little bit more expensive but this is the vehicle that can-am is marketing with the exciting new live valve technology it makes sense that we will compare this with the other two models all right this is why the can-am should win in this shootout starting off with the powertrain 195 horsepower well proven well documented very reliable the transmissions are nice the belts have held up extremely well this has all been documented most everybody knows these things rip and then of course if 195 isn’t enough for you you can easily go way north of 300 horsepower of course but it’s going to cost you quite a bit more especially once you get above 225 or so but it goes without saying that can-am’s got the most reliable proven highest horsepower highest performance drivetrain in the game second reason why they should win is with the addition of some live valve suspension aka their smart shocks now I know this technology isn’t new to the side-by-side game obviously polaris has had it since model year 18. but this is a really good technology guys we’re really excited about as you guys have seen if you’ve watched some of our videos on the channel it’s really cool to see can-am have this technology and as you ride in different environments particularly from the dunes to the hard pack or you start adding weight to these vehicles I really think this technology shines so kudos to can’t afford stepping up another nice feature benefit is that can-am didn’t really over charge it’s about a 1700 upgrade over the base turbo rr model which my opinion is really good you don’t get a fancy screen but I really do think they’re delivering a lot of performance for the buck with that upgrade so the third reason why they can’t amsterdam is because of the wheelbase it comes in seven inches longer than the baja bandit from speed and the razer pro at 102 inches this chassis has done really well on the racing scene most of you guys that have driven them it’s just a really good working 2c chassis particularly here in the southwest and to be fair if you are interested in the speed speed also offers a longer 110 inch wheelbase option called the diablo which is 15 inches longer than their baja bandit so you do have some more options with those guys but of the three the can-am is best being about seven inches longer all right here’s why the k m shouldn’t be the best choice for this desert season starting off with the frame and chassis needing some improvements now I’ve talked about this a lot nothing’s really changed unfortunately for model year 2021 you’re going to need to look at a bulkhead kit potentially beefing up the radius rods there’s a lot of well-known potential issues such as the lower a-arms that under a really hard hit or a g out or a lot of extended abuse these wear items need to be upgraded either right away or not long after your purchase so this is a big bummer for a vehicle who can do over 85 miles an hour right off the showroom floor with amazing suspension and amazing power it’s just really scary so you’re definitely gonna need to budget some of these improvements to the framing chassis so the chassis can hold up with the amazing power and amazing suspension so speaking of another reason why I shouldn’t win I’m going to call this bullet point 2 000 miles later because like I mentioned having to beef up some of the chassis I’ve heard that after a lot of wear and tear especially when guys have ran bigger tires 32 33 and above that the brakes aren’t as firm as a polaris or it might need some upgrading the steering rack could need to be replaced or need to be stiffened some other items like this which end up costing a lot of money so I think again this kind of dirty secret of owning an x3 um if you want something that’s really reliable big tires you want to push it hard you know own it for 3 000 miles plus and have a lot of reliability you need to think about this and that’s something that I think is a detractor compared to the competition of polaris and speed all right moving on to the next vehicle in the comparison we’re going to talk about the polaris razer pro xp ultimate which retails for twenty eight thousand four ninety nine now this is also hard I could have easily made a case to throw the turbo s at 72 inches into this comparison but as we all know this is polaris’s newest offering it is their new latest and greatest advanced technology it’s the platform they’re going to be building off in the future and for that reason and all the other upgrades that come with it stock we decided to use this in the comparison to keep it again as fair as possible so there’s a few reasons why this should be the top dog the desert season starting off with a dynamic suspension they’re calling it dynamics 2.0 like I mentioned earlier polaris has been using this live valve technology for several years now I think this is the third or fourth model year they’ve used it so they’ve made some improvements they’ve figured some things out by far and large the system’s proven to be working really well pretty reliable when you talk about that adding more complexity and more parts and then also integrating with the ride command display I’ve had this on my vehicle my 2019 turbo s it’s a really nice display the gps works great a lot of added value there you can see how your suspension is working you can tune it and see how it works so as it all works together it’s really nice feature benefit and it really adds to the fit and finish and all the usability of the razor in almost any environment so speaking of the ride command screen the fit and finish has been very much improved over all the older razors which was always one thing they would get knocked at compared to the can amps so the new razer pro xp has got nicer seats it’s got a bigger cockpit um it’s got you know some adjustments on the steering wheel the steering wheel moves in and out quite a bit more than it used to and more than the competition all of these things add up to a really nice and far more refined package than polaris has ever had a lot of people when they’re at the dealership these things they can see and touch and feel really persuade them when they’re making a purchase decision so good job on polaris for stepping up the game with the interior I’m sure they’ve heard that feedback by far and large and you can see the improvements with the model 2021 pro xp so one more reason why the razer pro xp should win is the razer loyalty now we want to talk about performance and value but it’s no doubt that polaris has built a tremendous amount of loyalty launching the first razor in 2008 that’s 12 years ago so they’ve been building and learning they are the number one seller of sport side by sides as a whole by a pretty good margin still not so much in the southwest where canada is really close but you know a lot of us have owned polarises over the years and had a lot of really good experiences so I think there’s that factor where people are always going to go with what they know polaris is always around they do a lot of things for the community like desert cleanups like the camp razors and they are the brand that everyone is looking at they are the brand that has built the most loyalty in off-road in the side-by-side market up to this point so here’s a couple reasons why the razer should not be the top dog this season first off of course the pro xp unfortunately is only 64 inches wide still I was really hoping to see some 72 inch flavors of this when they announced the new 2021 models last week and you can almost make the argument that at a lower msrp than the baja band than the x3 that you could upgrade to a long travel kit well you’re right you’re not wrong but a long travel kit is still a very costly upgrade we’re talking you know over six thousand dollars by the time you actually get the suspension kit and then you actually have it re-sprung and revolved accordingly otherwise it’s not even worth upgrading um and even though the chassis is far more refined a lot of guys that spend some time in them say they handle extremely well this is a big disadvantage another reason why it shouldn’t win this year is because it has the least amount of suspension travel and the least amount of horsepower of the three the motor is pretty much a newer version of the turbo that’s been around for a few years proven to be quite reliable but at 181 you’re not the top dog you’re not seeing as much after market support as you have seen with the x3 and it’s a considerable margin below the baja bandit which is going to come stock with 225 horse so powers down the suspension is also a little bit down compared to the numbers now really good working suspension is more important than particularly having the longest number the biggest number I know it’s a marketing battle that all these oems want to have the the most suspension travel but you know it’s also pretty proven that the x3 with its longer stroke shocks work really well so that’s also a little bit of a detractor I think you could argue again with a potential long travel kit you would mitigate that and have a vehicle to perform just as good in most environments but yeah we’re not talking about spending seven thousand dollars on upgrades if so it definitely kind of changes things and one big detractor I think that could slow down all sales are the leaked photos of the new razer pro r now these photos hit the internet last week a lot of them got deleted but a lot of us have seen what razer has been working on it’s really exciting this vehicle looks wider than 72 it appears to have a four cylinder motor maybe a cvt maybe not but unfortunately with those photos it’s it’s amazing but it’s also I think going to slow a lot of people down from making a purchase you know in the sports side-by-side game things move so fast a lot of us have this phobia of going to spend our hard earned money especially when we’re talking upwards of 30k and then feel like the next best thing just came along two days two desert trips later so I think this might be a weird year particularly for polaris guys we’re going to go with the pro xp I might want to wait and see what this pro r is what are the stats how much does it cost as well as how reliable is it going to be first year polaris has proven to have some issues with some first year releases 2016 turbo had a lot of issues for a lot of people so it definitely throws a weird question mark but at the same time I think if you’re seriously considering a pro xp it make it’s going to make you pump the brakes having seen these spy photos so getting on to the final contestant here for king of the hill desert season let’s talk about the speed utv baja bandit le edition which comes in at a price today of thirty one thousand five hundred dollars now if you were one of the first people to purchase this you purchased it at thirty thousand but if you just seen this video today and you wanna go buy one on their website the price has gone up and the price will go up again so for the second comparison let’s talk about 31.5 this is their le edition and what’s nice about the le edition is stock you’re getting a roof you’re getting carbon fiber seats five-point harnesses 32-inch tires v-locks and another nice cool touch which is a custom graphics package you could pick all different types of colors and flavors so that’s what you’re looking at here 31 and a half let’s talk about why it should win so guys I see the YouTube videos they get all the hits I know it’s all about horsepower that’s what everyone gets excited about well get excited about the speed because it’s going to come stock with 225 horse considerable jump from polaris and from can-am what’s even cooler is that for one dollar you can purchase a speed key which bumps it to 300 horse and what’s even cooler than that is that very recently speed said hey if you do want to get the speed key what originally happened was they did not offer a warranty well now you can buy a warranty now we have a production built side by side 300 horse with the warranty so there you go guys it’s going to cost a lot of money to get a can-am or a police put out those type of numbers and you can get that essentially for a dollar from speed pretty hard to beat well out of the game at this point another reason why I should win is that it’s got the best chassis and suspension design now I’m no engineer a lot of this is going off of the speed utv presentations which are obviously going to be biased but when you watch how those go down they talk about some of the shortcomings geometry issues and errors with the can-am with the polaris it looks pretty plain and clear that once this speed is out it’s going to work better theoretically because of the geometry of the suspension that still remains to be seen once we get to drive them back to back but it definitely also looks like the chassis is far beefier you’ve got 95 wall tubing 120 wall in some sections the entire front differential has an amazing billet housing speed has really spent a lot of time explaining why their chassis and their cage are significantly better than all other options out there which can lead to safer as well as you not having to go run out and spend money on a new roll cage if you don’t feel safe with a lot of these oem offerings so speaking of cages you don’t need to necessarily replace another reason why this should be the top dog is because it has the most value built in so really thought out chassis design real roll cage 4130 chromoly 77 inches wide you know shocks already with high and low speed compression adjustment and rebound adjustment 32 inch tires real bead locks carbon fiber seats roof full doors ton of storage where you don’t even need to buy an extra tire carrier because it’ll fit securely in the bed there’s a lot of value built into this thing right off the showroom floor so 31 05 is packing a lot of value for the punch the third reason why the baja bandit should win is because of the customizable feature right off the showroom floor now I know we can all customize an extra razor to our harps content but before you even take delivery of your speed you have four different types of seats based on your size you can choose from as well as a custom graphics package now this is another level up in terms of of service that we haven’t seen in the side-by-side industry and I think that’s cool and for a lot of people that’s a big deal so good job speed I think that’s a reason to consider purchasing a speed over the canon with the polaris this year so let’s talk about why the speed should lose is it real now even though speed’s a new kid on the block technically the button’s still in the oven the kid hasn’t even been born yet and for a lot of you this is just too much to get over you want to see it out running in the wild all we’ve really seen are a lot of renderings them telling us they’ve been doing a lot of dyno testing parts manufacturing but the final assembly has not yet happened on many of these vehicles or if so we haven’t seen that so I get it guys most of you guys that’s just too much of a risk you’re going to wait and hang tight that’s something that’s really going to deter a lot of people especially if we’re talking about trying to buy something in the next 12 months of course not being real also means there’s no history of reliability now the numbers we just went through sound amazing far better than the competition but again until we’ve seen it running in the real world it’s hard to be certain the good news is are the first speed uts are going to be out there are going to be the heavier force heater so if these first several hundred customers have great experiences I think as a 2c customer you’re going to have even a better peace of mind because of course the the heavier weight is going to lead to more heat from the motor more heat to the cvt belt and it’s only going to be a less of a strain less of a load on the 2c vehicle so remains to be seen but um yeah no proof in the pudding just yet and the final reason why the speed should lose is because they’re late this video is talking about this upcoming desert season unfortunately these baja banners aren’t really going to see the light of day the first ones I think until February so if you watch this video you get excited you go buy one you’re probably not going to see it until the season’s almost wrapped up probably in April or may maybe even later um that kind of makes it hard to put in as a shoe-in for this desert season especially when it’s unproven but I know a lot of you speed guys really like our channel and you’re really optimistic about it their momentum has been building week by week and you’re ready to take the plunge even if it’s not proven yet all right drum roll who’s gonna win all right tallied up all the votes and in my opinion the x3 wins for king of the hill this season now a lot of you speed guys might think that that’s crazy I get where you’re coming from but until it’s tested until we see it also this video is talking about this season and there’s a really good chance most all of you would not even be able to get a baja bandit so for those reasons it didn’t become the top choice same thing with the razer pro xp I mean we already saw teasers of this new pro r who knows what’s going on with that it looks very production ready in my opinion we’re gonna see this thing out in the wild before the end of the year but for now we’re talking about what you can go buy have fun what’s proven the x3 is that for all the reasons I mentioned amazing power tons aftermarket support nice fit and finish great suspension performance so so this I think is going to be a really weird year I think a lot of people are going to hang tight I think this new polaris release as well as the speed have so much interest people want to see what they are and how they exist out in the real world um it’s really hard right now because a lot of you guys that are sitting home with machines know that if you sell them there’s so little supply out there that you can sell them for top dollar but unfortunately the the reverse is gonna be true when you’re gonna go buy something all three of these brands aren’t gonna have as much inventory as we’ve seen in the previous years due to kobits so you’re going to be paying more even if you do get top dollar a lot of people even ask me to buy my razor just off of the video that we made and I’m reluctant because I want to have a razor I want to go have fun we have more trips going on I’m not going to sell it until I’ve got my new speed in my hands so gonna be a weird year guys in my opinion I think we’re not gonna see a lot of brand new machines right away but as the season wears on as we learn more about what the polaris is see more details on the speed I think it’s going to change up people’s buying decisions I think ultimately where we’re at right now is that we’re on the cusp of some game changers in terms of going above a thousand cc’s like it looks like the polaris is potentially going wider than 72 inches which is a first for polaris robbie gordon coming out with the speed at 77 inches wide with over 225 horsepower stock with the 300 horsepower option not only that but speed’s got a lot of new innovations and I really think it’s going to change up how people perceive the market so really excited to see these things running around in the wild let us know what you guys think in the comments below if you didn’t know we also sell products check us out on our website chupacabraoffroad.com please like and subscribe if you guys like the content and we’ll see you on the next one.