COMPARISON / BIG BORE SHOOTOUT
Arctic Cat ZR 858 Sno Pro 129 Polaris Patriot 9R Indy XCR 136 Ski-Doo MXZ Adrenaline with Blizzard Package 850 E-TEC 137
like a third-place engine in this first iteration . “ The 858 is certainly powerful , but it ’ s a bit more sluggish on the bottom end and seemed to take a beat to spool up coming out of corners ,” one test rider noted .
“ It lacked the throttle response of the other two , but once it gets up on mid-range , it ’ ll run with anything most of the way to top end ,” another tester noted , “ but the Polaris will pull away from it up top .”
“ Overall Cat did a really nice job on the 858 – it runs so much cleaner and more consistently than Cat ’ s now-old 800 , and in this chassis it ’ s really able to shine ,” a third test rider said , “ but the clutching may be off on this one unit .”
To be clear , acceleration testing is officially prohibited at the spring testing event , so our ’ s was kind of a backwoods run-off held off the trail system in a safe area . But we were shocked when the Cat consistently walked away from the Ski-Doo and gave the 9R some fits . It ’ ll be interesting to see how they fall once the production machines are compared this winter .
Asked to pick their favorite powerplant , all but one of our test riders pointed quickly at the 9R . “ It ’ s so torquey , quick-hitting and fun – you get added power like a turbo but with no delay or weight penalty ,” one rider summarized .
The one outlier in our group was pointing at the Ski-Doo . “ Proven run quality and efficiency matter , even in the big bore class ,” he said .
Handling ProwesS
A snowmobile ’ s ability to hold its intended line down a weaving trail , through corners with various radiuses and in varying surface conditions – from smooth and icy through rough and moguled and everything in between – is the result of many factors . They include but are not limited to front and rear suspension designs and settings , steering system , chassis design , weight transfer , overall weight , reaction to rider input ( body positioning as well as throttle and brake actuation ), track , skis and more .
And several of those same factors also affect ride quality – which is our next section . But we ’ ll cover the big suspension specs here once .
For buyers in this class , there ’ s a lot of “ new ” available for 2025 .
It starts with the ZR 858 Sno Pro 129 . It features what Cat is now calling the AWS 42 front suspension and an uncoupled version of the Slide-Action rear . The front suspension may appear familiar to Cat loyalists , with tall spindles and very widely spaced A-arms as found on full-sized Cat trail models since 2012 . A closer look , though , will reveal new spindles that shift the skis rearward about 2 inches compared to the rest of the chassis .
In back is an uncoupled version of the Slide-Action rear that was first unveiled with the Catalyst ZR 600 129 models for 2024 . It features a longer front arm and was designed to transfer a lot of weight to give the short-tracker a playful feel . Like the front suspension , the skid frame has also been moved more rearward by about 2 inches . For the record , ZR models with a 137-inch track have a more traditional , coupled design .
The MXZ in this test also featured a new front suspension design . The RAS RX ’ s taller spindles , higher-mounted and more widely spaced A-arms , more tilted shocks , longer steering arms and updated sway bar linkage were designed to improve handling by getting the sled ’ s roll center closer to its center of gravity . The RAS RX design also added an inch of shock travel .
The much-heralded rMotion X returns beneath the tunnel . It ’ s the latest iteration of the coupled and highly adjustable rMotion that dates all the way back to 2012 . In 2021 , this X version was introduced with longer front and rear arms that are laid flatter in the skid for more overall machine stability , updated motion ratios and nearly an inch more suspension travel .
The Polaris Indy XCR returns with an aggressive version of the Pro-CC rear suspension that dates to 2019 . With the XCR package , it gets the plethora of upgraded parts mentioned earlier that were originally designed and tested in Polaris ’ cross-country racing efforts , but those don ’ t affect the ride or handling felt by most consumers . The XCR does , though , get stiffer shock and spring settings directly from the factory .
18 / JANUARY 2025 / SNOWGOER . COM