COMPARISON / 600-CLASS TRAIL SLED
Ski-Doo MXZ Neo + Polaris 650 Indy XCR Ski-Doo MXZ X-RS 600R E-TEC Polaris 650 Indy XC Lynx Rave RE 600R E-TEC Arctic Cat ZR 600 137 ATAC
Middle Class Sensibilities?
The Former 600 Class Has Many Faces
BY STAFF REPORT PHOTOS BY WAYNE DAVIS
Once upon a time, in a snow-filled land not that far away( at least from a date standpoint) there existed a class of snowmobiles called“ the middleweights.” These machines were broadly categorized as relatively lightweight, agile snowmobiles with mid-displacement engines that appealed to the largest group of trail-based customers.
In the mid-1990s, the middleweights typically were powered by liquid-cooled, 580 to 600cc engines with a single-pipe exhaust and spun a 121-inch track. Each brand built multiple snowmobiles for the class and sold a ton of them due to their well-mannered trail performance and approachable price tags.
They earned the middleweights moniker for many reasons, but mostly because their actual weight plus their engine output put them squarely in the middle between the lighter, less powerful fan-cooled sleds and the heavier, more potent( and sometimes clumsy handling) multi-piped musclesleds. They truly represented the hearty
middle of the market.
After the millennium, though, things started to get messy from a naming standpoint. At the top of the displacement wars, multi-piped snowmobiles began disappearing and were replaced by 700- and then 800-class single-pipe snowmobiles. On the scale, they were often within a pound or two of the middleweights, plus they quickly surpassed the 600-class snowmobiles in total sales. At the same time, fan-cooled sleds and lower-displacement 440 to 500cc liquid-cooled machines disappeared from most manufacturer lineups. Suddenly, the sleds that used to be in the middle had become the entry point of the market.
Riders and media settled on calling these sleds“ 600-class” trail sleds – until some larger-displacement four-strokes with equivalent power entered the segment. That made the class name very odd. Then, those dastardly folks at Polaris threw in another wrench with the introduction of a ceiling-breaking 650cc two-stroke engine.
Do the math: These sleds are no
14 / JANUARY 2026 / SNOWGOER. COM