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
a chromo front torque arm, a four-wheel rear axle and twin limiter straps. They reflect its evil intentions. Polaris claims 16.2 inches of rear travel.
Up front, above the Pro-Steer skis is the Matryx / Race IFS dual A-arm front suspension with 9.5 inches of travel.
Power comes from a 650cc Patriot twin-cylinder engine with semi-direct Cleanfire fuel injection and three-stage variable exhaust. It spins a legit 135 horsepower off the crank. This machine sells for $ 17,999.
The Ride
Our test team’ s love affair with the 650 Indy XCR grew stronger with each passing mile.
It starts with the familiar Matryx chassis, which expertly places the rider on a relatively firm seat, with handlebar and footwell positioning that puts the rider in an aggressive yet comfortable position. The sled is easy to move around on whether hanging off the side when slinging it through corners or when standing to rip through m o g u lfi e l d s.
Our day started on smooth but weaving trails. Body roll was controlled, as was inside ski lift, so we were able to hold a precise line from corner entry to exit for near ideal handling. The only thing harsh was the XCR’ s PRT brake – a quick stab at the handle brought an immediate, powerful response and took some getting used to, particularly after coming off of a Ski-Doo.
Soon we transitioned onto trails with more stutter bumps and other anomalies. Logic might suggest that stiffer suspension settings might move the XCR in the wrong direction in this scenario, but that wasn’ t the case. It still wasn’ t rMotion-smooth, but the new settings improved rider control slightly when hammering through endless miles of choppy terrain.
Then we got to our playground – a specific off-trail location south of West Yellowstone where we’ ve often conducted big-bump testing. As mentioned in previous reports, we were fortunate to have a 2025 650 Indy XCR( without Long Tail geometry and the new suspension settings) along for back-to-back and side-by-side tests with the machines to feel the differences. They were immense.
“ The rear suspension is incredibly better – it calms down the entire snowmobile, even the front end is calmer with less feedback to the bars,” one test rider wrote.“ I couldn’ t really tell much difference with ski lift in corners or on smoother trails, but it’ s a big improvement over rough terrain.”
“ It seems like it might transfer a little more weight toward the back of the sled, which takes weight off the front end, yet the rear is more capable to handle the bumps,” another test rider said.“ There was not as much bottoming but it’ s not just cranked up to be stiff and harsh. It’ s just more capable.”
“ The sled feels stable, easy to ride and very forgiving,” a third rider said.“ In many years at Rode Reports we hear about supposed‘ big changes’ on sleds, and then when we ride them many of the changes are less dramatic than the way they are being marketed. But I believe Polaris under-sold this improvement. It’ s significantly better, to the point that if I owned a 2025, I’ d be trading it in to buy a 2026. And I’ m cheap!”
We scanned the test riders’ notes to find critical comments, but we just kept reading more raves about the new suspension settings,
2026 Ski-Doo MXZ X-RS 600R E-TEC 129
the lively 650 engine, the highly functional 7S digital display and the premium ergonomics. One rider offered his annual gripe about the interaction between his midshin and the driver-facing body panels, and another added,“ The XCR handling is really good, but it’ s not a VR1 with Dynamix.”
Other than that, the 650 Indy XCR entered the test as a staff favorite, and came out rated even higher.
2026 Ski-Doo MXZ X-RS 600R E-TEC 129
If one was to line up the specs and claimed focus of Polaris’ Indy XCR and Ski-Doo’ s MXZ X-RS, you might think they are rather similar machines – each originally
20 / JANUARY 2026 / SNOWGOER. COM