Almost the first words out of Arctic Cat engineering product manager Mark Esala’s mouth was that Cat’s new—and much anticipated—Wildcat Trail is its own vehicle and shouldn’t be compared to the Wildcat, the company’s beefy high performance side-by-side.
Not even a kind of mini Wildcat? Nope.
While the Wildcat Trail looks like its bigger sibling (can we at least say that?) with its styling and distinctive look, we did our very best not to make comparisons during our day-long ride in western Colorado.
Standing in the parking lot looking at the Trail, that was a tall order not to make any comparisons. Once we settled into the cockpit of Cat’s newest side-by-side, we were ready to base our opinion on the merits of the Trail.
Of course, Cat would prefer dirt enthusiasts compare its new Trail to the RZR 800, the only other side-by-side in the 50-inch wide class. Cat brags about how the Trail’s claimed 60 plus horsepower—impressive coming from a 700cc engine—is 7 hp more than the Polaris 800.
Fox Shocks
Next, Cat points to its Fox shocks—located on all four corners—and resulting travel 10 inches in the front and 10.5 in the rear, which is one inch more in the front and rear compared to the RZR 8.
The Trail’s Fox shocks are nitrogen charged and offer preload adjustment. The early part of our ride was on fairly smooth mountain roads, not really a test for the Fox shocks. Later in the ride though, we took some gnarly trails that did put the Trail to the test. The result? A great ride through deep ruts, over rocks and logs. The balance and trail stability were impressive.
Of course the shocks and balance of the machine, along with the fact you’re sitting low in the chassis much like you do in the Wildcat (dang, there’s another comparison), have a lot do with the feel of the balance and stability of the Trail, as does the double A-arm design on the front and rear suspension as well as the anti-sway bar that comes on the front and rear.
The 10 inches of ground clearance was definitely adequate enough for the trail riding we did and for what we suspect most riders who look at and buy this vehicle will need for the kind of riding they do.
One more comparison Cat made with the RZR 800—one that will probably grab some attention—is that the Wildcat Trail has an MSRP $500 less than the RZR 800. The Trail has an MSRP of $10,999 while the Trail XT is $11,999. For that extra thousand bucks you get color-matched bucket seats, machined cast aluminum 12-inch wheels and automotive-style paint in Team Arctic Green or Matte Black.
The Trail Transaxle
An interesting feature on the Trail is Cat’s use of a transaxle instead of a more traditional transmission. The transaxle is made by Team Industries, which also makes the Rapid Response Clutches used on the Trail. Much like a transaxle on a car, the axles (rear axles in the case of the Trail) come right out of the transmission, meaning there is no rear differential. Cat explained that one of the reasons for going with the transaxle is for “packaging.” If the Trail had used a more traditional transmission system, it would have made the vehicle 13 inches longer. As it stands right now on its 25-inch 4-ply Carlisle Trail Pro tires, the Trail is 110.5 inches long and has a wheelbase of 84.6 inches.
The 700cc twin-cylinder 4-stroke is new to the Wildcat lineup and, surprisingly, not made in Cat’s engine plant in Minnesota. Rather the engine is made by KYMCO. You might remember KYMCO released a 700 engine last summer for its UXV side-by-side. Cat’s Esala stressed, however, the Trail’s powerplant is “Cat-designed” and a Cat-only engine.
As already mentioned, Cat claims the Trail’s power output at 60 plus horsepower and, we think it’s a pretty peppy engine. One thing we noticed is that on the bottom end, from a dead stop up to about the mid-range, you can’t really feather this engine. It wants you to really get into the gas pedal and go. Once we hit the mid range all the way to where we tapped it out around 60 mph, the power was very linear. The power output seems to really fit this chassis, making a great overall package.
Comparing the weight and horsepower of the Trail versus the RZR 800 shows the Trail holds the advantage in power-to-weight. The dry weight of the Trail is 990 lbs. while the RZR 8 is 1,041 lbs. Assuming the horsepower figures are correct (Trail at 60 hp and RZR 8 at 53), then the Trail holds a slight edge over the RZR 8 in horsepower to weight category.
No Power Steering
As much as we preach power steering in Dirt Toys, the lack of power steering in the Trail doesn’t really hamper the overall handling of this vehicle. Granted, a good portion of our test drive was fairly high speed on smooth mountain roads so the rack and pinion steering system worked fine. The Trail was a little—and we stress little—more difficult to steer while in 4WD but not overly difficult. And the feedback from the steering wasn’t very noticeable. You usually want some feedback but not jarring feedback and the Trail delivers here.
The tilt steering, with its seemingly infinite adjustment, is a great feature and one that helps overcome, in a small way, the smallish cockpit. Our test driver felt like there was enough space for him, but a fellow writer who is larger said it was a bit cramped. Another nice feature is the automotive-style doors which are easy to open with no nets to fuss with.
A couple of other features that really stand out on the Trail is the function and location of the gauge. Lots of information is available on the gauge and we like that it’s placed to the right of the steering wheel in clear view. Also, you can carry upwards of 300 lbs. of cargo or camping gear or whatever else you might want to in the cargo bed, which is a good thing because there’s not much storage in the cockpit area. And a two-inch receiver and 1500 lbs. of towing capacity mean you can haul a variety of things behind the Trail.
Okay, we’ve been pretty good at not comparing the Trail to the bigger Cat side-by-sides, like the Wildcat 1000, but we are going to make one comparison. The Trail is $6,000 less than a Wildcat 1000, which if you don’t want or need the bigger horsepower of a 1000, the Trail becomes a nice buy. It’s an ideal trail machine that can fit on some of the tightest trails you can find.
So while we were cautioned not to compare the Wildcat Trail to its bigger sibling the Wildcat 1000, after spending a day driving the Trail we think it’s big enough to stand on its own.
