It does exist.
“It” is the new Wildcat XX. We’ve been hearing about this sport side-by-side for what seems like years but now that this vehicle has finally hit the dirt, the wait has been worth it.
We’ve seen it, touched it and ripped across the southern California desert in it.
It’s the real deal and could quickly become one of the hottest sport side-by-sides this year. Is that wishful thinking or the real deal? We claim it’s the real deal for three reasons.
1. The Robby Gordon-inspired suspension takes a beating and begs for more.
2. The naturally-aspirated inline triple 998cc four-stroke may not be the most powerful on the dirt but there is plenty of horsepower to keep you grinning while dialing up miles.
3. The Wildcat XX is better prepared to battle the big boys of the sport side-by-side market—the Can-Am Maverick X3, Polaris RZR and Yamaha YXZ 1000R—than the Wildcat X has been able to. And it looks better doing it.
Anyone who has followed the Wildcat XX for any amount of time knows Arctic Cat, and now Textron, took a beating in dirt powersports circles as well as on social media for talking for so long about the Wildcat XX and then waiting to release the model.
You might remember back to last year when we gave an exclusive report in Dirt Toys (“First Closeup Look—And First “Hear”—Of Textron Acquisition Of Arctic Cat,” June, 2017, page 34) and gave an update on the status of the Wildcat XX. Well aware of the scrutiny on the yet-to-be-released Wildcat XX, John Collins, vice president, Consumer for Textron Specialized Vehicles, said then that the new side-by-side would not be released until the spring of 2018, not in the fall of 2017 as originally anticipated. He added that the Wildcat XX would be the first vehicle Textron would stamp its name on as a co-branded vehicle with Arctic Cat and “We want to make sure its right. People don’t understand that the XX is a ground-up new vehicle” and it would take time to make sure the vehicle was ready to go before it got released.
We also reported then that Cat/Textron was going to use Yamaha’s triple-cylinder 998cc powerplant as well as King Shocks on all four corners.
Fast Forward
Fast forward to earlier this year at the unveil of the Wildcat XX at the historic Kemper Campbell Ranch in southern California and one of those two pre-production plans came to fruition. The Wildcat XX uses the Yamaha triple with its claimed 125 hp but Textron chose to go with Fox Podium 2.5 QS3 shocks front and rear rather than the King Shocks. King Shocks certainly are a great choice but so are the Fox Shocks, which are also used on Arctic Cat’s mountain snowmobiles and have proven to be a big hit (or should we say can take a big hit?) in that realm.
Racing great Robby Gordon was at the Wildcat XX unveil and when we asked him what his favorite feature is on the new side-by-side he shook his head a little and said, “There are so many of them.” And then he proceeded to do his own walk around of the vehicle, pointing out feature after feature, not just suspension, which he had a huge influence on.
Looking at the suspension in the little more depth, the Fox Podium 2.5 QS3 shocks with Bottom-Out Control are easy, easy to use and adjust. You simply turn a dial to put the shock in the No. 1 (soft), No. 2 (medium) or No. 3 (firm) position.
We experienced about as many different conditions as possible in the desert, including desert roads to a few rocks to rutted trails to decent-sized whoops with some climbs and descents mixed in along the way. The suspension sucked it all up and didn’t even whimper on the biggest of whoops. Our shocks were set in the No. 3 position in the rear and No. 2 position in the front. That was a good combination for us that day in the desert. As impressive as it was to hit the whoops full bore and the ride not jostle our molars, it was just as impressive as how straight the vehicle tracked in those conditions. Confidence that your vehicle is not going to get out of sorts while banging through the bumps is an important factor in the ride of a high performance side-by-side.
