It’s been our experience when test driving a new vehicle—ATV or side-by-side—we’re always trying to find the limits of the machine, you know, what it can and can’t do. “Ride it like a rental” comes to mind in these situations.
When you ride hard, you’re going to find the limits of any vehicle.
While the new, highly-anticipated Arctic Cat Wildcat is no different, we say good luck finding those limits.
This new performance side-by-side flat-out rails in the rough stuff. In fact, our one-day ride in the desert around Barstow, CA, showed the rougher the better for the Wildcat.
That was proven again this past February during the brutally tough and punishing King of the Hammers race in southern California where driver Todd Stephensen from D&P Performance in Cedar City, UT, captured first place in the 900-1000 Production class and second place overall. That’s a pretty good testament as to how the new Wildcat 1000 H.O. handles the rough stuff.
Stephensen’s win actually puts us in a quandary of sorts. While we were extremely impressed with the Wildcat—easily one of the most anticipated side-by-sides in recent years—one area where we think it falls behind its chief rivals, the Polaris RZR 900 XP and Can Am Commander 1000, is in power. We felt the Wildcat was lacking a little, and we emphasize little, in the horsepower arena, but after seeing the King of the Hammers win, it makes us rethink that a little. More seat time will tell.
And yes, we know that someone out there will make a point to get a ride in the Wildcat and then hammer the heck out of it, testing the machine’s limits and trying to find its weaknesses just because we said, “Good luck find- ing those limits.”
We know you can bottom it out and use up every last inch of travel. You’ll find the top speed. You might even find a little body roll (not much, impressive neW side-By-side set to WoW dirt enthusiasts though). So yes, even the Wildcat has its limits.
Exoskeleton Is Excellent
While it has its limits, it’s obvious that Cat’s engineers did their home- work when designing and building the Wildcat, which begins with a solid and tough chassis inspired by sandrails. Or as Cat describes it, “inspired by the exoskeleton design of sandrails.” Cat also said the “unforgiving terrain” of the Baja 1000 was the motivation for the Wildcat’s chassis design.
Describe it how you want, the chas- sis tames even the roughest terrain.
The chassis is built from high- strength low-alloy (HSLA) steel with a full perimeter design. If you’re think- ing of Cat’s Prowler lineup and its design, scratch that. This is an all-new chassis purpose built to take a pound- ing in the desert or other rough terrain from sand to rock. The HSLA frame is strong, yet flexible, two pretty handy and important features when flying low across moguls, rocks and ruts. Although it’s almost imperceptible, you can feel the chassis flex in certain conditions as it adjusts to the changing landscape, just as it should. Too rigid and the ride suffers. Not a problem on the Wildcat.
A feature that shouldn’t be over- looked is the 40-60 front-to-rear weight distribution of the Wildcat, achieved in part by placing the engine mid chassis and locating the radiator behind the seats. While that means the front end is fairly light and nimble, it doesn’t mean the front is flailing around in the bumps or always off the ground.
Depending on the type of terrain you’re attacking, the front end stays fairly planted, ready for the next bump.
Working Class Suspension
While the chassis does its part to soak up the bumps, the real work is the WiLdcat 1000i h.o. being done by the 5-link rear suspen- sion and double wishbone A-arm front suspension. The front suspension offers up 17 inches of travel while the rear has 18 inches. The 5-point multi- link trailing arm suspension—which Cat claims as an industry first—min- imizes camber and axle plunge in the rough terrain without compromising handling and steering.
You’ll find Walker Evans shocks (“That company knows a thing or two about ride quality and shocks,” Arctic Cat team product manager Mark Esala said.) on all four corners. The shocks have remote reservoirs, are machined from billet aluminum and feature
17-position compression dampening adjustability, dual-rate springs and preload adjustment.
Add all that up and you get the best ride in the bumps of any of the performance side-by-sides. That’s a bold state- ment but the Wildcat gets the job done.
One character trait of the vehicle that we like and noticed right away was that when the rear of the Wildcat catches air, it’s not all out of sorts. It comes down pretty fast and straight so you’re not all out of shape when the rear touches back down. It doesn’t matter if you’re riding in off-camber whoops or hitting the whoops straight
on, the Wildcat reacts well and quickly to the terrain. You can carry speed through those whoops, all the while having confidence in the vehicle to perform the way you want it to and not dance all over the trail.
Both Sides Of The Console
We experienced the Wildcat both as a driver and passenger and felt how stable in the bumps it really is, regard- less of which side of the console you’re sitting on. We were wishing we had a left hand grip while in the passenger seat, but that’s a pretty minor com- plaint.
One of the other Wildcat-only features on the vehicle is the all-new Duro Kaden 14-inch tires. These 4-ply tires use an elongated tread pat- tern designed to extend to the tire’s shoulder, providing better cornering, traction, performance and durability in the kind of conditions the Wildcat was designed for: rough.
Before we get to the actual pow- erplant, we want to touch on the Wildcat’s cockpit, which is a pretty sweet setup. Cat points out that Wild- cat riders sit five inches lower than in a RZR but have the same amount of ground clearance. This helps keep the center of gravity low. The cockpit fea- tures high-back bucket seats, 3-point seat belt and a digital/analog gauge. At first, when we slipped into the bucket seat, both on the passenger and driver’s side, it felt a little small. More specifically, the seat felt short behind our knees but once we started the ride, we didn’t notice that at all. In fact, we like how the seat not only feels cushiony-wise in the bumps but how it envelopes the driver/rider, which keeps the jostling at a minimum while you’re pounding through the bumps. As for the gauge, it’s easy enough to read while driving but you do have to divert your eyes to look at it as it’s just off to the driver’s right.
Now for the power. One opinion we heard from another driver during our test drive in Barstow was, “It is kind of soft when you try to stomp on it after you let off for a whoop or corner.” We generally agree with that assessment. Other than that, we were by and large impressed with the horse- power as we raced through the bumps and across the desert. Cat’s linear power is excellent, too.
Engine Made In U.S.A.
Part of the power issue, if you want to call it that, has to do with the Wildcat’s clutching. The way Cat’s engineers explained it, they can clutch the Wildcat so that it hits pretty hard out of the hole. But if you want that hard acceleration after you let off and get back into it, you give up a little on the top end. Likewise, if you want more top speed, you can clutch for that as well, but then you give up that hard hit when you let off and try to get back into it. It’s a tradeoff.
The 1000 H.O. engine (951cc) is built in Cat’s St. Cloud, MN, manu- facturing plant and is a V-twin, SOHC 4-stroke with electronic fuel injection. It’s the same engine as what you’ll find in the Prowler XTZ. The Wildcat has a new 2-into-1 ceramic-coated exhaust and all-new air intake system. By ce- ramic coating the pipes, Cat was able to eliminate the need for a heat shield.
Power from the engine gets to the wheels via the Duramatic automatic CVT transmission. There are a couple of things that really impressed us about Cat’s powertrain setup. First is the Spike Load Dampener, which allows the driveline to slip for a millisecond under harsh spikeloads, which reduces the torque load to the system for optimum durability. Second is the console-mounted shifter. It is easy (very easy) to shift the Wildcat’s transmission.
Another piece of the Wildcat puzzle that allows you to attack the terrain rather than react to it is electronic power steering, which minimizes the jarring or feedback the driver might feel while crawling over rocks and rut- ted terrain. It means being able to ride all day without feeling wiped out from having to wrestle the steering wheel to maintain control. Cat’s EPS system uses an ECU to measure steering input force, tire resistance and vehicle speed and then provide the right amount of steering assist. The slower you’re mov- ing, the more assist you’ll get.
There shouldn’t be any doubt the Wildcat is a high performance thrash the desert or dunes kind of vehicle. “This vehicle, you’re not going to haul wood with it,” was how Cat’s Esala put it. “It’s inspired by the desert but you can go in mud, rocks, whatever.”
The Wildcat definitely delivers— and then some, ready for just about whatever you can throw under its wheels.
So go ahead and try to find its limits. Remember, the fun is in the trying.
