Over the two days of our test drive of the new Arctic Cat Wildcat Sport near Bryce Canyon in southern Utah, we heard more than once phrases such as, “If you could only see how this [Wildcat Sport] performs at sea level,” and “We think you would be impressed with this at lower elevations” and “This machine really rallies in the desert.”
Perhaps, but can we just say we were impressed with the new 60-inch wide Wildcat Sport at elevation, which ranged from 6,600 feet to well past 10,000 feet during our two-day, 160-mile plus ride.
Sure, elevation tends to sap the horsepower out of any vehicle, including the Wildcat Sport, but this Cat still held its own when we were plying high mountain trails littered with rocks, logs and roots.
For the record, Cat claims the 700cc parallel twin engine in the Wildcat Sport pumps out 60 plus horsepower, the same as the Wildcat Trail. Despite the Sport carrying an extra 54 lbs. compared to the Trail, the Sport does well on the trails, building power gradually until you tap it out.
Not only were we riding at elevation, but Cat officials told us that the vehicles we were riding were set up for sea level so we didn’t experience the full potential of the Sport. The engine should top out about 7500 rpm. The highest rpms we hit were between 6600-6900 and 64-65 mph. Had the vehicles been set up for elevation, no doubt we would have been even more impressed.
Let’s Talk Size
But more on the engine later. Let’s talk size. The Sport and Trail are both 110.5 inches long but the Sport is 60 inches wide (compared to the full-size Wildcat which is 120 inches long and 64 inches wide). To accomplish that extra 10 inches of width, Cat designed and built an all-new frame/chassis.
The extra width comes courtesy of longer A-arms (front and rear), a longer CV shaft and longer tie rods. Longer also equals extra weight, which is partly where that 54 lbs. comes from. Cat’s Mark Esala, Cat’s Wildcat product manager, tells us that the new frame/chassis only accounts for about 5 lbs. of that 54 lbs. The rest of the weight comes from heavier (remember, longer) A-arms, heavier axle and heavier shocks. Cat also added some gusseting to the Sport model for added strength due to the longer A-arms.
Aside from the 60-inch width of the newest Wildcat in Cat’s side-by-side lineup, the other big news is the two new shock packages as well as new Carlisle Trail Pro tires.
On the base Wildcat Sport and Sport XT you’ll find JRi ECX-1 shocks on all four corners while the Sport Limited gets Elka Stage 5 aluminum piggyback shocks in all four spots.
We first told you about these two new shock packages back in September after seeing the new Wildcat Sport at the Arctic Cat dealer show in Las Vegas. JRi, founded in 2007, is relatively new but has made a big impact in all sorts of vehicles such as NASCAR, the military and several forms of racing.
70 Clicks Of Adjustment
The JRi shocks offer 70 (yes, 70) clicks of compression adjustment (but not rebound adjustment), which is almost unfathomable. These piggyback gas shocks feature 2.5-inch reservoirs and are easy, easy, easy to adjust. On our first day of test driving the Sport XT, we decided we’d like a little stiffer ride so we increased the compression by 10 clicks. When you make adjustments on the JRi shocks, you’re likely do it in bunches, like our 10-click change, rather than one click at a time. That 10 clicks did the trick for us, as we drove over decent sized rocks, logs and gnarly roots and the JRi shocks delivered a smooth ride.
“I like what the shocks bring to the vehicle,” Esala said. “And the tuneability is phenomenal.”
On day two of our ride we drove the Sport Limited with its Elka 5 shocks. We found he ride to be pretty spot-on so we didn’t make any adjustments to the shocks. Had we wanted to, the Elka 5s offer dual-speed compression and rebound adjustability.
“The Elka Stage 5 technology is awesome,” Esala said. “We’re the only OEM close to that kind of technology on a stock machine.”
We think the JRi shocks and Elka 5s lived up to every bit of hype we heard leading up to our drive in the Sport XT and Limited. The full-size Wildcat also gets JRi and Elka 5 shocks in the same respective models.
Bigger Tires
Anyone who follows Arctic Cat’s Wildcat models will recognize the name of the Trails’ tires, the Carlisle Trail Pro. The “new” with regards to the Sport models is the size, with the newest Wildcats getting 26-inch tires, compared to the Trail’s 25-inchers.
Really, the chassis, shocks and tires, are the major differences between the Sport and Trail models. The are no engine changes, although all Wildcats now have a closed-loop EFI system for 2015, the cockpit is the same on the Sport and Trail and the clutching is the same (even with bigger tires and the additional 54 lbs.). There is a bit more travel on the Sport with 12.2 inches on the front (compared to 10 on the Trail) and 12.6 inches in the rear (compared to 10.5).
Before we jump into our ride impressions, just a little more about the 4-stroke parallel twin SOHC engine. It should be no surprise that since the Sport and Trail both share the same U.S.-made powerplant, they respond in the same manner when you press the throttle. Power builds gradually from bottom to top. Don’t confuse “gradually” with “slow.” It’s not arm-pulling power, but the engine does jump to life when you press the gas. Of course we were at elevation so maybe the powerband was not as snappy as it will be at sea level but we did notice a little more pep in the engine as we dropped off the mountain and headed into Panguitch (elevation 6,624 feet—about a thousand feet lower than Bryce Canyon) for lunch.
The closed-loop EFI measures the output and then helps monitor that output to keep the ideal air/fuel rate and mix.
What Did We Think?
So what did we think? The Sport is a nice, overall package that is fun to ride, especially on the mountain trails we blasted along near Bryce Canyon, UT. The trails offered a fair amount of everything you might want to challenge a vehicle like the Sport. In addition to the rocks, logs and roots, there were some gnarly ruts and tight sections where you could test the corner-to-corner response of the vehicle.
Here are some other observations:
- While the Sport features the impressive Team Rapid Response clutch system, there is too much noise coming out of the drivetrain.
- The new automotive-style door handles are a welcome change to the first Wildcat door-latching system. They make opening and closing the door very easy. Speaking of doors, we like the bigger size of the doors. While there is still an opening between the door and the “lip” along the bottom of the opening, it’s not as big as it was on the first Wildcats. That little lip does a pretty good job of preventing unwanted debris, i.e., mud, from getting into the cockpit. And we really like the full doors on the Limited model. They were very much appreciated during the couple of mud holes we went through on our second day of riding.
- Cat’s variable assist Electronic Power Steering (EPS) works pretty darn good. We rode the XT model the first day and while the steering wasn’t overly tiring, it became more tiring the more we used 4WD. That’s certainly not unique to Arctic Cat, but when we drove the Limited version of the Sport, which comes standard with EPS, the second day, we quickly realized what we missed on our first day of riding. Cat bumped up the assist on its EPS by 20 percent, all of it on the bottom end, for 2015. Cat’s Dan Johnson explained, “We never turn the assist off because we want some assist even at high speeds in case you encounter logs or rocks. When the assist turns off, you can feel the negative feedback.” Boy, if that ain’t the truth.
- The Wildcat Sport has new dual-piston caliper hydraulic front brakes, which is good because there is no engine braking on these models. Engine braking would be a nice feature on close-to high performance vehicles.
- The new gauge on the Sport is placed well on the dash (read: easy to see) and is very user-friendly. It offers a lot of information and we like how the gauge actually changes between settings at the push of a button. And you don’t have to stab the button to make it work. Just press it.
- Speaking of user-friendly, toggle switches, such are used on the Sport for switching back and forth between 2WD and 4WD, are just that. We prefer toggle switches over knobs for making the switch on the fly.
- We may complain about the drivetrain noise in the cab but we won’t complain about how easy it is to shift the transmission. Not only is it easy to shift but there is a gear indicator on the gauge showing you what gear you’re in. It seems like such a simple thing but not all side-by-sides offer even this.
- We like the high-back bucket seats in the Sport. We did ride all day and they offered plenty of comfort.
Sure, maybe we would have been more impressed with the new Sport had we been riding at lower elevations. Maybe. It’s hard to imagine having more fun on the Wildcat Sport than we did in southern Utah.
