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2009 snowmobile reviews and test drives


 

OVERVIEW:  Certain years have benchmarked dramatic improvements in snowmobile technology.  For example, the 1987 Ski-Doo line was lagging far behind the suspension systems used by other manufacturers.  In the late 80's to mid 90's, all manufacturers introduced huge improvements in suspension systems and ride comfort.  The mid-2000's are introducing dramatic changes in "green" engine design.  The new engines are much quieter and lighter, have less 2-stroke oil odor or no odor.  Some engines boast dramatically better gas mileage which also suggests longer trips.  Some manufacturers like Yamaha have fully committed to lightweight, quiet 4-stroke engines which use no oil in the gas.  Others like Arctic Cat and Polaris are struggling with their new, over-weight 4-stroke engines and are still primarily depending on older 2-stroke designs. 

Ski-Doo is aggressively playing both sides of the fence.  Ski-Doo has a new 1200cc 4-stroke engine that is interesting but has it's own problems. More on that below.  The truly compelling breakout design is Ski-Doo's new E-TECH engine.  This is a brand new 2009 2-stroke engine that claims to use almost no 2-stroke oil, is light, fast and very smooth. Ski-Doo claims that most users will need to fill with oil only once per season.   More on Ski-Doo is below...

 

 

Yamaha

Yamaha made a huge debut in the mid-2000's with their ground-breaking
4-stroke engines. At Snodeo 2006, Yamaha introduced their 2007 4-stroke Phazer sled. The problem was that the radical Phazer design looked like an insect and not a snowmobile. 

The upside is that the Yamaha sleds are VERY quiet and economical to operate.  The downside that is still plaguing the Yamaha line is that the 4-stroke engines are so responsive that it becomes a challenge to enjoy a constant speed as the engine wants to either accelerate or decelerate.  The sled does not want to glide when you take your thumb off the gas and the deceleration action quickly slows down the sled.  This "engine compression braking" problem is common to all 4-stroke sleds but the word is that Yamaha is seriously working to reduce the problem. With that one exception, Yamaha is clearly the snowmobile technology leader... again.

Yamaha's cutting edge perception even extends to the LED tail-lights.  Very cool!

FYI: Ski-Doo's 4-stroke "compression braking" problems are even worse!
 


The higher-end Yamaha Apex and Nytro sleds.       

    
The common complaint from Apex and Nytro riders (and even one Nytro owner from Marlborough, MA) was the 4-stroke sleds tended not to glide to a slower speed, they lurched slower.  Yamaha is reportedly working on the issue.  
  
    
 


 
The basic Yamaha Phazer may look like a bug but the performance is exceedingly quiet and responsive.  If you can learn to love the looks, it is a very impressive sled at a fair price.  $7500

 

 
The Yamaha Venture Lite is an excellent 4-stroke sled with a very comfortable 2-up suspension.  Now if they can only correct the engine compression braking problem to smooth out the engine jerkiness.  $8300 which is a lot less than the similar Ski-Doo model.

 

Ski-Doo

Ski-Doo has two radically new snowmobile engines...

Ski-Doo debuted their new 4TECH 4-stroke engine but it suffered from extreme lurching when accelerating or decelerating.  The Ski-Doo staff explained that these were prototypes and to expect production versions to be much smoother after software changes.  They agreed the the response was far too jerky.

The new ETECH 2-stroke engine was a charm!  This is a very precision, electronically controlled engine that requires extremely accurate breathing, fuel injection, firing and exhaust control.  Much like the Stealth Fighter that cannot fly without computer control, this precision engine cannot function without the computer controlling almost every aspect of the 2-stroke engine's operation.  Due to the computational power used,  even the computer must be liquid cooled!  The bottom line was that the new E-TECH 2-stroke engine was the cleanest, most economical and by far, smoothest of the new generation engines.  On paper, this 2-stroke beats out the best 4-strokes.  If true... this may be an amazing engine!




 



 


Yours truly checking out the 600cc MXZ TNT with the new
2-stroke E-TECH engine... $9600 plus optional electric start.
A very impressive, smooth-riding sled with plenty of unexpectedly "green" features !


  
                    


GTX Deluxe 1200cc with the 4-stroke 4-TECH engine in a 2-up configuration.       $10,050 MSRP plus options





 

Even for experienced riders, the new 4TECH 4-stroke engines took some getting used to as the engines were extremely sensitive to even slight throttle changes.  One very experienced Ski-Doo demo rider commented, "I took my thumb off the throttle and almost went through the windshield".  The sudden lurching at engine startup resulted in rear-end bumping with 14 broken tail lights and a few bent rails.  Fortunately, the Ski-Doo truck carried 15 spare tail light lenses.  Were they expecting rear-end collisions from experiences at previous demos?

The 4-stroke manufacturers REALLY need to better emulate 2-stroke engine controllability and glide. Yamaha seemed the best at it so far but all need work.

 

 

Artic Cat  and   Polaris

Both Arctic Cat and Polaris still make traditional snowmobiles with a couple of over-weight 4-strokes thrown-in to appear competitive.   If you want a traditional sled that is not unlike the sleds built in 2001, these manufacturers may be for you.  That is not a dig because they are not bad sleds.  In fact, the Cats have some interesting ergonomic seating and steering adjustments that few others offer.  The Cats also have a mean, snarly appearance.  But the common conversation among attendees was that the Japanese (Yamaha) and Canadians (Ski-Doo) have leaped far ahead of the US-made Arctic Cat and Polaris brands.  Yamaha and Ski-Doo also make their own engines.  Stay tuned...


The Arctic Cat F8 was driven and it was a blast.     



       
 





 


The Polaris Dragon was a lot of fun but little was new in this
time of great technology change.   That thought was a common street perception about Polaris.


 

 

 

Interesting sleds


 

 


This is a 2002 model complete with a GPS antenna on the arch.  This may have been a single year model.  The actual manufacturer is unknown by the author.

 



 

Women have no unusual or special niche in the sport
but some women enjoy having special sled markings.
 

 

 

Best  Sled  of  Snodeo  2008
(and with no authority.... simply because we said so.)

SkiDoo TNT with the radically new E-TECH 600cc 2-stroke engine

Best of show: Street chit-chat and common knowledge among attendees who rode all of the sleds was that this was the mainstream, non-hotrod sled to beat.  The 2-stroke E-TECH engine enjoyed the many "green" features, smoothness and great economy of the 4-strokes.  The sled weighs in at a startlingly low 399 pounds.  Most importantly, it did not have the annoying engine lurching problems found with almost all of the other Ski-Doo and Yamaha 4-stroke sleds.

In addition, the recent REV-XP suspension system was also the one to beat.

This is a completely new technology sled.  At $9600 plus optional electric start, this was one of the more expensive mainstream, middle tier sleds around.  But it really connected all of the dots to call it best of show!

 

 


Yamaha Venture Lite 4-stroke  2-up  $8300 MSRP. The non-Lite version has a bigger engine and a more classic design.

If Honda Motorcycles ever made a snowmobile,
the Venture family would be their Goldwing equivalent.
Not the fastest but very quiet and comfortable.

  

My personal opinion to purchase if our family budget will support it (and it won't for quite a while): 

Yamaha Venture Lite 4-stroke due to a competitive price, superb gas mileage, low cost of ownership and long-track 2-up comfort without weighing too much. 

I always go for comfort as the priority, not speed.  Prior to purchase, Yamaha would need to calm down the 4-stroke engine lurching issues.  If not corrected in time, I'd go for the more expensive 1-up Ski-Doo TNT with the E-TECH engine above.  Not as comfortable overall but a far smoother engine response.

 

 

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(c) March 2008 Rick Zach    cell: 508-395-8730

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