The Commander, My first Impression

The wife and I went to Snowshoe over the weekend to see the new Can-Am Commander and to watch the GNCC races. We really had a great time and the weather was perfect for racing. This was a huge event with huge classes and wall to wall spectators.

Can-Am was there offering demo rides on there entire line up including the new Commanders. They had 3 Commanders to demo, all 1000cc models plus another 1000cc XT model on display.





I crawled all over the display model shooting as many pictures that I could. One of the Can-Am employees even asked me if I was planning on building one from scratch! At first glance it is easy to see that Can-Am has put a lot of thought and engineering into these new machines. The fit and finish on everything is top shelf. They are very well built machines. It seems that Can-Am has studied the competition and has over engineered the problems each competitor has.

Starting at the front of the machine the first thing that was impressive is the size of the radiator, this thing is monstrous, and it should be capable of cooling a small block Chevy. Being a Rhino owner this feature alone almost has me hooked.



The front shocks on the XT are standard coil over with notched pre-load.



Travel is claimed to be 10 inches. Front has double A-arm design that looks beefy, all welds looked to be exceptional.



The front hood has a panel that lifts off similar to the RZR, underneath arranged in a very neat array is servable items such as air box, radiator filler, etc., servicing these items will be a snap.



Moving on to the interior,


the seats are very comfortable and fully adjustable. The instrument panel is very unique, mounted to the steering column so the gauge cluster moves with the wheel as the tilt wheel is adjusted. The cluster has analog type speedo and tach with digital information center in the middle (fuel, mileage, mode, etc.)



Dashboard center is several switches, high/low beam, 4wd, sport mode (modulates the throttle by wire), and to the far right is winch in and out which is standard on the XT. Below the switches are the ignition switch, starter button, and a 12V accessory plug.


The roll cage is very strong, made from 2 inch tubing.


The bed is unique as well, there are two separate compartments, the top compartment is very comparable to the Rhino, Ranger, and Terex beds, however, there is a separate compartment underneath that the top box has a false floor. With the floor of the top box in place the bottom bed is lockable, by opening the bottom tailgate the false floor will lift out creating a very deep bed to haul bulky items.







I have heard a lot of comments about the exhaust being low and concerns about submersing the exhaust, but seeing the machine in person the exhaust isn’t as low as I thought. It is above the trailer hitch about the same height above the ground as a stock RZR, just about even with the top of the rims.



the rear suspension also claims to be 10 inches of travel, a big difference from the norm is there are no A-Arms, instead the commander uses a swing arm of sorts, BRP claims this allows the tires to travel strait up and down, eliminating wheel scrub.






So much for the features and on to the real reason we went to Snowshoe, the demo ride. I rode the “X” model with the Fox shocks, 12 inch Big Horn 2.0 with bead locks, and heavy duty sway bars front and back. The Can-Am ride leader came over to each rider and explained all the functions of the individual machines. The commander comes with two smart keys, a black and gray key. The black key unleashes the full potential of the machine, while the grey key limits the top speed to 45 MPH. Another safety feature of the Commander is if you leave the seat belt unattached top speed is limited to 11MPH. For anyone wanting to upgrade to 4 point harness that will be a problem that someone will have to figure out, time will tell. When the group was ready the call for kick stands up came and we were ready to ride. Pushing the start button and bringing the beast to life the very first thing I noticed was how quite the Commander is, it was easy to carry on a normal conversation with the wife. Leaving the staging area and heading to the test track I laid back a bit so I could rip it a bit, punch the throttle and the Big Horns started throwing bits of chewed up turf out the back. Can you say POWER, that was fun, back off again to gain a little bit of room and whapped it again, I can’t tell you how much fun that was. Approaching a small drainage crossing I decided to hit it a bit hot, I was expecting a nice smooth bump but to my surprise the Commander hit pretty hard and bucked a little like my Rhino does. The steering is quick, almost go kart feel, but stiff, power steering would be a big help. The ride lasted for two laps around the track (sigh) but was very enjoyable. On the way home I kept thinking about the Commander hitting that cross ditch so hard, and I just kept thinking to myself “ With Fox shocks and 10 inches of travel it should have been more S like” After I got home and reviewed some of the pictures I took I understand why it was so stiff, the preload nuts was screw ¾ of the way down.



I would love to try it again with the preload backed off a bit to soften it up. After the ride the reps asked to fill out a survey, while talking to him he said these test units were the same units that was at the dealer show in Reno, I suspect they had the suspension cranked up to play in the dunes.