wild cat comments

Some fellow from UTV wrote this. FYI.

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As I sit here my Brain tells me I should not write this .. I should not write the truth .... why ? you ask why? well because I am in the aftermarket UTV Parts Business and I dream of some day getting demo machines from a major manufacture like arctic cat .Ive tried calling most of them with no luck and in all but 1 case never even gotten a return call or email. I also have a few good friends that are Arctic Cat Dealers



Just got back from Glamis Dunes ... The Wildcat lol .... hmm The RZR XP worked great ran great, duned great ... and the wildcat hmm I dont know what to say .... Broken belt ...ya I would guess if in two days I did 100 miles my 5 day trip at the dunes I should have took 3 spare belts with me ... and just to let you guys know I have never had a broken belt at the dunes in any machine .. not my golf cart not my polaris ranger, not my yamaha rhino , not my many polaris rzr's Ive had ....


Ok heres some good news the suspension is the best duner, off road , woop eating, jump taking utv suspension ever as good or better then alot of high dollar sandrails out there ... it eats mile long sections of woops like they are baby food .. it dont buck kick or do any crazy unexpected moves while traveling 55 to 57 mph thru the ruff stuff ... its even better then I could have expected ...

now I say 55 to 57 MPH because with a set of STI V ROLL 14" tires or a set of Fullerton sand tires I bummed from Dave thats is as fast as you will be going on flat ground in the sand .. lol ya 55 ish mph ...

OK to be fair I think I run the dunes harder then most people but that could be all in my head .. I have owned some of the best sandrails on the market built buy tatum motorsports and extreme performance .. everything for 500 hp LS1--588 Donoven Big Blocks to 1000+hp twin turbo cars with 24" of Suspension Travel ..

I showed up to the dunes Wendsday Night after dark and figured Id unload the Wildcat in the Morning and go out and get some Pictures of it in the sand and Leave my Polaris RZR 900 XP in the Trailer and Most likely not be unloading the XP at all the rest of the week .. Ya NOT unload the Polaris RZR XP at all ...hell the wildcat is built for the sand ... 18" if Travel Back 17" Front and 1000ccs of Wildcat ...lol what else could a guy ask for ... OK 1200 CC and 150 HP ...

Ok So I unload the Wildcat in the morning toss my camera in the seat and strap it down with the harnesses and off I go .. at the point the Wildcat has 20 Miles that I put on it driving it around some what easy to break it in ... I head past the Glamis Beach Store thru the flats past the Vendor section and into the small dunes I hit the gas a couple of times and am not sure at this point what to think so I take it easy getting a feel for the machine thru the small dunes feeling the way it handles and how it takes the bumps, dips, holes ect ... and im thinking wooo hoo this suspension is sweet.. I hit the gas a few more times and im not sure what to think it just dont seem like its got much balls .. I cross Sand Highway to the dunes looking for a nice picture spot and I have to climb a few small dunes to get to a nice spot and when I hit the gas again I am not impressed so I put it in 4 wheel drive thinking maybe not enough paddle tire and even with the 4x4 on im still having a hard time ...

ok I get out and try to walk up a few small dunes to take some sweet morning pictures as I climb I start huffing and puffing for air .. man my fat ass is out of shape ... hmm no big deal I dont plan on having to walk around in the dunes I have the new Arctic Cat Wildcat 1000 with 18" of Ground pounding bad ass suspension ...I take a shit load of pictures and think to myself man that is one good looking machine and I need to get me some Arctic Cat Stock because they are going to take over the SXS market NOW ...

Ok I get back in the Wildcat and a short trip im out of the dunes and back on Sand Highway heading to Oldsmobile Hill now let me tell ya the is some of the most wooped out off camber bumps dumps and humps out thier ... I hit the gas and the Wildcat starts to purr and its flying over this shit like its nuttin oh shur im getting tossed around like a rag doll but the cat in landing on all four and taking it all easy .. my stock RZR 900 XP would be a bit more uncontrolled thru this stuff even scarey at times ... But im doing 50 MPH and its eating it up im thinking man this thing needs to race the baja 1000 or something it kicks ass ...

I pull up to olds hill lock it in 4x4 and and think haha Ill just floor the gas pedal here and tear the woops up at the bottom of the hill ...I have never been able to do that in any UTV because the woops are so bad at the bottom you just cant stay in the gas with out the ass end bottoming hard and the ass end kicking up ... lol yep I flew over the top of the woops like I have only seen bas ass sandrails do in the past ..

with the Wildcat ? wide open and the Wildcat starting to go uphill it starts slowing down fast real fast and I about 3/4 of the way up and thinking to myself Im glad I came out early in the morning so nobody can see this shit ... I have to turn to the left a little and start crab walking sideways to get up the hill ...WTF I think to myself ..ya I guess the storys Ive been hearing of people in Wildcats not making it up the hill in Wildcats are true ? No this cant be true ..... So ya im at the top I turn around and hit the gas doing 50 or 60 mph down hill I fly thru the woops and again im thinking this thing is awsome .... It must just be some fresh soft Sand there in the middle of the hill where I tried to go up ... so I try again where I know I can go up on the left side of the hill and same thing its turning around 7000 -7200 rpm and Im thinking im not going to make it up but I keep the pedal mashed and as I come over the top I look at the speedo and it says around 20 MPH ... later in the day my Polaris RZR XP Speedo in the same spot was reading 40ish mph .... all the while im thinking man this thing is a dog .. a wild dog ..but still a dog ... I was also thinking my 2006 Rhino was about this fast going up the hill ...

Ya really its a dog in the dunes...

later in the day my buddies showed up all of them have RZR 900 XPs I figured I would try following them thru a fast dune run ... I was able to keep up most of the time but its just because there is almost as much down hill as up hill so with the great suspension i was able to stay in the gas longer and play catch up on the down hill sections .. I will note that I had to turn down and go around a couple of times to make it up some of the smaller hills the the rzr xp just powered up ....

also to note I did race another Wildcat on the flats while I was there and and both machines were close but for some strange reason his was faster going east to west and mine was faster going west to east ..

while following the Polaris RZR xps thru the dunes I was full throttle 90% of the time and after say 30 Minutes with Miles on the Machine the belt shredded into a 100 pcs ... ... so I was towed out of the dunes .... ya I was towed out of the dunes by a Polaris ..

I will not be taking the machine back to the dunes until I find someway to gain a very noticable amount of power .. and nothing against whom ever is making them but I dont think a wet clutch delete will make this machine go up hill any faster because I dont think at 7000 rpm the wet clutch is slipping

We rode with one today and right off the bat, bent tierod. We were able to bend it back and keep riding though. He was able to do everything the rzr's did without any trouble.

Overall impression was good, it had plenty of power and was climbing the same hills as the rzr s. Other than the tierod, he had no other mechanical issues. Just like anything that's brand new, it will have issues that needs addressed.

I like the wildcat....I hope it does good...

It really needs some front fenders. If you look at the photo above, you can see there is nothing above the tire. There was a group of rzr's that climbed a pipeline followed by the wildcat. the guys at the top said when the wildcat came up the hill, the front tires were spinning like crazy, almost like the front end was too light.

That's about what I've been reading on other sites. Very good suspension but disappointing power. I guess in the dunes, it shows more than other types of terrain.