Did Polaris Fix the Pro R?

UTV Driver

The Polaris RZR Pro R was the baddest SXS on the market when it was released in 2022, but last year it got upstaged by the Can-Am Maverick R. This year Polaris set out to make the Pro R the king of the side-by-side mountain again.   Did they succeed? We went to Oregon to drive the new Pro R and find out !  Favorite Gear:  Packtalk Edge ORV: Code 'octane' for 10% off https://cardosystems.rfrl.co/z8qy5  UTV Driver Videos:  UTV Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn4C9HK06Jw&list=PLIl7O9RDWjgG-O6Dd1BWzponCVuvj3G92  5 Things We LOVE and HATE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYurJbSonDc&list=PLIl7O9RDWjgHOOiP1YKQb0LvejrQt8rea  Everything You Need to Know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdKKsxgk3Yw&list=PLIl7O9RDWjgH0LQZEvxMVB6K_hnZjL69J  For more stories, reviews, and first-looks check out https://www.utvdriver.com/   Want to see even more shenanigans from the UTV Driver team? Give us a like and follow:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UTVdriver/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utvdrivermagazine/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/utvdriver/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@utvdriver

Transcript

00:00I came here to talk about horsepower, and there's lots of it!

00:04So, did they fix it? Polaris flew me out to Coos Bay, Oregon,

00:08to spend a few hours with the redesigned Pro-R and find out.

00:11Okay, good morning everyone. We are in Coos Bay, Oregon,

00:14about to drive the new Polaris RZR Pro-R.

00:18I don't have to tell you that the Polaris RZR Pro-R

00:20upended the side-by-side world when it debuted back in 2022.

00:24By now, you know the highlights. 225 horsepower.

00:28Ha ha ha!

00:30Better than 2 feet of suspension travel, a 74-inch track width,

00:34and the best brakes Polaris had put on any side-by-side up to that point.

00:38Woo!

00:39This thing is fast, ladies and gentlemen. It is quick.

00:43The Pro-R is so good that Polaris built its entire factory racing team around it.

00:49It's got a stack of wins that score in North America,

00:51and this year it won the Dakar Rally.

00:54It works extremely quickly, and it makes a distinct change

00:58in the way that the machine behaves, which that's what you want out of suspension.

01:02Dynamics is excellent. It's really, really good.

01:06The suspension was so revolutionary that before Polaris factory racing was a thing,

01:11people were running the stock Dynamics DV on their race rigs.

01:15Now the new thing is the Dynamics button. You double tap it, it will go full stiff,

01:19and it will stay full stiff until you double tap it again.

01:22That was something that the race drivers asked for before.

01:24You would just punch it, and it would go full stiff for a minute,

01:26and then would relax after a certain amount of time.

01:30Double tap for stiffness.

01:32And then there's that engine.

01:33As cool as turbo mills are for their compactness,

01:36and the fact that you can get just an absolute ton of horsepower out of a tiny package,

01:41there's nothing like throttle response and torque from a naturally aspirated mill.

01:47It sounds so good.

01:49Polaris ProStar Fury is a naturally aspirated inline four that puts out 225 horsepower

01:56and has all the glorious throttle response you could want.

01:59I think the ProR 4-cylinder might be one of the best,

02:02if not the best sounding engines in the business.

02:04It's not muted by a turbo.

02:07It's just a big horsepower maker, and that's...

02:12I love that.

02:12And the throttle response is crisp.

02:15It's immediate. You don't have to wait for anything to spool up.

02:18Added to that, the ProR debuted with a four-seat option,

02:21acres of storage space, Polaris ride command, and excellent stereos.

02:25All right, so the stereo in here rips.

02:27I can't play more than like 15 seconds of a song, but I've got one of my favorite bands playing.

02:40And it absolutely thumps.

02:42It's got speed-sensitive volume control.

02:44You can turn that on or off, so when you're ripping,

02:46the rig gets louder, your music will automatically get louder.

02:49I can keep my tunes going while I've got my map on.

02:53If I want it, you just switch back to it, hit play.

02:55It also has a CVT, which means it's easy to drive,

02:59so it's as adept at family outings as it is at smashing whoops.

03:02Now, that's all great, but there's always a bigger fish.

03:06And in the world of open-class side-by-sides,

03:08the bigger fish is the all-conquering Can-Am Maverick R.

03:12All that stuff is great, but the ProR wasn't perfect.

03:14So for 2025, Polaris has done a mid-cycle refresh.

03:18They restyled all the bodywork,

03:20and the interior is supposed to be a lot nicer than the outgoing model.

03:23So yesterday, Polaris very proudly told us that they have put the seats

03:27from the Expedition in this machine, so they're still sports seats.

03:30They still hug you really tightly.

03:32You've still got a lot of good bolstering.

03:33In order to make the ProR a little bit more comfortable,

03:35a little bit more all-day friendly, they stuck them in here.

03:38It makes a huge difference.

03:39These seats are fantastic.

03:41I'm going to mend that a little bit because these are phenomenal.

03:45I am super comfortable.

03:48And they're generous, but they're nicely bolstered.

03:50They're not too tight.

03:51You don't feel loose in here.

03:53A seat that's going to keep you where you want to be for aggressive sport driving,

03:57but not wear you out, not make your lower back sore, not beat you around.

04:02So, good work, Polaris.

04:03Polaris changed every plastic body panel on the ProR except for the rear valance,

04:09and they brought back something that they're really proud of, the iconic fang lights.

04:14So, let's check the in-car footage and find out if they fixed it.

04:17One of the biggest ones right off the rip, factory beadlocks.

04:20Those are Polaris-branded beadlock wheels.

04:23Those aren't Pro Armors or some other brand.

04:25Polaris makes those.

04:27They're 15 inches.

04:28They're honest-to-goodness beadlocks.

04:30They're only available on the Ultimate model of the ProR,

04:32but it is nice to see that option from the factory.

04:34They restyled the front fascia a little bit.

04:36They brought back the fang lights.

04:38Very exciting.

04:39They also put these cool vents in the hood here,

04:42and what that does is just put positive pressure air going into the cabin.

04:45So, it doesn't have HVAC, but it does have ventilation that goes right in at the driver's feet.

04:50You got these little vents right here that let you adjust that air,

04:53point it at yourself, point it away from yourself, whatever you need to do.

04:56Got full doors now.

04:59I don't even remember if that's new, but I do like it.

05:02Look how little sand there is in here.

05:05We are throwing some sand up, and there's very little in the cabin.

05:08I think some of that has to do with these vents,

05:11which really work pretty well to keep air moving.

05:14And Polaris knew it.

05:15The design language had gotten away from what made Razors Razors,

05:19and the interior wasn't really up to snuff with the competition.

05:23Now, it did have ride command, but everything else felt a little slapped together.

05:27And then there was the shifter.

05:28You've heard us complain about it a million times,

05:31and in a rig that cost $45,000, Polaris knew that they had to step their game up.

05:36Well, they adjusted the shift cables.

05:38So, honestly, it did make that noise, but the shifter feels a bunch smoother than it used to.

05:44They strengthened the shift cables exclusively on the Pro-R.

05:46Nothing else got that treatment, and it does shift a little bit more smoothly.