AJ does a deep-dive into the extensive Polaris 2-stroke snowmobile engine lineup including the Patriot 650, 850, BOOST and 9R highlighting each engine’s unique attributes and strengths over previous generations of Polaris engines.

Then Luke explores the expanded versatility of the Ski-Doo Backcountry snowmobile line-up and how there’s pretty much a Backcountry model for just about any level of rider whether your focus is riding mostly on-trail or off.

To say Polaris has stacked the top end of the market with tasty engine options is an understatement. What I see here is a complete and thorough reaction to the reality of the sno-mo-biz in MY25. Our sport has gone upscale – and not in a small way.

Hold the hate mail! We know there’s a formidable number of our viewers and readers who would swear there’s a market for downscale, cheap sleds. That might be true, but here’s why we think that number might not be as high as you think.

The NEO is entering its third season in the market and while the sled is selling, it isn’t altering the course of human history. Same goes for the Indy EVO. Both these sleds have high value chassis, suspension, standard features and the list goes on. Problem is they are not selling like ice cream on a hot day and there’s a reason for this.

The very core of the powersports business runs off ever-increasing power, handling, ride and trickery. The good news is that new millennium buyers are the reason for this constant upsurge.

Make no mistake about it – OEMs build what buyers want. If they don’t, a huge mountain of boxes would pile up behind the factory and at your local dealership containing snowmobiles the market does not want.

Back to the 9R and the Patriot Boost. I can tell you for sure the big sales and big profitability all hang out at this upscale, high performance, tech-featured market. Polaris builds these rockets because the overwhelming majority of snowmobilers want one. Maybe not today but for sure sometime in the future.

The question that must be asked today is whether one of these snow bullets is better than the other. Our team has made this determination and has filed its report for an upcoming episode of SnowTrax. Luke and AJ made up their minds last spring in West Yellowstone.

Keep in mind the 9R is at a distinct disadvantage at Wyoming’s 6000-feet-minimum elevation. In comparison the Boost doesn’t know where it is – it just knows how much compressed air it should ram down the Patriot’s throat to keep the motor swallowing the absolute maximum amount of boosted air and fuel to produce the most horsepower.

I’m going to take some latitude and proclaim that the Boost is a more appealing mill in almost any application the engine comes in, and I am going to make this proclamation on the following rationale.

While the 9R’s lightweight crank feels torquier right off engagement and pulls strong, the Boost feels a little softer right at engagement, then everything breaks loose, and that waste gate goes to work feeding gargantuan gulps of O2 into the Boost.

This violent surge of bare-chested, turbo-charged HP assaults your arms and neck until it levels out as you pass the 105 MPH (170 kmh) threshold and keeps on pulling right up to 115-120 MPH.

The 9R will keep squeezing Kevlar past the C-note, but its ability to achieve the Boost’s velocity diminishes. This reality was played out here at World HQ, which is at 900 feet above sea level.

For sure there’s a lot more to these two impressive powerplants than WOT pulls down Kevlar Lake. However, if you talk to the power-crazed legion who buy sleds at this power level you’ll soon realize unrelenting, unequalled top end jam is their number one purchase criteria.

The 9R is a twist in the road that must be annoying to the competition because nobody saw it coming and although I personally like the Boost, there’s a ton of goodness in the 9R’s lightweight, quick to spool, impressive torque.

For my money though, I’m all about turbocharged 2-strokes. The technology in the Boost is top drawer and impressive.

However, this latest iteration with a more or less “custom” powerplant changes the game and elevates the cache of the XCR moniker in a significant way. The 9R engine boasts oh-so-close to 180-hp with huge torque numbers in the midrange while its running mate the Patriot BOOST makes arguably just a touch more than 180-hp. These numbers are extrapolated from dyno reports on the base Patriot 850 engine that produces 165-hp. 

Moreover, Polaris didn’t call us up and tell us our estimates are wrong – which is not unlike being right. Not to worry. The XCR 9R is a formidable weapon delivering agile handling, amazing bump control and lake-shredding top end thrust. 

Now, let’s talk about the Indy VR1 with DYNAMIX. This is truly one of MY25’s standout new models. Polaris has been working with semi-active offroad suspension for more than five years, debuting the technology on their ridiculously popular RZR Pure Sport Side x Side. DYNAMIX is completely different than any other adjustable snowmobile suspension. While competitive semi-active snowmobile suspensions use a series of sensors mounted on the shocks, DYNAMIX uses a sophisticated chassis-mounted “IMU” (Inertial Measurement Unit) that measures the inertia of the sled. 

The IMU processes chassis pitch, roll and yaw as well as the sled’s ground speed to garner the best response from the snowmobile’s shocks under the widest range of circumstances. In particular, DYNAMIX monitors 3 key active events. (i) Acceleration and Deceleration, (ii) Cornering and (iii) Air Born (or when there is less than 1G of force to the ground). The system constantly monitors and adapts resulting in flat, controlled, and predictable handling. 

There’s more. DYNAMIX is the only semi-active snowmobile suspension controlling all four electronic shocks, specifically, the front arm coilover shock. Employing this mid-chassis damper is especially noticeable for the MATRYX chassis with its Bite vs Lite handling characteristics. 

Is DYNAMIX the best working semi-active suspension system for snowmobiles? Further evaluation this coming winter will answer that, but we can categorically say DYNAMIX makes a positively profound impact on handling. 

One more thing – and it’s a biggy: There are three selectable DYNAMIX modes the rider can choose from as terrain dictates. These modes and exactly what they’re doing underneath you can be tracked instantaneously on the 7S display. That, my friends, is too cool.

Follow along as Luke and AJ head off-trail for a fun time aboard a pair of Widescape WS250 stand-up snowmobiles and challenge each other to go places no the tracked vehicle has gone before.

Then in TEST RIDE, Motorhead Mark shares his thoughts on the 2024 Polaris Indy XC featuring the PROSTAR S4 4-stroke engine.

Then AJ’s lighting up the trail aboard the fully jammed and fully turbo’d 2024 Polaris Indy VR1 137 featuring the Patriot Boost turbocharged 2-stroke engine.

Check out ALL the 2025 Polaris Sleds HERE!

I know we talked a lot about VR1 Patriot BOOST last season but what we weren’t prepared for was the material changes Polaris has made to the ride and acceleration of this 2-stroke, factory turbo trail sled.

Last year the Boost laid down an almost vicious response to throttle inputs over 6000 RPM. The sled would transition from essentially no boost to a full-on 3 PSI gulp of O2 in a spread of less than 500 RPM.

The sled was fun to take into the boost zone, but required deliberate concentration to modulate and more importantly to find traction. This response came across as somewhat unrefined, but nevertheless, impressive.

The new MY24 VR1 BOOST has received a serious re-mapping, netting a dramatically altered response to throttle inputs across the entire RPM range, essentially from engagement at 4000-4500 RPM to full shift at 8250 RPM.

According to Polaris, its team did a significant amount of tweaking to the main injectors and even more work was done to the boost port injector.

Surprisingly there was little clutch calibration tweaking, but what you end up with is a silky-smooth transition from no boost to full boost blended in an overwhelmingly formidable surge which will (I’m not kidding here) require you to move up on the seat and roll your wrists around the grips when you hammer the throttle wide open. This recalibration of the fuel delivery process is quite amazing.

We said this last year and we’ll say it again here because repetition is the law of emphasis: Buy and install enough traction studs to establish a three stud per grouser pattern with two studs in every middle belt and alternating one stud per outside belt. This is the minimum we would recommend.

If you bought and paid for a VR1 BOOST then you’re going to need traction studs to have a decent chance at getting hooked up on long pulls down Kevlar Lake.

It’s good news all around with the 2024 Polaris Patriot BOOST Indy VR1 137 and one rip may leave you struggling to erase the biggest smile you’ve produced all winter.