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In TEST RIDE Luke lights up the trail aboard the highly-anticipated 2025 Polaris Indy XCR featuring the race proven Patriot 9R engine.

Then Luke dives into FXR’s line of snowmobiling products and the innovative technologies that have set the company apart from its competition over the years.

AJ walks through installing the all new Ski-Doo RAS RX front suspension upgrade kit onto a 2024 MXZ-X and showcases the dramatic improvements to on-trail handling that owners of 2023 and 2024 model year Ski-Doos can expect with this kit.

Then, Luke hits the trail aboard the 2025 Ski-Doo Backcountry XRS 850 TurboR featuring the new 43-inch wide front end and highlights how this wider, more trail-focused front improves handling during on-trail riding.

On paper its specs look appealing and in pictures it looks even better, but the performance this combo delivers makes it one of the most impressive sleds of the season.

The Patriot 9R’s crank is substantially lighter than the Patriot 850’s, generating less vibration and of equal importance is the lighter crank’s ability to instantaneously “spool” RPM. Let me tell you this – I cannot remember a twin cylinder 2-stroke of any displacement with throttle response as sharp as the 9R.

This combination of quick revving throttle response and a wide spread of ski-lifting torque creates positively heroic launches. Our XCR is a 136 and this track length is perfect for a sled capable of delivering trench digging track speed in the blink of an eye. So far in the sno-mo biz there hasn’t been an engine this strong without a turbo strapped to it.

The new MATRYX-based Indy XCR chassis is perfectly suited for the 9R powerplant. This sled handles incredibly well and although Ski-Doo has stepped up with all new front IFS geometry closely mirroring the Polaris IFS, the XCR with its ditch banging credentials firmly intact can hone the roughest trails and approaches with finesse.

While the XCR’s legacy is rough terrain prowess, the addition of the Patriot 9R engine takes the platform to new heights of performance and capability. This sled can carve the tightest, twistiest trails effortlessly. Its turning posture is delightfully flat relying on its legendary Polaris IFS to maintain forward bite. Throttle-off, on corner entry while you drag the brake mid-turn to complete corner exit using near telepathic 9R throttle response.

Clearly, the 2025 Patriot 9R Indy XCR 136 raises the bar in the high-performance trail category providing more of everything this segment is about. If you’re an 850-class aficionado looking for what’s next, this sled will exceed your expectations by a wide margin.

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.

Although there’s no official rule that 850ccs should be the largest allowable displacement for a 2-stroke sled’s engine, Arctic Cat, Polaris and Ski-Doo have all ended up at this number. The question is: Why has “850” almost universally become the benchmark?

From the conversations I’ve had with people who are in the know, people who eat, breath and sleep snowmobiles and the technology required it takes to build them, the 850 zone provides what is largely accepted as the biggest displacement you can use to build a 2-stroke twin without having it vibrate you and the sled it’s mounted in right off the trail and into the ditch.

This seems like a compelling enough argument, except for one thing. Until Ski-Doo introduced the G5 REV platform and Polaris landed the Patriot 850 in the MATRYX, both these manufacturers had an 850 with some uncontrolled shaking.

Flying in the face of these last couple paragraphs Polaris goes full speed ahead developing a Patriot-based variant called the 9R. Its team knew full well the risks of creating an uncivilized engine when the 9R project embarked. The engine is every bit as smooth and buttery as the 850 Patriot mounted in a MATRYX chassis due in part to two unrelated issues.

First, Polaris developed a new motor mounting system employing five mounts. This looks after any and all vibrations emanating from the naturally aspirated 850, Patriot BOOST and now the 9R. Second, the 9R uses a special lightened crankshaft which further calms the engine making it feel completely refined.

Here’s the issue on everyone’s mind. What’s the power output of the 9R when compared to the other two 850 Patriot variants? Let’s assume the naturally aspirated 850 makes 165 HP. Polaris claims the Patriot BOOST produces 12 more horsepower than that, which for sake of argument let’s say that amounts to just shy of 180 horsepower. So what about the 9R in comparison? Polaris claims the 9R produces 9 more ponies than the naturally aspirated 850, which we can say amounts to approximately 175 horses.

Unfortunately, at this spring’s Snowshoot event in West Yellowstone we couldn’t accurately perform any meaningful comparisons of the BOOST versus the 9R. Why? The Boosted (turbocharged) 850 doesn’t know it’s at 6600 feet elevation in West Yellowstone. It automatically adjusts its wastegate to bring the engine back to its maximum programmed horsepower.

The 9R doesn’t use a hairdryer to make power so any of the numbers posited above mean absolutely nothing at 6600 feet. Truth is the 9R is faster than an 850 but to compare it to the BOOST would be meaningless until we get our hands on both engines in comparable chassis like an XCR 9R 136 and a VR1 BOOST 137 at sea level.

So, here’s what I can tell you. The 9R knocked our socks off with its low inertia crank spooling up like its telepathically hooked to your thumb. The engine feels super smooth at both idle and engagement. At trail speeds it would be impossible to perceive any difference between the civility of the 9R and a stock Patriot 850 except for one noticeable trait. Throttle response felt extra urgent and strong at trail velocities. Corner-to-corner acceleration is immediate and without humps or bumps.

Would I pony up the extra cash to buy a 9R? Yep, I would. There’s so much cache with having one of these rockets, I find it pretty much irresistible.

So, would I walk by the 9R for an 850 Boost? Doggone it, that right there might be the toughest question for MY25.

Then in TEST RIDE AJ evaluates the deep snow performance and trail-thrashing proficiency of the 2024 Ski-Doo Backcountry X-RS 146 featuring the ROTAX 850 E-TEC engine.