After my first 100 klicks I came away flat-out impressed with its handling prowess from the new Pilot RX skis and RAS RX front end. The 2025 MXZ X-RS can go toe-to-toe with a Polaris in the twisties. Frankly, the response to steering inputs in tight trails when you’re sawing on the bars and aggressively squeezing the loud handle are way, way familiar. 

What we mean is the MXZ in its many variants, going back more than 10 years, can’t hold a candle to the new G5 with RAS RX and Pilot RX skis. This move – above all other tweaks Ski-Doo has brought to the table year after year – is pure steak. No sizzle here; just genuine, game changing filet mignon.

You also can’t help but be impressed by Smart-Shox when you run into choppy trail surfaces. You’ll get to the point where you won’t even back off the throttle in the presence of sucker bumps or square edgers. The front shocks read the terrain and then warn the rear arm shock what’s coming, and it works as fast as greased lightning. 

KYB Pro Series dampers, ECU and associated chassis sensors have been available for two model years. However, due to a supply chain glitch with the original Smart-Shox in previous model years, followed by a disastrous winter last year, I hadn’t had a genuinely good opportunity to rip on them. I can now say with conviction that I am totally impressed with how this setup rides.

Usually, I’ll brace myself or pull myself up off the seat when encountering trail craters, but not here; just stay on the throttle and steer. You so rarely ever feel any harshness that you quickly become comfortable enough to dial up the wick in gnar. 

Here’s the verdict: Semi-active suspension is the future of snowmobiling. Keep in mind our 2025 Polaris Indy VR1 features the all-new DYNAMIX semi-active suspension and our initial exposure to it in West Yellowstone earlier this year produced overwhelming approval. For sure we’ll have these two state-of-the-art trail sleds running head-to-head in the next few days so stay tuned for more insightful impressions.  

Really, even that description is not completely descriptive of what we mean. Some of our readers and viewers think it only refers to a snowmobile’s top speed or acceleration.

As you know, these results are only part of what makes a snowmobile an extreme performer. Frankly, if it was only about top speed and getting up there, the Yamaha and Cat Turbos would win the class every time. However, they don’t complete the whole performance story.

When we talk about hypersleds we mean it has to be about the performance of the whole sled – and that means handling, ergonomics and ride, too. This is one of the reasons the 800 and 850 2-strokes do so well in comparison to the super-powerful turbos.

The fact a 2-stroke’s low weight has so much to do with the overall performance of a sled is difficult to overlook. You can run an 850 2-stroke down a trail against a turbo and the 2-stroke will outperform the 4-stroke every time. It’s only on the wide open lakes and forest access trails the 4-stroke runs away – and not by that much.

Weight, or “power-to-weight”, is the great equalizer with snowmobiles and since snowmobiles are ridden in all kinds of situations: Powder, hard packed snow and tight, twisting trails, a hypersled has to outperform in every situation.

It really comes down to the type of rider you are and how you want to use your high performance sled. If you’re exclusively a groomed trail rider who likes to get out on the lakes once in a while and exercise the tach needle, the turbo is an excellent choice and will give you exactly what you want.

If you’re a trail rider who likes to run tight, groomed trails, play in powder, do some lowland hill climbing, grab some air or just use the sled in a hundred different ways, the big-inch 2-strokes will satisfy you better.

Ultimate is ultimate and it means it has to do everything well. Tough to compare the category when results are so radically different!