Polaris
Sportsman Utility
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The
Polaris Sportsman Utility ATV Press Intro
was held at Jawbone Canyon in Nevada |
Reno, NV - Polaris Industries first
got its start making farming equipment in the
early 1950’s. In 1955, Polaris became one
of the first companies to design and build a snowmobile,
which was initially intended to help farmers,
but instead, it became a popular recreational
vehicle in the motorsports world. As interest
in motorsports grew over the next two decades,
Polaris recognized the consumer’s desire
to be able to explore the great outdoors during
any season and any type of weather conditions.
Polaris got to work trying to design an all-terrain
vehicle that would suit customer demands and began
producing functional and innovative ATV’s
in 1984, and have enjoyed much success throughout
the years as a manufacturer. In the last couple
of years, Polaris successfully introduced several
new models of ATV’s and 2008 looks to be
just as promising for the American manufacturer.
Polaris plans on introducing a few changes in
their utility line-up for the coming year, but
they are changes intended to help their customers.
Polaris has decided that the popular Sportsman
name will now be expanded to include all of
their utility ATV models. By doing this, Polaris
hopes to simplify their utility ATV model lineup
and make it less confusing to the consumer.
Polaris has ten models that can be separated
into three distinct categories. The 2-passenger
(or 2-up) Premium Recreational Utility quads
include the Sportsman 800 EFI Touring, the Sportsman
500 EFI Touring, the Sportsman 700 EFI X2, and
the Sportsman 500 EFI X2. The Premium Recreational
Utility line consists of the Sportsman 800 twin
EFI and the Sportsman 500 EFI, while the Recreational
Utility model lineup includes the Sportsman
500 HO, Sportsman 400 HO, Sportsman 300, and
the Trail Boss 330.
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Polaris
Sportsman 500 Utility ATV |
Polaris
Sportsman 700 X2 Utility ATV |
Polaris
Sportsman 800 Touring Utility ATV |
ATVriders.com was invited to attend the 2008
Polaris ATV Press intro in Reno, Nevada to learn
more about the 2008 models and some of those
changes that Polaris has made to their lineup.
The location of choice to put these machines
to the test was the scenic, high desert just
outside of Reno, NV, which consisted mostly
of wide-open sandy trails with some hill climbs
and also some rocky terrain.
Gary Laskin, Polaris’s ATV Marketing
Manager, was on hand to give us an overview
of the 2008 lineup and discuss some of the details
about the changes made. Laskin and his crew
had brought along several different models for
us to test, the Sportsman 400 HO, the Sportsman
500 & 800 Twin with EFI, and the Sportsman
800 EFI Touring 2-up & 700 X2 edition