While the Yamaha Viking is an excellent recreational
UTV, it is also an impressive work horse. The
large steel cargo bed is not only sturdy, with
a load capacity of 600 pounds, but is also roomy
enough to carry several hay bales. We put four
bales of hay on our test vehicle and found we
could easily have carried six. There are several
tie downs located in the bed as well to keep
your cargo secure. Something we thought was
really great about the metal cargo bed is that
anyone can customize it and weld on any attachments
that they feel they made need for work or play.
The Viking also includes an automotive style
receiver hitch and has an impressive towing
capacity of 1500 pounds.
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We loaded up the Yamaha Viking with several
bales of hay along with three passengers
to see how it performed with a load &
we would say the suspension performed
better when it was loaded |
Yamaha definitely designed the Viking to be
work capable, and there load capacities aren’t
just figures on paper that are only applicable
if you are driving the Yamaha Viking on level
ground at slow speeds. Yamaha Viking is more
than capable of handling these loads over various
terrain at a reasonable speed, and we loaded
up the Viking with three people along with several
hundred pounds in the bed, and it still had
plenty of power and handled great, and the suspension
as mentioned before worked even better with
the added weight, which is important for those
looking to really use the Viking for working
on the farmer or hunters hauling in a big game
animal that could weigh well over 600lbs, and
they need to get it back to camp from the mountains.
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The Yamaha Viking is ready to work with
a 600 lbs cargo bed capacity & 1,500
lbs towing capacity |
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The
Yamaha Viking SxS features one of the
best tires on the market the Maxxis
Big Horn 2.0 tires, but these are constructed
to Yamaha specific specs
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Also, if you are planning on driving in rugged
terrain, you need a tire than can handle the abuse
and provide excellent traction, and Yamaha hit
the mark with the custom Maxxis Bighorn 2.0 tires.
The AT25x8-12 fronts and AT25x10-12 rear tires
performed excellent, and had plenty of traction
on our ride, and we didn’t experience any flat
tires.
As usual, Yamaha already has a nice assortment
of aftermarket parts and goodies for the Viking
with more in the works. Our particular unit
was equipped with a half windshield, and most
of the Viking models come with a suntop roof,
which was a plus when we encountered some rain
while on our test drive.
Overall we really liked the Yamaha Viking.
It is a good quality, all-purpose machine, and
with a base model MSRP of just $11,499 and $12,499
with EPS, it is a very affordable SxS vehicle
that has plenty to offer for the price.. Whether
you are hunting, camping, fishing, cruising
the trails or working hard, the 2014 Yamaha
Viking will not disappoint.