Polaris Ranger XD 1500 Northstar Ultimate New Zealand

[bradnz]

Hi all, I bought a new 1500 this year to use on my sheep farm in New Zealand. After having Kawasaki and Can Ams over the years the 1500 is by far the best ride, power and comfort I have had. I do about 1000km a month in it so would say I am at the high end of use. I am also really happy with the stereo and air con - both exceed expectations.

A couple of things I am really unhappy with is the lack of a park brake, and the fact that the park position seems to only lock the rears wheels.
And similarly, the hill decent control only operate the rear wheels.
I have found myself a few times descending a hill, the rear wheels only lock up and create an extremely unsafe situation that only a lot of experience can help one get out of. I would be nervous for this to happen to an inexperienced user.
I cannot fathom and understand how Polaris engineers could possibly think this is a good idea or safe.
I feel really strongly about trying to get this info to someone at Polaris, as I am so happy with most parts of this vehicle, but these two issues discussed are just dumb, extremely unsafe, and would make this the perfect farm UTV if rectified.

 

[Big Red]

I'm not aware of any SXS with a Parking Brake that locks ALL 4 wheels, I find that putting the XD in Park is more than sufficient to hold it where ever I would choose to park it. If it's so steep where you're parking maybe consider parking it side ways instead of straight up and down. Not sure if this will help?? As far as the hill decent locking up the rear wheels......the XD and many others have an On Demand 4 wheel drive so the front is not "Locked" unless you loose traction so you can't expect them to brake you going down hill unless you apply the brakes which seems to be the easy answer here. It sounds like where you drive is extremely steep, slick, or both.
In both cases I'm sure Polaris is fully aware of the two concerns you have but I don't see them doing anything different because of it. I don't see a reason they would try to find a way to lock all 4 wheels in park, nor would they consider changing the "On Demand" front wheel drive system. If fact the XD has "Turf Mode" which they advertise as a selling point which requires the front to be unlocked when not needed.
Maybe a Jeep with Locking Axles and 4 Low would be a better fit for your use case.

 

[bradnz]

Thanks for your reply!
All My Can Ams had park brakes which locked the foot brake which braked all wheels.
I have found myself on a hill where I could safely park and get out in the Can Am where I can’t in the 1500, it begins to slide away.
Again much prefer the 1500 but just a gripe I’d love to rectify.

As for the hill decent control, surely with their electronic trickery they can ensure when in all-wheel drive and hill decent control comes on it acts on all wheels.
I can’t think of any situation where it would be a good idea to have a 1.2 ton four wheeled vehicle going down an off road hill and have the front wheels free wheeling and the rear locked up!!

 

[Big Red]

You're probably right about Polaris being able to electronically engage the front wheels in hill decent mode...........I never thought about that.
I'm not sure about the Can Am parking brake, does the new HD11 work this way as well?

 

[bradnz]

Yep I think that this would be a very important change going forward that Polaris need to make, or if not hill decent control should be removed or able to be turned off,
- at least for for the way we use them in NZ, there are only a handful of 1500s in our country currently as people haven’t bought them due to the high cost. There are however tens of thousands of CanAms and Hondas being used on hill country farms all day everyday - if these Can Ams and Hondas had this terrible rear wheel hill decent control system the 1500 does I am certain it would cause injury and deaths with the terrain we use them on.

Not sure about the HD11, but my HD9s and 10s had parking brakes in NZ.