No question about it. The Polaris 9R engine option available in the XCR, Assault and RMK has generated an avalanche of interest. It seems the availability of a “boutique” engine has appeal that goes beyond anything else in the 2025 Polaris lineup.
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.
