From the dawn of time, man has always been in search of the better mouse trap. The quest to make things better and to improve on the norm is what brought us the wheel, then electricity, it led us into the industrial revolution on to space and eventually canned squeeze cheese.
The evolution of the UTV has been much the same. What started as a simple utility vehicle to complete chores on the farm has morphed into the multi billion dollar industry that it is today. There are UTV's for every segment of this motorsports monster. Multiple manufacturers producing huge product lines from bare bones farm machines to mega horsepower luxury off road vehicles.
With so many offerings out there, one question rings out constantly..... What is the "best"... "do it all" "all around" "one size fits all" machine?
Enter the Polaris Xpedition ADV Northstar. I know, I know - That is a big claim right? Well for many this may be the very do it all vehicle that they have been waiting for. Thanks to our long term relationship with Polaris industries we have had the opportunity to try out first hand nearly every offering from Polaris as it came down the pipe. The Jagged X stable has always been well stocked with a little bit of everything. We have had the luxury of being able to pick the right vehicle for the adventure at hand. Many of us however, have to make the choice to purchase one vehicle in hopes that it will check as many boxes as possible.
We got our hands on a new Xpedition ADV 5 Northstar back in October of 2023, if you followed along with the Jagged X adventures you may remember this is just about the time we were getting ready to head out on our Arizona Peace Trail journey.
With only a couple days before the start of our trip we decided that there was no better way to test out this newcomer than to set out on a 900 mile 7 day trail ride through every type of terrain our great state had to offer. With a couple late nights at the shop we were able to make a few little improvements that we thought were essential for a long trail ride like this.
First we swapped out the stock tires for a set of tried and true 32" BFG KM3 tires on a beautiful set of Valor beadlock wheels. We knew there were some rough sections along the way and our experience with this combination set our mind at ease knowing we had a great combination. In the end we were happy.
The tires performed great on the Xpedition and we had zero flats or failures. We also added a few super cool accessories from the Polaris lineup including their heavy duty rock slider rails. Not only did we use these as battering rams against some brutal Arizona boulders I must say they were one of the slickest easiest accessory installs I have ever seen. If you use your Xpedition off road these rock sliders are a must have. While the Xpedition has more room inside than any UTV we have ever had we opted to add on the Polaris Rhino rack roof rack system. This rack is very sleek and also installs very quick and easy. With a full line of rack accessories from Rhino rack this system allows you to customize your storage and carrying needs..We used our rack to carry a spare tire and some rotopax gas cans with tons of room to spare.
With time running short, we mounted an M1 race radio from Rugged Radios. Our mounting was very basic under the dash setup, but it was out of the way and it worked very well. There are currently some very clean mounting solutions for radios and intercoms as well. I had just gotten a new Garmin Trex UTV gps unit that I was excited to try out as a redundant system to the Polaris ride Command unit that is standard on the Northstar model. Having a secondary navigation system on a trail this long and technical was comforting and I must say that both systems worked flawlessly. Both systems have pros and cons and perhaps in the future we will do a nav system write up and go into more detail.
We also added a Polaris bed divider rail along with the Polaris floor rails and rear window Mole panels. The new Polaris Lock and Ride max system is even better than the tried and true lock & ride. It offers tons of options and versatility to store and secure your gear which makes staying organized a snap.
The Polaris Xpedition factory suspension and overall handling is quite impressive. I have never had a UTV handle washboard roads better than this and overall the ride was great. That being said, we are firm believers in the work that Shock Therapy does so we have since let their guys have a crack at our Xpedition and the fact is, You CAN make a great thing better. Our Xpedition has new springs and some custom valve tuning and it is now quite amazing! We added some great light from KC HiLiTES and an SDR front bumper and then ripped the whole body off and had it repainted by Dan Hogan at Hogie shine in Deer Valley. The "New Era Bronze" paint job looks awesome and it stands out in a crowd.
These basic upgrades all served us well on the trip and I recommend them all highly.
Now - How's the Xpedition? All I can say is that in my humble opinion the Xpedition is by far the most comfortable and versatile UTV that I have ever had. Since the AZ Peace Trail we have made a few more mods and quite frankly we are probably not done yet. (are we ever done?)
Overall, I would say that this is my favorite UTV to date. The performance is very adequate, the ride spectacular, the versatility is unmatched and the creature comforts are just what perfect mouse traps are made of.
The crew at Jagged X Offroad can help you build the perfect ride. Check them out and happy Trails.
