• last year
With the side-by-side craze at full steam, we’ve been daydreaming about a few different manufacturers who could benefit from a UTV. Some of these make complete sense, others not so much. Either way, a side-by-side from any of these manufacturers would be rad, so what are they waiting for?

Check out the full feature at https://www.utvdriver.com/utv-news/nine-manufacturers-need-to-build-utvs/

For more stories, reviews, and first-looks check out https://www.utvdriver.com/

Want to see even more shenanigans from the UTV Driver team? Give us a like and follow:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UTVdriver/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utvdriverma...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/utvdriver/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@utvdriver

Category

🥇
Sports
Transcript
00:00 I'm Zach, this is Aaron, we're with UTV Driver,
00:02 and today we are talking about the nine manufacturers
00:05 that need to make a side-by-side.
00:06 - There are plenty of machines on the market,
00:09 but that doesn't mean there isn't room
00:10 for a little bit more competition.
00:12 And some of these you're gonna hear and think,
00:14 yeah, you might assume that they already
00:16 make a side-by-side.
00:18 I think number one on the list?
00:19 - Suzuki, right?
00:20 It's obvious.
00:21 Suzuki has a long off-road history.
00:25 Dirt bikes, king quads, the Suzuki Samurai.
00:29 Look, before there were side-by-sides,
00:31 the Samurai was the king of the trail.
00:33 - Yeah, and not to mention that,
00:35 but they've been making K-trucks in Japan for forever.
00:37 They essentially are utility side-by-sides.
00:40 Lockers front and rear, little tiny 600cc engines.
00:43 They're Billy Goats, they'll go anywhere,
00:44 and they're hugely popular in the States now.
00:47 - Yeah, and like, you know, we're seeing guys import
00:50 the little Suzuki's, Honda Acty's,
00:52 things like that all the time,
00:54 and it's because they sort of fill that niche
00:56 that pickup trucks have long since abandoned,
00:58 which is a sub $10,000 workhorse.
01:01 It's an obvious omission, right?
01:02 When you've got the rest of the Japanese manufacturers
01:04 cranking out really great side-by-sides,
01:07 things like the Honda Talon, the Yamaha R-Max,
01:09 the Kawasaki KRX, all of those are some
01:12 of our favorite machines.
01:14 We just wanna see a blue version.
01:16 We wanna see a Suzuki side-by-side.
01:19 Could be utility, could be sport,
01:21 either way, that's what I want.
01:22 Number two, what are we gonna talk about?
01:23 - We're gonna talk about the Austrians,
01:26 and when I say the Austrians, I mean KTM.
01:28 - Mm, you have a KTM.
01:30 - I have a KTM.
01:31 It's fantastic, it has the best suspension
01:33 of any motorcycle I've ever owned,
01:35 and it's 20 years old.
01:36 KTM's motto is ready to race.
01:39 All of their machines are absolutely top-whack
01:42 from the factory.
01:43 They've got a host of parallel twins and V-twins
01:47 that are all fire-breathers,
01:49 and you know, they've got the Dakar background,
01:51 they've got the off-road chops,
01:53 they've got the premium market segment locked down.
01:56 Come on, put four wheels on one, let's see it.
01:58 They did it, they built a quad in the mid-2000s.
02:01 - Well, not only did they build a quad,
02:03 it's also important to remember that KTM
02:04 currently builds a four-wheel offering.
02:06 You can buy the Crossbow.
02:07 - That's right.
02:08 - Crossbow is like a non-street legal,
02:10 track-only sports car.
02:13 Used an Audi four-cylinder and a sequential gearbox,
02:15 and I've driven one, and it is bonkers.
02:18 - Right.
02:19 - I want that with like two feet of suspension.
02:21 - Yeah, put some QS3s on that sucker
02:23 and long control arms, let's go.
02:25 It doesn't seem like a huge lift.
02:27 - Yeah, and you know, hey, a little more orange
02:29 on the trail never hurts anybody.
02:30 - Yeah, never hurt nobody.
02:31 And speaking of the Austrians, let's move next door.
02:34 Germany.
02:35 BMW, we gotta get 'em.
02:38 - BMW.
02:39 - Yeah, you know, the GS is pretty much gold standard
02:41 of adventure bikes.
02:42 They've made dirt bikes in the past.
02:44 You know, the interest is there, you can feel it.
02:46 And talk about Dakar history, my God.
02:49 And we should be clear, there is no better redneck
02:52 than a German redneck.
02:53 - Yeah, no.
02:53 - Like I've been making this argument for decades, right?
02:56 And I know this because when you look around
02:59 the German V8 sort of category,
03:02 you look at like a Mercedes German V8,
03:03 it's a better American V8.
03:05 It makes all the right noises, it drags its knuckles.
03:08 That is a country that very much understands
03:12 internal combustion playtime.
03:14 - Yeah.
03:15 - And I think BMW, especially with its history
03:16 with running Dakar, with all of the round the world records
03:21 that have sort of wound up in the BMW GS camp,
03:26 it's a company that needs to make a truly dedicated,
03:31 sort of like an expedition competitor, right?
03:34 Something that people can take their families out,
03:36 cover long distances, have a really good time
03:38 and not worry about.
03:39 - Well, and they can take a page right out of Honda's book,
03:41 "Take the drivetrain from the new BMW GS 1300
03:44 "and put it in a side-by-side."
03:46 You've got 145 horsepower,
03:48 you've got a sequential transmission,
03:49 you've got all that weight down low,
03:51 they're torquey as the day is long,
03:53 and it could be easy to service
03:54 because you got the heads right there.
03:56 Let's go.
03:57 - And you know it'd be built well, right?
03:58 - Right.
03:59 - Like BMW does that, they do like refinement
04:01 and they do build quality really, really well.
04:04 It would cost a billion dollars.
04:06 - Yes.
04:07 - But that's okay, right?
04:09 The market's definitely moving upstream.
04:11 And I think if you're gonna pull in buyers
04:13 who maybe traditionally wouldn't look at a side-by-side,
04:16 having that roundel on the side would certainly do it.
04:18 - Yep, a true premium German side-by-side.
04:21 - Yeah. - Makes me.
04:23 - All right, so number four.
04:24 Number four's, you know,
04:26 it's a little bit of a side play here.
04:27 Husqvarna, right?
04:28 - Yeah.
04:29 - Husqvarna is making bikes
04:30 that are basically rebodied KTMs at this point.
04:33 Don't send me your hate mail.
04:34 I had a Vitpilen, look, and I get it.
04:36 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:37 - But, you know, whereas KTMs
04:40 are maybe a little bit more flat bill,
04:42 the Husqvarna stuff trends a little bit more Nordic in design.
04:45 - Also, you know, you could go with the premium play there.
04:48 If KTM is your racing side-by-side,
04:51 put that same engine in a Husqvarna-branded one
04:54 and go after the BMW that we just designed.
04:56 - Yeah. - Look at that.
04:56 - Absolutely, perfect.
04:58 You know, I like all of Husqvarna's design language right now.
05:01 I think it's like super clean and interesting.
05:03 - Very nice. - And I would really like
05:05 to see those guys, those designers, stretch their legs
05:07 and look into something with four wheels.
05:08 Because really, you know, we love side-by-sides.
05:11 None of them are pretty.
05:12 - No. - There's not a single one
05:13 of them that I look at that I'm like,
05:15 "Dang, that looks good."
05:16 - Well, an adventure bike's the same, right?
05:18 They're all a little on the ugly duckling side.
05:20 And if you look at an 890 next to a 901 Norton,
05:23 they're the same bike, but which one do you,
05:25 which one are you gonna look back at in the parking lot?
05:26 - Yeah, I want the 901. - Yeah, it's the Husqvarna.
05:28 - And, you know, hey, the logo is a rifle sight.
05:30 That's cool. - Yeah, that's very cool.
05:32 Plays really nicely.
05:34 Number five.
05:35 Ooh, this one's fun.
05:36 - Yeah, this one-- - Staying in Europe.
05:38 - Yeah, this one's a little bit of an oddball, right?
05:40 - It is. - Ducati.
05:41 I wanna see a Ducati side by side.
05:43 - A Ducati side by side.
05:44 The only thing better than a German redneck
05:46 is an Italian redneck. - Is an Italian redneck.
05:48 Yeah, that's true. - Yeah, come on.
05:50 Italy and Ducati in particular have a reputation,
05:53 have a history of doing slightly unhinged things.
05:56 And again, Dakar history.
05:59 Back in the '80s, Kajiva was putting Ducati motors
06:02 in great big old adventure bikes and going after Dakar.
06:05 So the history is there.
06:07 And again, this is a space where you could have
06:08 a premium product, if the Germans are doing it,
06:11 why not the Italians?
06:12 And who doesn't want a Panigale V4S engine?
06:15 - Oh, real bad. - Anything else.
06:16 - Have you heard that motor?
06:17 - Yeah, it's so good.
06:18 It sounds like, it's like the intro for "Hot to Teacher."
06:21 It's so, duck-a-duck-a-duck-a-duck-a.
06:23 (engine revving)
06:26 Put that, you know, give me a little dry clutch noise maybe.
06:34 - Well, and Ducati just came out with the Desert X Rally,
06:37 which means like they're definitely thinking more
06:39 towards the dirt side of things.
06:40 - They're heading in that direction.
06:41 - So, you know, just put another couple of wheels on it.
06:43 - Well, and it's clear, like that's what's selling.
06:45 People are buying adventure bikes.
06:47 People are buying side-by-sides.
06:49 The Panigale V4S and V4R, great bikes,
06:52 but you're never gonna sell volume of those.
06:54 - Well, and it makes sense, right?
06:55 Like our office is maybe an hour
06:58 from the tail of the Dragon 129,
06:59 one of the most renowned driving roads in the United States.
07:02 It is always packed.
07:04 You can rarely have a good time.
07:06 Meanwhile, there are dirt roads aplenty
07:08 where you can spend all day out riding around
07:10 and never see another soul.
07:12 - Absolutely.
07:13 - That's becoming a rare and rare commodity.
07:15 And I think manufacturers like Ducati
07:16 are figuring that out.
07:17 - Yep, let's see it happen.
07:19 All right, number six, we're coming back home for this one.
07:22 - Harley-Davidson.
07:23 - Harley-Davidson.
07:24 - Harley-Davidson.
07:25 - I want a bar and shield side-by-side so bad.
07:29 - Yes, and oh God, that V-twin, American torque.
07:32 I mean, come on, side-by-sides are an American thing, right?
07:35 There are a lot of Japanese manufacturers make them,
07:37 but they make them in the United States for Americans.
07:41 Get after it.
07:42 - And you know, one of Harley's major competitors, Indian,
07:46 is owned by Polaris.
07:47 - Right.
07:48 - So Harley's basically just handing over
07:49 that entire market to Polaris.
07:51 It's kind of insane to me
07:52 that they haven't looked that direction.
07:54 And sort of like Ducati,
07:55 they've been thinking about the off-road space, right?
07:58 They made the big--
07:59 - The Pan America just came out.
08:01 - Yeah, which by all accounts is an amazing bike.
08:04 I would have never in a million years
08:06 thought that Harley-Davidson can build an adventure bike,
08:09 but everybody I talked to who has been on that machine
08:11 absolutely loves it.
08:13 - And they went ahead and built an engine for it.
08:15 It's an overhead cam, honest to goodness,
08:17 no more push rods,
08:18 actual like competitive with the Europeans V-twin.
08:23 Dude, 100 and whatever horsepower, throw it in there.
08:25 - And it's clever in a way
08:27 that we really haven't seen from a lot of manufacturers.
08:29 So one of the big struggles with adventure bikes
08:31 is they're crazy tall.
08:32 - Well, Harley just solved that by having a suspension
08:34 that automatically lowers when you come to a stop.
08:36 - Right, exactly.
08:37 - Well, duh, there you go, right?
08:39 - I want that kind of thinking in a side-by-side.
08:42 It shows that Harley is moving past
08:44 the kind of old school antiquated way of thinking
08:47 and they're looking for new things.
08:49 This is a great place to do some innovation.
08:51 And again, it would be a premium product,
08:54 but that's what the space needs.
08:56 Polaris and Can-Am are trying to go that way,
08:59 but why not jump in with a brand
09:00 that's already got some panache,
09:02 that's got 100 and whatever years of history
09:04 and bring all of those buyers to the four-wheel space.
09:08 - Yeah, and I wanna see some of that styling too, right?
09:11 We were just talking about Husqvarna,
09:12 but Harley has such an iconic design language
09:16 that I want to see that translated over.
09:19 - Big round headlights.
09:20 - Big round headlights, really aggressive knobby tires.
09:24 I'm thinking about all those guys who took Sportsters
09:26 and built scramblers out of them.
09:28 I want a four-wheel scrambler.
09:30 - Yeah, absolutely. - I think that would be
09:31 absolutely awesome.
09:32 - Yep, throw some leather seats in there.
09:34 Before we get to the next manufacturer on our list,
09:36 do us a favor, pause the video, go down below,
09:39 like, comment, and subscribe to our channel.
09:41 We've got stuff like this coming out every week.
09:44 And if you're not subscribed, you're gonna miss it.
09:46 So hit us up and then go over to Facebook, Instagram,
09:49 TikTok, we're on all that stuff seven days a week.
09:53 We'd love to see you there.
09:54 - Absolutely. - All right.
09:55 Number seven, ooh, here comes the hate mail.
09:58 Here comes the hate mail.
10:00 They've thought about this, it's Tesla.
10:01 It makes so much sense.
10:02 So you've got a proven electric powertrain.
10:06 I can hear you all firing up your fingers
10:09 about range concerns.
10:11 Who cares in a side-by-side?
10:12 You know, you're going 50, 70, 100 miles at a clip.
10:15 Tesla has well proven that they can match that.
10:18 They've got a solution that would work.
10:20 Anything from a Model 3 all the way on up
10:23 to the Model S Plaid, the craziness.
10:26 - Well, and we have to acknowledge that Tesla makes
10:28 some of the fastest production cars in the world right now.
10:31 And like, there's no push rods, there's no complexity.
10:34 It is just, hey, do you want a sub three seconds,
10:37 zero to 60?
10:38 Good news, we have a crossover that will do that.
10:41 - And they have the battery technology
10:42 and like put half the motors of a Model S
10:46 into a side-by-side and you've got a screamer.
10:49 Side-by-sides are heading that direction.
10:50 We see Vulcan is about to put out the stag.
10:53 - Well, the Ranger Kinetic.
10:54 - Yeah, Ranger Kinetic.
10:55 - Honestly, that was one of my favorite rigs
10:57 that I've driven this year.
10:58 And it's because of the performance.
11:01 The thing just, it feels bright, it feels instantaneous
11:04 and it's dead silent when you're bopping around the woods.
11:07 It was such a fun rig to drive.
11:09 And because it has a big battery pack down low,
11:12 it carries all of its mass way down below your hips,
11:15 which means the thing feels really stable.
11:17 - Right, well, and you and I are both knuckle draggers
11:19 and we talk about this all the time.
11:21 What would it take to get us into an electric vehicle?
11:23 And the biggest thing, especially for street cars,
11:26 yeah, is fun.
11:27 Make it light, make it agile.
11:28 And this is a place where the UTV space
11:30 could really lead innovation for street cars, right?
11:33 Because they're so big, they're so heavy.
11:35 But if you start putting things in a UTV
11:37 that needs to be lighter,
11:38 I mean, Tesla has already proven
11:40 that they've got the innovation,
11:41 that they've got the infrastructure to do it.
11:43 They've got the brains behind it.
11:44 - Well, and it's worth pointing out
11:45 that Tesla is an American company.
11:47 - Yep, all American.
11:48 - Everything's designed and manufactured
11:49 right here in the United States.
11:51 I've got no problems with that.
11:52 - Nope, I wanna see it.
11:53 All right, let's go back across the pond.
11:57 - Toyota.
11:58 - Come on, Toyota.
11:59 All right, sort of like the Samurai, right?
12:01 Long before side-by-sides,
12:03 the rigs that you were most likely to see out on the trail
12:05 were Samurais and Toyota Truggies.
12:07 - Yep, yep.
12:08 - Or Land Cruisers.
12:09 - Or Land Cruisers.
12:10 That is a company that has a long
12:12 and storied off-road history.
12:14 Everything from around the world trips to Baja wins.
12:19 I mean, that company has died in the wool
12:21 when it comes to off-road performance.
12:24 - But I will say, their newer off-roaders,
12:26 while fantastic, things like the Land Cruiser 300 series,
12:29 that's a big, heavy machine.
12:30 Even the new one that they're putting out
12:32 for the American market that's a little bit smaller,
12:34 it's still not something that you would wanna
12:36 bounce off a rock.
12:37 We need an FJ40 back.
12:39 Well, and we've seen people do this,
12:40 like Mahindra does that with the old Jeep.
12:42 They got in trouble for it.
12:44 They were so close.
12:45 So it's not unheard of to do that kind of
12:47 old-school stamped steel thing.
12:49 Side-by-sides don't have to be plastic-bodied dune buggies.
12:52 They can be a more utilitarian rig,
12:55 and even a little bit bigger
12:56 than your traditional side-by-side.
12:57 - Sort of like Suzuki, right?
12:58 Where you've got the option to either produce a sport rig
13:01 or a utility rig.
13:03 You know, again, the years of going down
13:07 to your Toyota dealer and buying a very basic
13:10 four-wheel drive pickup for under $15,000,
13:14 that's long gone.
13:15 - Yep. - That is long gone.
13:16 Look, I totally acknowledge why all of that is.
13:19 You've got safety rigs, you've got EPA rigs,
13:21 you've got all of that that adds both cost and complexity
13:25 and finally weight to the equation.
13:28 Side-by-sides don't have to worry about that.
13:30 - Nope. - Right?
13:30 If it's not street legal and you're only bopping around
13:32 your farm at 35, 40 miles an hour,
13:34 you can give us a steel bed.
13:37 Look, just go back to the early Hilux
13:42 and just stamp one of those out and bring it over here,
13:45 and you'll have a line out the door immediately.
13:46 - And while you're at it,
13:48 put the engine from the GR Yaris in it,
13:50 or the GR Corolla.
13:51 (laughing)
13:52 - Yeah, why not?
13:53 Yeah, give me a gnarly little triple, turbocharged triple
13:55 that just screams at the atmosphere.
13:56 - My point is that the infrastructure's there,
13:59 and they've been building bulletproof CVTs
14:01 since the turn of the century.
14:03 So that technology is there too.
14:05 It's all just, it feels to us like you could just
14:08 package it up and send it over without any...
14:11 - Well, and that's also a company that has really refined
14:14 the hybrid drive train.
14:15 - Right, right.
14:16 - So if you're looking for something,
14:17 if you're worried about range,
14:18 well, take a Prius driveline, throw it in a Hilux,
14:21 and I would be the happiest dude on the block.
14:23 - Yup.
14:24 - All right.
14:25 - We've talked about Toyota.
14:26 Number nine.
14:27 - Speaking of Mahindra.
14:28 - Speaking of hate mail, actually.
14:30 - Jeep.
14:31 - Look at this guy.
14:32 (laughing)
14:33 He said it.
14:34 - I want to see Jeep make a side-by-side.
14:37 Mahindra, who had the license to produce the CJ in India
14:42 since, I think it was like '47.
14:44 - Yeah.
14:45 - They've been doing it forever.
14:46 They started importing them over here.
14:47 They took off like wildfire.
14:49 People absolutely love them.
14:51 Look, I love Jeep.
14:53 I love modern Jeeps, but I just read an article
14:56 that Jeep is in danger of pricing itself
14:59 out of its current customer base.
15:01 - How is that possible?
15:02 - Well, they were saying that a Rubicon averages $65,000.
15:07 You know, for an off-road toy, that's a lot of money.
15:12 - That is.
15:13 - So bring in--
15:14 - That's out of reach for most people.
15:15 - Bring in a flat fender, bring in a CJ5.
15:17 You have all the stamping somewhere, I'm sure.
15:22 Stamp that sucker out, put a modern driveline in it,
15:25 call it good.
15:26 - Yeah, and you can do, I mean,
15:26 you can do a modern internal combustion driveline.
15:29 They've got electric technology.
15:30 You know, it's all there, and it all just needs repackaging.
15:34 - Yeah, so I want to see that.
15:36 And again, just make it cheap, right?
15:37 That's all we're after.
15:38 I think one of the reasons that side-by-sides
15:41 really took off was because they were economical
15:43 for what you could do.
15:44 - Let's see a Jeep at sub $35,000
15:47 that you can just throw in a trailer
15:49 and roll out to Windrock.
15:50 - Have a good time, if you flounder on its side,
15:53 you don't care, you just laugh it off.
15:54 - Yep, you don't got to call your state farm agent
15:56 every time you scratch it.
15:58 - You don't have to call your spouse.
15:59 - Yeah.
16:00 (laughing)
16:01 Fair, yeah, absolutely.
16:02 - Okay, let's talk bonus stuff.
16:04 So those are all the manufacturers
16:06 I think have like actual merits,
16:08 reasons that you should build rigs.
16:11 Let's get a little weird.
16:12 - Okay.
16:13 - Lamborghini.
16:14 (laughing)
16:15 - All right, okay.
16:16 - I can see it.
16:17 - Okay, all right, all right.
16:18 - No, I can see it.
16:19 They built tractors.
16:20 - They built tractors?
16:21 So Lamborghini just came out with a Storato,
16:22 which is this ridiculous lifted thing
16:26 that's supposed to go off-road.
16:28 Porsche just came out with the Porsche 911 Dakar.
16:31 Same thing, these are vehicles
16:32 that cost an absurd amount of money.
16:34 You would never actually take them off-road,
16:37 but there is something there, right?
16:39 And again, part of it is you're not settled
16:41 with the same sort of regulations
16:44 that you were settled with today
16:46 when it comes to cars versus side-by-sides.
16:48 Imagine Lamborghini with the gloves off, right?
16:51 - Well, they did it in the '80s.
16:52 They built the LM002, their big, you know,
16:55 they built it for Gaddafi, I think,
16:57 the military rig, the proto Hummer.
17:01 Just shrink that sucker down, you know,
17:03 throw an Audi V8 in it, I don't know, whatever.
17:06 Why are we, we're spending--
17:06 - Or a V10, you know?
17:07 - Yeah, whatever.
17:09 Shrink it down, charge a hell of a lot of money for it,
17:11 call it a side-by-side, let's see it.
17:13 - Sell it to all the sheiks you possibly want to.
17:15 - Absolutely.
17:16 - You know, I think, I wanna hear
17:18 a Lamborghini side-by-side.
17:20 - Right, well, and you just mentioned
17:22 the other one that should do it.
17:23 Let's see a Porsche side-by-side.
17:24 Why not? - Yeah, why not?
17:25 - I mean, think about it, a flat six or a flat four,
17:28 flat turbocharged four, low in the chassis,
17:32 with German engineering.
17:33 People hire them to build their chassis for them.
17:36 - Yeah, right, right.
17:36 These are the people that you want
17:38 to put together your machine.
17:41 Let them build one.
17:41 - So we've had a good time with this.
17:43 Some of these things have been completely ridiculous,
17:45 but we think some of them are actually pretty good ideas,
17:47 and, you know, we take commission.
17:49 So, there's been nine manufacturers plus two
17:52 who need to make a side-by-side.
17:54 Let us know in the comments below
17:55 who you'd like to see build a side-by-side.
17:57 Let's keep this conversation going,
17:59 and we'll see you at utvdriver.com
18:01 for all the news, reviews, and buyer's guides
18:03 you could possibly read.
18:05 (upbeat music)
18:07 (upbeat music)