EVERYTHING We Know About The SUPERCHARGED Kawasaki Ridge!

UTV Driver

Kawasaki has some BIG NEWS planned for January 23, 2024. Judging by the company’s teasers, it looks like we can expect a four-cylinder side-by-side, but the patent office tells us it might be more than that. Way more. Is Kawasaki building a 300-horsepower, supercharged BEAST?!  Check out the full story at https://www.utvdriver.com/utv-videos/kawasaki-ridge-supercharged-four-cylinder-possible-300-hp/  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: /utvdriver   Instagram: /utvdrivermagazine   Twitter: /utvdriver    TikTok: /utvdriver

Transcript

00:00 It looks like Kawasaki has something big planned for 2024.

00:03 The company's dropping a lot of teasers,

00:05 and it looks like they might be building

00:06 a 300 horsepower supercharged Unlimited Class side-by-side

00:10 to go toe-to-toe with the Pro-R and the Maverick R.

00:13 Here's everything we know.

00:14 We've had four teasers so far,

00:16 including one that looks like a gloss chrome type paint

00:20 that's very reminiscent of the paint that we saw

00:22 on the 2014 Kawasaki H2 when they dropped that bike.

00:26 Why is that important?

00:27 That bike was, you guessed it,

00:28 a supercharged inline four.

00:30 So before we look into the four-cylinder side-by-side,

00:32 let's take a look at the engine

00:34 that Kawasaki uses in its supercharged H2.

00:37 It makes 197 horsepower in the ZH2,

00:40 and its most powerful configuration,

00:41 it makes over 300 horsepower in the non-street-legal H2R.

00:45 Those engines use a really clever supercharger design.

00:48 It has a unique impeller.

00:50 It's very similar to what you'd see in a turbo,

00:51 so it makes almost no boost in low RPM,

00:54 and makes crazy power up top,

00:56 which is great because these engines spin up to 14,000 RPM.

01:01 The next teaser gave us a good look at the interior,

01:04 and Kawasaki says this is ultimate premium performance.

01:08 Look, we've given Kawasaki a rash of heat

01:10 about their interiors lately,

01:11 especially as the markets progressed.

01:13 Competitors like Can-Am and Polaris

01:15 have really upped the game in terms of interior,

01:17 and they have left rigs like the KRX in the dust.

01:20 Well, this teaser looks like we can expect

01:22 something completely different.

01:23 Super nice upholstery,

01:25 what appears to be a big center screen in the dash,

01:28 which leaves all that high-phonic stuff way in the past.

01:30 But the biggest and most significant hint we've seen

01:33 is this smoky image of the engine.

01:36 And what do we see?

01:37 Four coil packs in a row.

01:40 Why is that a big deal?

01:41 Well, we're looking at a four-cylinder.

01:43 Kawasaki makes a lot of awesome four-cylinders.

01:45 Why do we think it's supercharged?

01:47 Well, some of our sleuths went digging around

01:49 at the patent office and found a bunch of interesting stuff.

01:51 These patent drawings show all of these four-cylinder engines

01:54 in a utility rig.

01:56 We're guessing that's a bunch of sleight of hand

01:57 by Kawasaki to keep us off their trail,

02:00 but the important part is all four of the iterations

02:03 of this side-by-side feature

02:04 a supercharged inline four-cylinder.

02:07 That means we could see a Kawasaki Unlimited Class

02:09 side-by-side with anywhere from 197 horsepower

02:13 to over 300 horsepower.

02:16 That would leave the Can-Am Maverick R

02:17 with its 240 horsepower in the dust,

02:19 and it would make the Pro R absolutely stone age.

02:22 Hey, before we go any farther,

02:23 be sure to like, comment, and subscribe

02:25 so you can stay on top of news like this

02:28 along with other reviews, trail rides,

02:30 all sorts of fun stuff.

02:31 Check us out.

02:32 So Kawasaki filed four different versions of this design.

02:36 Let's take a look at exactly which ones those are.

02:39 The first is no nonsense, clearly a low-cost version.

02:43 There's a good chance this might be

02:44 what we see in the machine.

02:46 Super simple, supercharger, single throttle body,

02:49 four intake runners right into the cylinders.

02:51 No nonsense.

02:52 It's the easiest setup,

02:53 it's the most cost-effective to produce,

02:55 but it leaves a lot of power on the table.

02:57 The next design is way spicier,

02:59 and it's lifted directly from the H2.

03:01 In this design, air first goes into a plenum,

03:04 then goes into four individual throttle bodies

03:07 that then funnel that air directly into the cylinders.

03:09 That makes for a lot more power.

03:11 The third generation goes back to that single throttle body,

03:13 but it throws in an intercooler.

03:15 Why are intercoolers important?

03:16 Well, it's an air-to-air design.

03:18 It cools down that charge before it goes into the cylinders.

03:21 There's a good chance this might be what we see

03:24 on the machine because it's sort of a compromise, right?

03:26 You get the benefits of an intercooler,

03:28 you get the simplicity of a single throttle body,

03:29 but that's not what we want to see in the Ridge.

03:32 Kawasaki filed one last patent.

03:34 This one is for what we like to call beast mode.

03:37 It uses elements from the three previous designs,

03:40 but while those designs use a planetary gear system

03:42 to turn the supercharger,

03:44 this one returns to the chain-driven system

03:46 like you see on the H2.

03:48 That lets the supercharger spin a lot faster.

03:51 You also get the intercooler for a denser air charge,

03:53 and you get four individual throttle bodies

03:56 like you see on the motorcycle.

03:58 That is the best of all worlds,

03:59 and it makes for the most potential horsepower.

04:01 So the most potent H2, the track-only, truly gnarly machine,

04:06 that makes like 306 horsepower,

04:08 but it does not have an intercooler,

04:10 and that would make this the most powerful

04:12 production sport side-by-side ever built.

04:15 Of course, the side-by-side will probably be aimed more

04:17 at low-end power, and we say that

04:19 because all of these designs are bolted to a CVT gearbox,

04:22 just like we're used to seeing,

04:23 just like the Razor Pro-R makes.

04:25 You don't get a dual clutch like you'd see in the Maverick R.

04:28 Still, with the Maverick R looking at under 250 horsepower,

04:31 it is only a matter of time

04:33 before someone kicks in the 300-horsepower door,

04:35 and who better than Kawasaki?

04:37 That's everything we know about the 2024 Kawasaki Ridge.

04:39 If you like what you saw,

04:40 be sure to head over to utvdriver.com.

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