Editorial By: Mark Lester
This is shocking. In 2007 I rarely ride snowmobiles that are not fuel injected. I often ride snowmobiles that have powerful 4-stroke engines. It’s the exception around here to tally less than 16 mpg on a day’s ride. I often ride snowmobiles delivering more than 120 HP while reaching 20 mpg. Stunning realities.
Five years ago there were only a handful of EFI snowmobiles on the market and there were only a couple of agonizingly slow and heavy 4-strokes. It wasn’t uncommon for an 800cc 2-stroke to deliver less than 10 mpg. In fact we commented in Supertrax how one 800 was actually capable of 11 mpg! Back then, in our opinion, this was acceptable mileage!
Talk about a turnaround. The fears we had harbored in the late 90s of EPA regulated slugs, heavy as Buicks and as boring as wet paint, have not materialized. In fact, we all agreed how much we appreciate the way this year’s sleds perform in terms of throttle response and wide open throttle compared to just five years ago.
Then there’s cold starting; it’s now an effortless task. Warm-up? Today it’s so easy to get running, Yamaha 4-strokes actually have a “cold light” to remind riders to take it easy for the first few miles.
Throttle response is so good, you can whack a new EFI mill ice cold and it’ll deliver smooth, clean response.
In our 18 year history, these sleds are the best running we’ve tested, producing seamless, smokeless, torque over a broad RPM range. We figure the fuel economy improvements evidenced across the board are at least 30 percent and, in some cases, exceed 100 percent in certain displacement categories.
Did I mention many of these same sleds are much lighter than their predecessors? Amazing progress.