Okay, we’ve been busting to tell you about the new Arctic Cat sleds for almost a month now and today the embargo is lifted and we can spill the beans.
We’ve ridden this sled rather extensively at two different sites (Minnesota & Montana) and our praise for the new chassis has been doubly confirmed. This is a breakthrough snowmobile.
The new F-series Cats are much lighter, more compact snowmobiles than Cat has produced since the days of the Firecat and the new sleds’ hallmarks are twofold: Excellent ergonomics and most importantly, handling.
Frankly, there hasn’t been a Cat that handles like this one since the days of the old sit-down ZR chassis and AC moves to the top of the handling heap in one fell swoop with this widely spaced double A-arm design.
This sled’s neutral handling manners are better than any competitor and its knife-like ability to carve corners makes it a total blast to ride. This element has been sadly missing on Cats the past few years and now the fun-factor is back in spades!
The other big deal is the way the new 4-stroke Cat works. This is the first 4-stroke we’ve ridden that doesn’t feel anything like a 4-stroke! Honest.
We can’t believe how there’s simply no handling compromise with last year’s Z1 even-firing parallel twin under the hood. This is pure magic and finally, after almost ten years of 4-stroke sleds, somebody has finally managed to get it right.
More tomorrow…
You’ll be able to get a full detailed ride report on all the new Cats when you grab the Online Edition of Supertrax (Vol 22 #5) on Zinio.com this Friday. Don’t miss it!
