It’s big news this year Polaris will be offering a new BOOST turbocharged 850 Patriot 2-stroke for MY2022 in specified RMK models.
Here’s what’s interesting about this news: Apparently the 850 Patriot was designed from day-one to handle more power than its naturally aspirated Semi-direct injected twin has delivered the last couple of years – about 165-168-hp give or take. Apparently, the turbo concept was always on the table since the Patriot 850’s inception.
As you’ll recall, when it was first introduced, one of this 850’s hallmarks was a beefed up crankshaft with oversized bearings. Whatever further modifications were required to bring this engine to 2022 turbo-spec, we haven’t heard yet, but Polaris seems to be indicating it didn’t need a whole lot. However, Polaris is obviously pretty confident this engine will be durable because it’s offering a two-year warranty with it.
The turbocharger itself is manufactured by Polaris and the company claims it will “boost” power by about 10-percent at sea level. As Luke mentioned in the video on this website we can estimate the total power output of the turbo 850 will be in the 180-185-hp range using 9-lbs of boost.
BTW, you need to realize that 9-pounds of boost is really pretty light by high performance standards, so there’s probably even more capacity in reserve to deal with what the aftermarket is likely to come up with.
Polaris also claims a 50-percent power increase at 10,000 feet over a stock RMK and says the new turbo and its plumbing is about 40-percent lighter than what is available from the aftermarket. Keep in mind, above 10,000 feet, just like all engines, turbo or otherwise, there will be a gradual power decrease as elevation increases.
Naturally, everyone is asking if the BOOST turbo in an RMK will work better than a turbocharged Summit. Dunno yet, but most certainly Polaris has benchmarked the Ski-Doo against this new RMK. Polaris does claim the boosted RMK is lighter than the Summit – by close to 20-lbs.
So, does this mean we’ll see a Patriot 850 turbo for the trails someday? Don’t count Polaris out – but don’t count Ski-Doo out either. Both companies have been completely mum on the subject – but knowing how these things go, we can’t help but think the idea has been tossed around in the engineering department from more than just a “maybe-perhaps” point-of-view.
