bouncy shocks are you ready to learn the truth about the 2024 Kawasaki Ridge we're here in West Virginia at the Hatfield McCoy trails and we are going to drive this thing and we're going to tell you exactly what it is and what it is not it's not what you've been told it is Kawasaki has positioned the ridge as a Yamaha armax Fighter the armax is a trail rig first and a utility rig second what the Kawasaki Ridge actually is is a really capable competitor to the likes of the Can-Am Defender hd10 limited and the Polaris
Ranger xp1000 Northstar Edition kowi made a huge deal about this thing's enclosed cab it's HVAC system and its Garmin tread infotainment system if you're familiar with the hd10 defender and with the ranger xp1000 Northstar Edition you'll know that both of those rigs are as luxurious as they come and the ridge is similar in Form and Function to those machines but it's got a cool trick up its sleeve or maybe I should say under the bed because the Kawasaki Ridge is powered by an allnew 999cc four-cylinder engine with DNA straight from Kawasaki's sport bike and watercraft
industry that means in the ridge XR behind me you get 116 horsepower which is huge for this class you also get 1,000lb bed capacity and Kawasaki just updated the towing numbers this thing will tow 2500 lb that puts it squarely in competition with the ranger and the defender limited we're going to get this thing out on the trail today and show you exactly what it's like to drive the 2024 cowi Ridge Kawasaki seems to want to position this thing as an AR as a Yamaha armax fighter and that's really not what it is this is
a Can-Am Defender and Polaris Ranger fighter and as a Polaris Ranger fighter and Can-Am Defender fighter it is a fantastic machine the powertrain is excellent the engine is Snappy it's responsive it sounds great in here both of those other rigs the engines are parallel Twins and they sound a little harsh the cabin insulation in the other two rigs isn't quite up to the spec that this cabin insulation is and so you get a lot of harsh noise and the engines you know as parallel twins they're not meant for refinement they're meant for work and so
they don't really sound that good that's not the case here also in this Ridge XR as we've said a million times you have 116 horsepower which is way more than the 80 or so you get in either of the other rigs so you have this excellent super responsive super fun super good sounding powertrain and we like that Kawasaki has built its reputation in the power sports industry for top whack for cylinder engines and this is one they have really done a good job it pairs really nicely with the CVT I would rather any rig I
drive not have a CVT but if it's going to have a CVT it better be good and this one is all three throttle response modes work really well for what they're for normal mode is nice easy just cruise around mode sport mode is responsive and work mode is really soft but that's what you want in work mode it is a true work mode there are appropriate steps between the throttle response settings so all of that works really really well and again if you've got to carry 1,000 lb in the bed or tow 2500 lbs the
ridge will do that for you just the same way that the Can-Am Defender and the Polaris Ranger will where this thing is a huge step up is in the interior even in the Northstar Ranger and the defender limited where you do get roll down Windows and HVAC and stereo and all of that jazz this one being brand new um some of the interior materials aren't as premium as Kawasaki would have you believe but it is very nice in here and the layout is excellent it's not quite up to Ranger XD 1500 specs but it doesn't
have to be right because that is a 3/4 ton utility rig and this rig is going to compete more with the THC pedestrian smaller lighter Duty utility rigs I think that Kawasaki has done this machine a disservice by putting it in competition with Rec Ute rigs this is not an armac X it's not a Can-Am Commander it's not a Polaris General it doesn't handle as well as those rigs the interior space and the seating position is not as sporty as the seating position you get in those Rigs and this one just doesn't feel as composed
and capable on the trail as those rigs do it feels like a utility rig utility rigs are fun to hustle in the way that driving a slow car on a twisty Road at full chat is fun it it doesn't do everything that you want it to and so you have to drive around a little bit and so that makes it entertaining right you have to think about what you're doing the rig's not going to get you out of trouble if you're going if you want to hustle this thing you're really going to have to be
on top of your game I think it's great fun but again if you're following your buddies up a trail and they're driving araxes you're going to be in the back of the line there's just no two ways about it who is the ridge XR for the ridge XR is for casual Trail Riders and people who need their side by side to work as hard as it plays and probably a little a little bit harder this would be a great rig to have if you had a 100 Acre Wood lot if you live on a ranch
and you've got a long way to go to check fences or go to the mailbox or move hay bales around Kawasaki Ridge is your jam if you want to do some light off-roading and go out into the desert with a bunch of camping gear uh Kawasaki sells like 55 accessories for this thing you can put another $116,000 worth of catalog Parts on it they said and so you could really outfit this thing as like a pretty capable Overlander just don't don't expect it to do sport rig things because that's not what it is despite the
fact that it has 30in tires and 15 in of ground clearance and a nearly 120 horsepower 4-cylinder it's spritely it's fun it's quick but a sport machine it ain't Okay so we've been out here for a couple of hours ripping around on the Rock House trail system we've been driving this morning the 2024 Kawasaki Ridge XR this is the sport model you get these cool contrasting color a ARS uh you get bucket seats which move four and a half you get a big center console it is designed this engine from the ground up for the
side-by-side application it is not a sportbike motor it's not from anywhere else in the Kawasaki lineup they designed it specifically for this rig but what we want is this engine in a sport chassis unfortunately our biggest knock on this rig is that the suspension is just not quite fit for purpose when you get out and start ripping around it's really soft it likes to ppose into Corners a little bit and you're sat like a church pew it has a traditional sort of Utility side by-side seating arrangement where you're very upright and even though that's a
bucket seat that's adjustable you still feel like you're sitting on top of the machine rather than in it that's great for Sight lines but it's not great for confidence when you come into a corner and you feel like your face is leading to the Apex rather than the machine you also get a ton of body roll and it's just not very composed over whoops and so with that in mind what you've got is a really good utility machine if you get the HVAC model all of that works super well it's very comfortable in the cab
it's very quiet in the cab we've noticed even though it's got this rockus four-cylinder engine they've really struck a nice balance between noise levels in the cabin and sounding cool all the switches the Eros are laid out really nicely the TFT Dash is beautiful most of the touch points feel like touch points in a side by side it's sort of flimsy hard plastic but it's laid out really nicely it is laid out Automotive style so it looks very good in there we're going to drive the ridge limited the more work oriented one in a little
bit we'll let you know how that goes this is the Kawasaki Ridge limited this is the up Market the uh Cowboy Cadillac if you will we got a Warr VX4 winch on the front smaller tires staggered tires this has 27s front and rear on the same 14-in wheels wheels are a little stylish they've got uh different Machining on them but otherwise it's the same the paint looks excellent and then inside where the XR had Sports seats this thing's got a much more traditional utility style bench seat made out of this really cool kind of tough
vinyl I guess that is exciting thing is that this one unlike the other one has the G and tread which they're going to show us in a minute but it's got your battery voltage your CVT temp and then uh pitch and yaw your fuel level in there it's glove sensitive to touch you can go to your map and then all your trail riding buddies are here on the side much like Polaris ride command you've got all of your buddies there and their nicknames in the GPS right off the Hop so when we get moving you'll
see the uh icon spread out and then you've got your trail map here your route outlined in blue so you can uh go back out to the main menu get your camera again these lovely push buttons on here I really like the way that that works so there's my rear camera there's my front camera pretty wide angle it looks like that Sprinter van is about I don't know 5 miles away and it's like right in front of us all right see I'm definitely noticing the seating position in this feels slightly different even a little bit
more upright than the other one we're in work mode so we'll let's see oh yeah work mode is just as soft in this one as it is in the other so I'm going to switch it immediately to normal work mode really is for like putting it on a trailer or some really really slow speed stuff I think they send a letter via Pony Express when you want power in work mode all right there we go there's sport mode really uh sport mode is pretty much good for anything I'm noticing in this one right off the
bat it's a good bit stiffer than the other one uh this is not the sport machine but feels a bit more planted honestly I'm not really noticing that much of a difference in power I think the 116 horsepower that the XR has which is uh you know 25 or so over what the this one makes that must all be at the top of the Rev range this one doesn't feel quite as Snappy in sport mode but you'd have to be doing something other than just kind of bopping along a two track at a medium speed
to to to really feel the difference 92 horsepower is perfectly adequate another nice similarity between this and the XR is that they're both pleasantly quiet inside I don't think I'm having to raise my voice to talk to you all uh Gage and I could be having a conversation in here if I wasn't on camera engine note sounds pretty much the same is in the sport model it's just a very pleasant kind of four-cylinder growl okay so we have now switched Trail systems and we have switched machines we are in the Kawasaki Ridge limited this is
the much more utility focused version of the Kawasaki Ridge and I got to say it's the one I'd buy all that complaining I was doing earlier about the two soft dampers and kind of being thrown around the cabin in the XR model none of that exists here it's wild you would think taking a look at this thing that it would be worse on the trail markedly worse smaller tires it just it looks like your granddad's util utility rig and look inside come here when you look at that interior it doesn't exactly scream sporting but I
don't know whether it's the tires with less sidewall and just less weight to move around or whether it is actually more stiffly sprung and a little bit better damped but this thing controls its body much better on the trail if you're actually looking to do some sporting stuff ironically the more utility focused model is the one that you want it's the one that I would have in my garage yes technically it does have less horsepower but unless you're at the very top of the Rev range where the engine makes a lot of its power you're
not going to notice it's only a few pound feet of torque down and when you're cruising around at 5 6,000 RPM that's what you want you want that solid flat torque curve and this has it so it doesn't feel appreciably slower on the trail than the XR model does in 2024 The ridg Limited is the model that comes with the Garmin tread this is a really really really good GPS system it's got our route pre-programmed into it and it shows you on a screen where everyone in your group is and which direction they're facing so
if your buddy literally gets turned around you can just take a quick look at the tread and know that he's heading the wrong direction and hey you got to go either send him a text or get back in touch with him it pairs right with your iPhone so everything you want is right here they talk about sort of Automotive style this and that in the interior here this is almost as good as Apple carplay it's a really good system it'll be great when this comes out for 2025 in the XR yeah and inside you know
they're seating for three they make a big deal about the XR having sport seats but these bench seats are really pretty good I mean you've got this nice little Ridge between your thighs that kind of holds you in place I wish there was a console of some kind but again you have to make a sacrifice if you're going to carry a third person okay so that's about to wrap up our time here at the Hatfield McCoy trails we're going to get back on the trail in a minute and enjoy more of the 2024 Kawasaki Ridge
but like I said at the beginning of the video you want to know the truth about the Kawasaki Ridge the truth is it is an excellent utility machine and that's all it should be we think Kawasaki misses the mark a little bit with the XR it's too softly sprung and really its sporting pretenses don't suit the machine but in limited guys it makes a really compelling competitor for the likes of the Can-Am Defender and the Polaris Ranger this is the utility machine you want if you're worried about having Creature Comforts if you're worried about staying
dry but still having a good time on the trail if you need your machine to work but still have the ability to come out to somewhere like Hatfield McCoy and explore for days on end that is it and we can't say enough good things about the powertrain that is the shining star of the show here that four-cylinder Mill is excellent we'd like to see more four-cylinders come to the market because they're a lot more refined than the parallel twins parallel twins are fun in their own way but this machine has power everywhere you want it
it's smooth it's quiet it does sound good uh man if you put a pipe on this thing it would be an absolute riot thanks so much for joining us let us know in the comments below which one of these machines you'd have you can catch us seven days a week on social media on Facebook Instagram and Tik Tok we're on YouTube every week and then head over to UTV driver we've got news reviews buyer guides all kinds of nonsense 5 days a week we'll see you there
