Riding an ATV is a lot of fun. They have lots of torque, can go pretty much anywhere and you end up getting very dirty. But for most city folk, this involves leaving the city to get access to them, and that isn’t really feasible all the time. Well, Polaris India have heard you, and opened a Polaris Experience Zone (PEZ) right here in Malad.
The purpose of these PEZs is to grant the general public access to their famed off road vehicles. Currently, there are 54 PEZs across the country, and 6 in Maharashtra alone, so it is safe to say Polaris is taking this seriously. Here in Malad, their PEZ is part of the ‘Roaring Farms’ by Tao Experiences, which has built an artificial off road track with slush pits, humps, sand and stones, to best express what these terrain munchers are capable of. Speaking of the machines themselves, there are two models on offer currently, the Phoenix 200 and the Sportsman 570, and we had a blast on both.
The smaller Phoenix uses a 200cc air cooled engine with an automatic PVT transmission that sends power to the rear wheels only. While it may look small, it is big of fun. Its size and weight makes it easier to manage (and easier to get air in) and the back end kicks out when you punch the throttle switch. While this is the smaller engine of the two, we found this to be the more communicative one, and if given a choice, would always pick this over the bigger brother.
The bigger brother, the Sportsman 570, uses a more advanced 567cc liquid cooled EFI engine with an automatic PVT transmission that can send power to all 4 wheels or just the rear ones on demand. It is a lot larger, and has a pillion seat with a back rest. The suspension felt plusher, and in a straight line it was the better ATV. But it’s bulk makes handling it a chore, and takes a lot more effort and care. Not the best recipe to muck around, in our humble opinion.
We took these machines onto the current track, which is pretty fun, but a bit small and made us wish it was more challenging. However, a short chat with Sanat Agarwal, MD of Tao Experiences outlined the future. He says that a jungle trail is currently in the works, which will take you on a guided ride through the natural habitat of a Polaris ATV. Interesting. Besides this, the Polaris RZR buggy would also soon be available at this facility. Even more interesting.
Kudos to Polaris for taking initiatives like this and putting ATVs within our grasp. With the rains finally upon us, we say this is going to be one dirty, wet and fun monsoon.
Polaris, lets get that RZR soon ok?
