Kawasaki Teryx: A Great Off-Road Vehicle
…however, its time has not yet come for me.
I went riding the other day with the owner of Monroe Motorsports. He brought along a 2008 Kawasaki Teryx. It’s about halfway between an ATV and a jeep.
This vehicle has a longer wheel base and beefier suspension than an ATV, which means it can crawl over rocks and steep hills better than an ATV can, and is less likely to fall over backward - but it also means that it gets high-centered in places that an ATV would not.
It can go just as fast as an ATV on dirt roads, but when on trails winding among the trees and rocks, it goes much slower due to the extra width and larger turning radius.
Instead of a handlebar and thumb throttle, these things have a steering wheel and gas pedal. It also has bucket seats, with headrests and seat belts, and… wait for it… CUP HOLDERS. It also has a nice big cargo area, great for camping trips. It also has a roll cage, so if you do anything really crazy, you might survive it – and there are “oh shit” handles everywhere. It’s almost like the engineers bolted one of these things up to one of those bucking bronco machines, put someone in it, and took note of the places they instinctively reached for when trying to brace themselves. Then they put “oh shit” handles in those places.
So what’s the down side? Well, for starters, it runs about $12,000. It also does not have Fuel Injection (the 2009 model does) or Power Steering (no commitment from Kawasaki on that yet). It requires more storage and trailer space than an ATV, and it’s a lot heavier.
These things are just starting to be developed and features added. There’s a lot of room for improvement. Also, I’m in bill-paying-down mode right now, and next year I’m probably going to going to have to buy a car or two. So I figure in two or three years I might be ready for one of these, and they might be ready for me.
One of these will be great for Angela and I to go on camping trips together. When we do an overnight camping ATV run, one of these will be great, and we won’t have to haul a mini-trailer behind an ATV. Also, Dad might find one of these easier to ride than an ATV. Who knows? Anyway, it will be fun – when it is time.
