Where I grew up in Ireland, there was a very easy backdoor entry into off-road driving. OK, that’s a massive stretch. Teenagers used to buy retired postal vans (Renault Kangoos) and drive them until the wheels literally, sometimes figuratively, came off. This all happened on bog land.
And, in some ways, it was great. But in most (all) ways it was illegal.
On the upside, teenagers got to learn about what it was like to manually shift through a gearbox and experience how a vehicle reacts when there’s almost no traction, making them somewhat competent behind the wheel before they even had a driver's license. On the downside, there were bits of, and sometimes entire Kangoos, scattered across bogs.
Oh, yeah, and it wasn’t the safest thing to do, but the Kangoos rarely got up to much speed.
When I tested Yamaha’s latest YXZ1000R SS XT-R on some fun off-road trails, and a modified YXZ1000R SS around Crandon race track, I couldn’t help but think back to rallying Renaults around bog land. Except I learned so much more about off-road driving, and although it was much faster, I felt a lot safer.
Driving Yamaha’s latest side-by-sides was everything I’d hoped driving around bog land would’ve been when I was a teenager. The YXZ1000R SS XT-R is a backdoor entry school for off-road driving, and when you’re ready, it turns into a supersport-style racer.
Gaining Confidence
Crandon Airport has to be the most relaxing and easiest airport in the country, yet I still landed feeling equal parts nervous and excited. I knew that this was definitely going to be the fastest and most extreme side-by-side test I’d done. Knowing that invited a level of tension, but the YXZ had a trick up its sleeve to quell that, even in less-than-ideal conditions.
It had rained so much the night before that we weren’t sure if we could ride on the Crandon International Off-Road Raceway, so although we could drive the XT-R on the nearby off-road trail, you can imagine how slippery the conditions were even there. I wasn’t there to go slow, but the trail was pretty diverse, consisting of a mixture of flat-out fast sections and tight, rutted turns.
At no point did I know what was coming next during my first few laps, making this the perfect time to test out the YXZ100R’s least aggressive automatic shifting mode: Auto.
Auto is as simple as it sounds, it shifts for you automatically. But these shifts are more relaxed, as it short shifts, and never nears the YXZ’s 10,500 RPM limiter. The engine didn’t lure me like the devil on my shoulder that I’m so often, easily led by. It didn’t produce a sonic attack on my ears in the cabin. It was like a free pass to go slow, survey the track, and get to know the machine.
Sometimes being encouraged to take it slowly and get familiar with the fundamentals of what you’re doing is exactly what you need. This is the start of the backdoor entry school to off-roading.
Turning Up The Pace
Auto was by no means slow if you mashed your foot to the floor but, before long, I was ready to progress to Sport Auto. This mode still shifts automatically but will hold the revs all the way to redline or drop gears when necessary to keep you in the peak of the meat. But having a direct connection to the machine via a manual transmission is what intrigued me about the YXZ1000R versus its competitors, so it was going to take a stellar performance from the Sport Auto mode to stop me from just opting to use the manual transmission all the time.
“Ask and you shall receive” is what the YXZ would’ve said to me if it could make any other noise than that of a howling triple.
I did a better job navigating the diverse off-road trail in Sport Auto than I ever would have by shifting manually. It shifted up when I would have and it shifted down when I needed it to, no matter how harshly or unexpectedly I applied the brakes or throttle. Since there was no chance of me intimately learning more than a few sections of the vast trail, I was faster, more confident, and most importantly having more fun in Sport Auto than if I was in Sport Shift (full manual using paddles).
As I became more comfortable in the YXZ1000R, I found myself loving an open, flat part of the trail that invited four-wheel drifts, and this was the only time I found myself preferring Sport Shift to Sport Auto. Sport Auto was upshifting, as it should, right before I was bouncing off the limiter. But I wanted to bounce and slide and keep that triple howling to indulge the devil on my shoulder.
Now, think back to when I was pottering around the trail in Auto. After learning my bearings in Auto, I was rallying in Sport Auto, before finding spots where I could let it all hang out in Sport Shift. This is what the YXZ’s backdoor entry school to off-roading looks like, and I was graduating.
If any of you were worried that the inclusion of automatic shifting modes on the YXZ1000R SS would dull the YXZ’s edge, fear not. It’s exactly as it sounds: inclusion. Yamaha hasn’t made a softer, cushier version of the YXZ, but included more features while making it even more capable in experienced hands.
More Hardcore
The 29-inch Yamaha-exclusive Maxxis Carnage tires locked in by beadlock rims on the XT-R demolished the path ahead, even as ruts became increasingly deeper throughout the day. The 4WD system in combination with these tires simply hooked and ripped even around the tightest, most nadgery parts of the trail. As for the suspension, well, I couldn’t fault it on the trail, and when you know what it’s packing that’s understandable.
There are Fox 2.5 Podium RC2 shocks on all four corners. At the front, you get 16.2 inches of travel and that goes up to 17 inches at the rear. The suspension was so capable that I had no need to tweak it, but those who like to tune can get to work on the fully adjustable spring preload, dual-spring-rate adjustable crossovers, rebound and both high- and low-speed compression damping.
I couldn’t find any jumps on the trail, but there was a huge braking bump that preceded a sharp left-hand turn. As I’ve said before, anything hit fast enough becomes a jump.
I launched it on one of my last runs, blew the next turn, but not the suspension. Nothing about this jump was skillful and I was fully ready for a decent jolt up my backside, but the YXZ1000R more or less laughed it off.
But once Crandon International Off-Road Raceway began to dry out, I got to see what these machines were capable of, albeit with around $10,000 worth of aftermarket parts to make them suitable to tackle such an extreme track. This is where Sport Shift shined.
As the track dried out and conditions changed, so did the optimal lines. Having total control over gear selection was key when figuring out what line was best. And if you wanted to have a blast with total disregard for lap times, the ability to manually shift was even more crucial.
I launched those YXZ1000Rs and didn’t make a dent, but they had upgrades, so I needed to head to the rock section of Crandon’s Ultra4 course to find where the standard YXZ1000R XT-R’s limitations might lie.
Rock Crawling
Rock crawling an Ultra4 course isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you see the YXZ1000R XT-R. It’s probably not even on the list. And as I sat at the bottom of what looked like a 30-foot wave made of boulders, I hadn’t a bloody clue how this mid-size sporty side-by-side was supposed to get to the top.
My nervousness showed, and instead of crawling, I sprinted. But once I got to the top, I felt like I’d done such a disservice to the engineering that’d gone into this model for 2025.
First gear is a staggering 40% lower than the previous model, specifically so that if you happen to come across a massive boulder field in the YXZ1000R, you won’t need to sprint. You can get technical and take advantage of all the power and traction on tap in first gear.
So, I asked if I could do the rock crawl again, this time with the intention of taking my time and tactically choosing my line. I had never been rock crawling prior to this, and the YXZ1000R made me look like I knew what I was doing. But it didn’t spoon-feed to the top, quite the opposite.
This model has the tools to do the job, will give you the confidence to do it, and take you most of the way, but to finish the job you need to be involved. The people who want to know their input was the deciding factor in the experience will get more enjoyment out of the YXZ1000R than any other model in this class.
You Know If It’s For You
I get what draws people to the YXZ1000R SS, and apparently, that’s because I’m exactly the type of person who would be. While chatting to the engineers behind the YXZ1000R, they told me many of the people who buy this model are motorcyclists, and the fact that you can manually shift gears is what draws us in.
I can’t disagree. I’ve never cracked nearly as much fun out of a side-by-side with a CVT.
It’s not just like a motorcycle, it’s specifically like a supersport 600cc track weapon of old (RIP Yamaha R6). It wants to scream, that’s the nature of its 998cc inline-three-cylinder engine, and if you’re not wailing on it, you’re not getting rewarded. But unlike the supersports of old, you can learn with this machine using its Auto, Sport Auto, and Sport Shift modes. They let you work your way up, and reward you along the way.
This is not the UTV for everyone, though.
It’s fast, exciting, and sharp but it yearns for someone who’s willing to put in the effort. If you just want to put your foot down and watch the world warp, regardless of the terrain you’re on, there are better (much more expensive) machines for it. But for a starting price of $20,899 and $23,699 (as tested), this is arguably the most engaging, exciting side-by-side you’ll get.
