Since the beginning of the season, we already rode over 1 400 km on our new 2011 Ski-Doo Renegade Backcountry X E-TEC 800R. So, it is time to share with you my first impressions about this new sled. These first impressions, as that says, are meant to be a resume of our comments on the first contacts we had with this snowmobile. So, it is important to take them as they are: some preliminary results of our trial of the snowmobile performance without any adjustment made by us… The snowmobile has been used as delivered by our partner, TY Moteurs, Ski-Doo dealer in the greater Québec region. More precisely, I will tell you what strikes me right from the first miles … Of course, under the conditions given by Mother Nature. Fortunately we moved to a reliable location to realize our first tests, on the Monts Vallin, north of City of Saguenay.
First, we will not be able to talk about the off-trail aspect of the Backcountry, due to the fact that even if the Monts Vallin are usually covered with a lot of powder in early January, the 2011 season begins with snow conditions similar to the ones we usually have in March, a direct effect of the previous rainfall we had in the early in the season. So, we focussed our observations on 1-up and 2-up passenger seat on-trail riding on this hybrid, the primary mission of a hybrid to perform under any conditions. Until now, these first tests have been more than conclusive and this, despite the Backcountry narrower ski spacing (adjustable), even in its widest positioning. Once again, we have been astonished by the mobility of the XP chassis on trails, considering the 1.75 in. rear track that gives an outstanding traction all while being manoeuvrable in sharp turns. Even 2-up and with the 1+1 raised rear seat, it is very easy to drive the machine if we adjust our speed accordingly. However, what strikes me the most during 2-up riding, is certainly the performance of the 2011 SC-5, which is evolving for its 4th year, the best year in my opinion, because we can compare it with many Touring’s on the market. Moreover, we are testing an X edition, which is technically more rigid than the standard edition with its piggy-back rear shock. Its performance is quite good if we set the compression adjusters accordingly. The only modification we made following our partner TY Moteurs’s advice was to change the Backcountry rear springs for more rigid ones, since we found that the standard ones had the tendency to get smoother after a few hundred miles.
It is hard not to talk about the outstanding performance of the Rotax E-TEC 800R engine in the configuration offered by the Backcountry. Equipped with the 137 in Ripsaw track, taking advantage of a 1.75 in. lug, this spirited beast can kick in a split second. We must admit that this track may provide vibrations under some conditions (Hard snow), but we quickly forget about this detail when we experiment the pleasure of this raw power. The only problem we had was some engine cuts during accelerations or pickups at wide open throttle. A checkout was made by TY Moteurs’s experts who confirmed to us that this trouble is presently seen on a few units. We are waiting for an answer from BRP to solve the problem. This will probably end up with a reprogramming of the E-TEC computer or «patch», as soon as the BRP engineers will have found the conditions causing this bug in the programming… Seems like our snowmobiles are more and more like our computers! In fact, we had the same problem during our first year of tests with the E-TEC 600 H.O. It had been solved by updating the software in the E-TEC system.
So, the season is really well started and our first tests hold out the prospect of enjoyable experiences for the coming weeks. All is left to know is if we will be able to use the full capacity of the Backcountry in deep snow. To do so, we need significant snowfalls for our off-trail tests. Meanwhile, we continue our tests so that we can analyze in detail the performance of this trial snowmobile.
