My Rooster is a genuine lover of all things that are vehicle oriented and fast. He loves all things that can take tight turns, climb hills, push mud out of the way and scale rocks.
He recently purchased one of his dream vehicles. Like I told the lady working the finance desk, I would rather have him collect toys than women! Plus, I get to have all the fun of playing with them! (The toys not the women, although I’m sure if it was women, I would not be left out, LOL)
I present to you, the 2018 CanAm Maverick X3 XRS Turbo.
Shout out to Brother’s Powersports in Bremerton!
First off, I’ve got to point out that he pondered for a long time on the CanAm Maverick versus the Polaris RZR. He really did his research, he did a lot of it…… reading spec’s, talking to actual owners and watching many You Tube videos.
If you would like to watch one yourself to become more familiar with the machine, and it’s advantages and disadvantages, I recommend you watch the You Tube video linked here for your convenience. It will also compare and review both machines and tell you all the cool parts and stuff from a man’s point of view, which I cannot even begin to offer.
As always, any and all links will open in a new tab, so that you don’t run the risk of losing your place in my blog post :).
When we went to Dune Fest last summer there were many, many RZR’s running around and not as many CanAm’s, I think that may have been more a result of marketing and sponsorship though, than a matter of which machine is better.
It should also be noted, that we saw some wrecks at Dune Fest, and all of those were RZR’s.
We were running neither of these at Dune Fest 2017 of course. Last year it was the Sand Rail’s turn to shine at that event. And she did really well, the Sand Rail emerged fast, attractive to all of the onlookers and droolers, she performed well off the line and won Best in Class at the Show n Shine Event, and she should have, she’s an impressive machine, with lots of drooly man parts to her.
The Sand Rail is for sale by the way. Sand Rail Flyer. Comment if you’re interested, or just call the number on the flyer (chock full of details) linked above.
Back to the story. Ultimately, my Rooster chose the CanAm Maverick.
All kinds of the accessories, like many grown up toys were sold separately. Accessories like the heater, radio, half doors and windshield……. Boo to CanAm for making some of the obvious necessities, accessories.
My Rooster, who is getting a little older every day, has made safety a priority, so among the extra accessories he ordered were front and rear bumper guards and an intrusion bar for the windshield area.
Here is where he ran into the first roadblock. The intrusion bar is awesome and will save our faces, chests and bodies from any flying debris, or logs, or whatever. CanAm has not built a windshield that will fit under/over this bar. So, the long and short of that is if you have an intrusion bar, you have no windshield and vice versa.
Except at our house. High Five to my Rooster for fabricating his own windshield, that does fit over the intrusion bars. Note to other owners: He might make one for you if you ask nicely. He is currently speaking with CanAm about registering and selling them his design.
ON TO THE GOOD STUFF
A couple of Saturday’s ago, my Rooster and I headed out to test the new OHV, in case you don’t know, that means off highway vehicle. He did buy the street legal package, so it can technically drive anywhere, but it is only street legal to a certain speed. No freeway for this baby…….
We headed to Straddleline ORV Park, recently turned Grays Harbor ORV Park, merely for a drive through and on into the Capitol Forest.
From a lady’s point of view (who’s a lady?), the Maverick handled well on dirt/logger roads, gravelly not so bad roads, in the mud and as a crawler. I must admit that we didn’t try to race or do anything crazy, because you’ve got to take it easy for the first 100 miles as to not blow any gaskets before they seat themselves (see that, it’s man speak for take it easy, I did not know that info before hand, it’s all wrote memorization).
In return for my ever present sense of adventure and brave ride along skills that day, we had a beautiful little picnic in the woods. It was just wonderful, cheese, meat, crackers, coconut macaroons and apples. *Sigh* I just love adventures with my Rooster.
The only drawback I really saw is that the Maverick is very, very loud, which is strange because from the outside it seems to run pretty quietly. The engine is literally right behind your head though, which maybe explains the extremity of the noise.
This also explains why people wear helmets with communications devices in them while driving, I mean besides safety and laws and whatnot.
On another side note, shame on the guy trying to sell his two year old Maverick on Craigslist, claiming that he had a $5,000 stereo system in it. What a waste (if he really did), unless it’s a stereo that plugs directly into helmets, don’t bother. We needed no more noise, music or otherwise.
We toured all over the Capitol Forest, some roads traveled were intended, and on some we were just a little bit lost. A big shout out here to Google Maps for having forest roads available to view and track!
When we finally found the truck and trailer again, neither of us were quite ready to go home. My Rooster proposed heading out to Ocean Shores to test the mighty Maverick on the beach.
Before you start arguing with me about how the Ocean Shores Beach is a State Highway, let me remind you again that this Maverick is also equipped with a street legal package and has two sets of license tabs. It can absolutely drive on the beach here in Washington.
But Alas, after a trip to the Casino for clams and a little gambling, we discovered that the weather had gone south. It was raining sideways, well, every which way. The winds were kicking up and there was even a Tsunami watch!
We spent the night at the beach house and promised to try again in the morning.
Although that didn’t happen either. By daybreak it was hailing sideways! I guess January isn’t really the month for a pleasant beach race. 🙂
As our wonderful impromptu adventure ended, we headed home, him satisfied with his newest toy, and me happy to have had a quality adventure with my man, we gave in to the weather and promised ourselves we would be back for a beach test soon.
I know that I for one am very much looking forward to the next Maverick Adventure. Elbe Hills, Tahuya, Florence, somewhere else even? Who knows……..
You know me, there’s always a moral…..
Take some time to adventure with your favorite man, woman or child. Buy that crazy toy, but be sure to do your research.
You only live once, and time sure does fly.