# UTV alternative?



## Iron Bear

I have a Polaris General with 15k miles and I test drove a new one last week. It made me realize how beat up my General is. Rattles clicks everything's loose. It's a shame that 10k miles is high for a machine that costs nearly $20k. I started thinking about buying a samurai. Or maybe a Roxor.

https://www.roxoroffroad.com/

This Roxor is cheaper than many UTV's and has a diesel and a traditional drive train. Built by Mahindra I'm betting they will last way more than 20k miles.

Anybody seen one in person?


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## hook69

They look like a neat little machine. I wonder how the ride is compared to the side by side? My son had a samurai years ago and they can go a lot of places but they still don't ride like a UTV, and his was not as reliable as my Honda.


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## Wayno945

They had them on display at the Sportsman's Expo last year. Probably will be there again next year. Not sure if they are street legal in many places.


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## BPturkeys

Google up "Mini Trucks". You can get them out of Canada all tricked out for a LOT less than Razors and Generals, etc. There are also some that are like mini SUV, like the Suzuki Jimny.


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## taxidermist

Iron Bear, I have a General and I wouldn't trade it for one of those "jeep look-a-likes" for a second! 


I'm sure you could replace a few warn parts and tighten up a few nuts/bolts on the general far less than a Roxor. I'd bet the Roxor won't be able to go places the General could.


I looked at the web page you gave. I didn't see it do anything a standard pick-up truck couldn't do.


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## johnnycake

I've seen them in person, just not in action. I think the Roxor has a lot of promise, and am curious to see how they do as more people start using them. My inclination is to think they will go pretty much anywhere you can get a General, and they'll last a lot longer too.


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## Iron Bear

I wish they had a better cab for winter conditions. I’ve seen some with tracks. I have seen those mini trucks also but a lot of them for sale have high miles already and I don’t want to tinker. I would guess I can get a cheap samurai and put $20k into it. But I will still want a UTV for work and what not. I love cruising up the mtn at 40 mph and I won’t be doing that in a samurai or Roxor. I love the General don’t get me wrong but I put about 7500 miles a year on mine and it’s too bad they won’t do 50k plus miles with a bunch of maintenance.


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## middlefork

I'm sure it is not you but most people I see driving SXS think they are competing in the Baja 1000.

All that suspension travel still won't take away all the punishment on the rest of it.


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## Iron Bear

Lol 

Depending on time and day of the week I might get a bit stupid in mine. But really im a chicken and don’t want to end up a statistic.


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## DallanC

Funco GTQ 






-DallanC


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## taxidermist

Love the video Dallan! Now those "sand cars" are a fun, fast as hell but very expensive and after every trip out, your tearing it down and replacing bearings, seals, all kinds of stuff.


I had a custom sand buggy in the late 80's (not as bad as the one in the video) and for every hour of riding it seemed you had two hours of maintenance to keep it going.


I'm guessing a car like the one in the video would cost close to 100K.


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## DallanC

taxidermist said:


> Love the video Dallan! Now those "sand cars" are a fun, fast as hell but very expensive and after every trip out, your tearing it down and replacing bearings, seals, all kinds of stuff.


Yea stuff's crazy now-a-days. Most of these companies are buying "off the shelf" chevy LS3 crate engines and sticking them in whatever. If I had unlimited funds, one of these GTQ's would be outrageously fun on the backside of Little Sahara running those big bowls. LS3s put out so much power, and they are super reliable.

Back to the OP... I'm trying to figure out what I want in a UTV. I wanted capacity to carry ice fishing gear, definitely want to put on a track kit for winter... that kindof pushed me more to the utility type UTVs, ie: Pioneer 1000-5 etc etc.

But, we started going to the dunes this year. Ended up going to the dunes more than we went fishing / hunting / camping in the forest. Now I want a machine thats more dunes capable than a pure UTV.

I'm not sure where that lands me on the scale of Side by Sides. If I had to buy today, I would probably go Honda Talon with a Turbo kit, and roof rack for the equipment.

-DallanC


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## SCS_Bg_Hunter

Maybe I'm missing something but what's wrong with an older Jeep Wrangler? One of my boys has one, he put dana 44's front and rear, upgraded his transmission, lowered his gear ratio in his rear end, upgraded his springs and put a small 2 inch lift on it. That thing will go just about anywhere I've wanted to go. Plus, from late spring to early fall with the doors and top off its a hoot to drive around town. He has the 4 cylinder motor so when you open the hood you can just about crawl into the engine compartment, they're really easy to work on and relatively inexpensive. Its a little under powered on the freeway but if he wanted to he could easily throw it on a flatbed trailer to get it where he wanted to go, mostly he just drives it to our hunting spots though. After all is said and done he's in it way less than 10k, probably around 6 or 7 is all. I realize it's not as sexy as the new utv's, it's a little bigger on the trail too but performance wise it competes pretty well on the trail.

Maybe I'm just looking at his jeep the way I am because I can't swing a 15-20k razor, plus I'm old and find myself longing for the way things used to be, "back in the day"


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## DallanC

I've been following the jeep market pretty closely... Jeeps are really expensive. The old days of cheap jeeps have long since passed. You can expect to pay $6-8k for a mid 80's CJ7 with a solid body. 


-DallanC


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## SCS_Bg_Hunter

Neat, just like everything else. My son did get his 7 years ago and I haven't followed the market much since then.


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## DallanC

Yea I love jeeps, follow prices closely as I'd love to find a old MB or GWP and restore it. Restoring a muscle car is out of my price range but I could swing fixing up an old Jeep. Can get a complete body kit from the Philippines made on the original 1940's equipment for around $3500.


-DallanC


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## Critter

There has been many times that I wished that I still had my old 1942 Ford MB with the 134 flat head engine in it. 

That thing would go almost anywhere as long as you were not in a hurry.


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## Iron Bear

Jeeps are great. I had a 43 Willey’s that we hunted out of for 30 years. Before atv’s. This Roxor has a width of 62” which I bet may squeeze past those 60” gates.


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## taxidermist

If you want a rig you can ride the streets and the trails - Look at a Toyota FJ-40 Landcruiser. I had a 1976 and a 1978. Like a jack ars, I sold them. 


I guarantee that a stock FJ-40 will outperform a Jeep (Just Empty Every Pocket) any day of the week. I've proven it many times.


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## SCS_Bg_Hunter

Like this one? It's a 1970, one of my boys spent 2 years tracking down original parts and doing the body work. It has the Chevy 350 but other than that its pretty much back to stock. He even found the old steel wheels which he had powder coated. He found some old jump seats which he re-apposreupholstered himself. Looks pretty good IMO.


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## nickpan

This is my old mans 56 Willys. I drove it all through high school. Pretty well all original equipment with the F head 4cyl. One day I'd like to drop a small block or a 6cyl in it. Hunted out of it for years. Fun rig. Small wheel base can get it just about anywhere.










Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## taxidermist

SCS_Bg_Hunter said:


> Like this one? It's a 1970, one of my boys spent 2 years tracking down original parts and doing the body work. It has the Chevy 350 but other than that its pretty much back to stock. He even found the old steel wheels which he had powder coated. He found some old jump seats which he re-apposreupholstered himself. Looks pretty good IMO.
> 
> View attachment 139751


Yup, that's the one. They had a 3 speed tranny in them until 1975 (I think) when they went with the 4 speed.

In 76 you could buy a new one from the Toyota Dealership for $4,500. I saw a 81 that was completely stock/original at the gas station a while back. I was salivating when talking to the guy driving it. I offered him $25,000 and he said, "NO WAY" I'll never sell it. I was glad he said NO!


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## Huge29




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## Iron Bear

Yes! I want one of those snowdogs


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## DallanC

Iron Bear said:


> Yes! I want one of those snowdogs


Just build one. Take any old cheap or free 440 snowmobile, usually the 121 or 136" tracked models with a blown engine. Cut it off at the tunnel, throw on a Harbor Freight Predator 13hp engine, and a CVT off ebay.

Some minor fab work, you can be into one for around $400.

Here's a homebuilt one:






Predator engine (these are electric start!)

https://www.harborfreight.com/13-hp-420cc-ohv-horizontal-shaft-gas-engine-epacarb-69736.html

CVT drive:

https://www.amazon.com/Auto-Express-Torque-Converter-Clutch/dp/B00KPXFC1O

-DallanC


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## DallanC

nickpan said:


> This is my old mans 56 Willys. I drove it all through high school. Pretty well all original equipment with the F head 4cyl. One day I'd like to drop a small block or a 6cyl in it. Hunted out of it for years. Fun rig. Small wheel base can get it just about anywhere.


Hey thats really nice. We had a 64 Willys for a while, you could hit 55mph with a good tailwind. It would crawl anywhere though. It was banana yellow lol.

-DallanC


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## DallanC

Impressive, very impressive.






-DallanC


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## Al Hansen

I have a friend that has that Roxor. He says he loves it. His has the 4 speed. He recommended the automatic. He made his street legal with the kit. Claims it can go about 55 mph. Front lock out hubs.


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