2025 Polaris Ranger XP 1000 First Drive: This or a Work Truck?
Polaris’ revised full-size side-by-side utility lineup gives the people what they want.
Polaris has updated its full-size Ranger utility lineup for 2025, meaning any Ranger side-by-side with “1000” in its name gets a freshened nose, more refined transmission operation, and more standard content. Although Polaris’ RZR speed-buggy lineup is more exciting, the Ranger family are more practical tools, and the full-sizers are capable enough to pass as viable compact and midsize pickup alternatives, especially for use on tighter trails or farms where normal trucks are either too big or not compliant enough to work.
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The changes for 2025 aren’t huge, and most include the addition of previously optional equipment that most Polaris Ranger buyers were snapping up anyway. That includes a roof panel for every 1000 model—the entry-level Ranger 1000 Premium, XP 1000, and XP 1000 Northstar reviewed here—as well as a 4,500-pound front bumper winch, 29-inch tires on XP-and-up versions, and a new JBL audio system on the Northstars.
As before, the Ranger XP 1000s are powered by an 82-hp dual-overhead-cam inline-two-cylinder engine mounted just ahead of the rear axle and fed air via an intake high in the Ranger’s nose. Engine power flows through a continuously variable automatic transmission with high and low speed ranges to either a single rear wheel (so-called Turf mode, which reduces the tires’ surface agitation), both rear wheels, or an all-wheel-drive setting that automatically engages the front axle when slip is detected.
A fully independent double-control-arm suspension, hydraulic disc brakes, and LED lighting are included, and the Ranger can be had in two-door, three-seat or four-door, six-seat crew body styles, both with a manually tilting, gas-shock-assisted pickup bed capable of carrying up to 1,000 pounds of payload.
Every XP 1000 gets Polaris’ electric power steering setup, which for 2025 benefits from improved self-centering (the system lets the wheel unwind as the vehicle straightens), though lesser Ranger 1000s can still be had with manual steering. XPs also get a standard adjustable driver’s seat (slides fore and aft), a USB device charging port in addition to 1000s’ 12-volt outlets, and analog speedometer and tachometer gauges to augment the 4.0-inch LCD driver information display; XP 1000 Northstar models also include standard air conditioning and cabin heating—as well as windshields, doors, and rear windows.
Buyers can upgrade to a 7.0-inch Polaris Ride Command central touchscreen, too, though only the XP 1000 Northstar models include it standard, along with the new JBL Trail Pro audio system standard. To get audio on other XPs, you’ll need the Ride Command display, and then to wire speakers into Polaris’s clever Pulse wiring bus system (a roof-mounted Pulse 6 conduit is available) that enables quick and easy power supply to both factory and owner-supplied accessories and auxiliary lighting.
How Does the Polaris Ranger XP 1000 Drive?
Our nearly entirely off-road drive in a two-door, three-seat 2025 Ranger XP 1000 Northstar was unexpectedly comfortable. We spent the better part of a day tooling around a south Texas game ranch, splashing through rocky streams, bouncing up rocky hillsides, and bombing down—you guessed it—rocky two-tracks and dirt paths. Polaris says its ride quality tuning sets the Ranger apart from other side-by-side utility models, and we agree the XP 1000 rides unusually well for something so small.
Where you expect fore-aft pitching (the two-door Ranger’s wheelbase is just 81 inches, a full 10 shorter than the new Fiat 500e’s), the Ranger ambles over obstacles and lateral road washes with virtually none. The suspension, which consists of gas-charged coil-overs and that double-control-arm arrangement at all four corners, supported by conventional anti-roll bars, soaks up ugly terrain like it isn’t there.
Despite the obviously soft spring and damper tuning, the Ranger doesn’t slam its tires back to earth on rebound, and we failed to reach the limit of its generous 10 inches of suspension travel and 14 inches (!) of ground clearance. Polaris engineers say the Ranger can be driven across a plowed field—so, across a bunch of ridges, essentially—at 30 mph with little more drama than a regular pickup traversing a groomed dirt road, but we didn’t have the chance to test the claim.
Of course, the comfy setup allows plenty of body lean in corners, and the Ranger generally heels over onto its outside front tire when pushed hard; pilots can get on the gas to balance this out, but you’ll quickly transition to squatting hard on the outside rear tire. Put another way, the Ranger is tuned for fuss-free all-day utility work, not full-on off-road attacks—that’s what Polaris’ RZR lineup is for.
Here, you sit upright on a flat bench seat facing a steering wheel that’s somewhat laid back, like in a bus. The cabin is designed to ease ingress and egress and for older bodies to comfortably perch. (Polaris says most non-commercial buyers are in their 50s or older.) Even if the Ranger handled with greater sharpness, you’d be sliding side to side into either your front-seat passengers or the door panel to the left (or the door net on some models, which Polaris has made easier to clip and unclip for 2025, with less loose dangling when left open).
Power—It’s There But Mostly for Work
The 82-hp engine feels strong if somewhat loud. Operating through a belt-type CVT, its responses are good enough, though, again, this isn’t a dune-ripping buggy. Shifting is handled by a long, straight lever that juts from the dashboard next to the steering wheel; it indeed moves with a carlike refinement through its gates, firmly popping into the selected gear, and we like how simple it is to work fore and aft. To drive, you hop in, turn the Ranger’s key, fire the engine, and slam the lever all the way forward for high range. (Low is one detent below that, above neutral and reverse, with park all the way back toward you.) Polaris says it skips complex gating so owners who use the Ranger to plow can pop in and out of reverse with minimum fuss.
The throttle mapping is predictable, with pedal inputs smoothly metering out power and the transmission largely avoiding the rubber-band effect endemic to CVTs, where the engine revs up and then there’s a pause before the ratios “catch up” and spring you forward like a stretched rubber band. Polaris includes a trio of throttle maps to choose from, too, with the sharpest Performance setting returning the snappiest responses. The Standard mode feels slightly more relaxed, while the Work mode allows for finer control at lower speeds, along with the most engine-braking effect. In fact, in every mode, the engine braking is strong enough to nearly enable one-pedal driving like in an EV. Simply letting off the gas quickly slows the Ranger down, though not all the way to a stop.
We didn’t tow or haul anything with the Rangers we drove, but even with two adults aboard, performance feels unaffected by the mass. The engine is zippy enough to spin the rear tires, which quickly activates the front axle in AWD mode; leaving the Ranger in 2WD enables the more adventurous to swing the tail out, though exploring the handling takes some getting used to—the electrically assisted, variable-assist steering is numb, so yaw angles and understeer are more easily detected through your butt than any direct sense of what the front tires are doing. The brake pedal is similar; it delivers strong response, but there isn’t much feel—and there’s no antilock system (customers who off-road their Rangers often don’t want it), so quicker stops easily turn into lockup events.
The enclosed cabin is a nice touch, too. We didn’t notice any squeaks or rattles from the various panels, which are included on the Northstar but can be ordered à la carte on lesser Rangers. Oh, and having air conditioning is huge, especially near Uvalde, Texas, where daytime temps can hover near 100 degrees even in springtime. With so much glass area, the control-tower-like cabin can soak up a lot of solar gain, thus demanding the A/C be set to its maximum to maintain a comfortable temperature, but it’s way better than trundling around in the open air. There’s even a cabin air filter that eliminates most dust intrusion.
Those not familiar with side-by-sides might balk at the price tag, which starts at $20,999 for the three-seat, entry-level Ranger XP 1000 Premium (lower-output, less-well-equipped non-XPs start at $13,999) and rises to $27,999 for the Northstar (again, the three-seat, two-door version). Adding a second row of seats and a longer wheelbase piles another $2,000 to $3,000 to those prices. But looking at the Ranger as a pricey toy is missing the point—this is a working vehicle, and a nice one at that. It’ll comfortably go places (and at speeds) that’d shake an entry-level compact or midsize truck to pieces. In some places, you can even register it for road use, like you can with a golf cart, and side mirrors and other road-useful accessories are available. If we owned a farm or ranch or even just maintained a huge property, the Ranger would easily make us think twice about buying a basic Ford Ranger or Chevy Colorado.
A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.
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