Can-Am Outlander

Evolution makes every species stronger.  Can-Am believes that lesson applies to products as well and it’s evident by their continually evolving lineup.  You can bet even before they release a new product they’re planning the next generation of upgrades for it and that commitment to continuous improvement has helped them build what is almost certainly the most refined lineup in the sport.  They never consider good to be good enough.  Need proof?  Less than a year after the introduction of the stunning Maverick 1000R, Can-Am has expanded their lineup once again.

Installing extra parts and vehicle customizing is nothing new for ATV and Side x Side riders.  Almost everyone installs a few aftermarket goodies on their off-road toy, but some riders take that concept to the extreme.  Bobby Meeks is one such rider and a few new parts weren’t going to do it for him.

If we could only pick one machine for everything from weekend trail rides to work around the yard or farm, it would be the Can-Am Outlander MAX 650. It’s off-road perfection on four wheels. What makes the Outlander 650 Max special is that it does so many things so well. Can-Am bumped up the power on the 650cc, liquid cooled, EFI equipped engine this year and it completely changed the feel.

It’s almost a little hard to believe an 800cc machine would not be the most powerful ATV in the lineup, but with Can-Am anything is possible.  The Can-Am Outlander 800R definitely qualifies as a big bore machine by anybody’s standard, however, and it’s our pick as the best Open Class Utility ATV of 2012.  What sets the Outlander 800R above other models in the Can-Am (and everybody else’s) lineup is the second generation SST chassis.

CAN-AM is a company on the move.  Last year they introduced an all-new chassis in their top of the line ATVs and this year we expect the second generation chassis to make it on almost every other Renegade and Outlander model in the lineup as well.  Their special edition models come with over-the-top features that make them the luxury vehicles of the off-road world, but they’re much more than just a pretty face.  The first mandate for any Can-Am ATV or Side x Side is that it must perform and these are the models that really put them over the top.

Nobody has ever come back after riding a CAN-AM complaining the motor was weak, and that’s not about to change. What they built for 2012 are all new machines from the ground up, and they started with the top models in the lineup.

CAN-AM never does anything half way, and when we heard rumors of major changes to their ATV lineup, we were more than a little intrigued. What arrived was beyond what anybody outside of CAN-AM’s engineering group ever imagined.