Throughout late 2003 & the first half of 2004, we've seen every manner of utility ATV possible brought to the market. Most memorable were the unique offerings of the Yamaha Rhino Side-by-Side and an entire line of two-seater ATVs by Bombardier.

We first rode the Bombardier Outlander Max at their Max Lineup Launch in British Columbia early last fall. We were immediately impressed at its trail-worthiness and touring capabilities.

We were already familiar with the Outlander, a model that several other publications in fact named as their Utility of the Year when it was first released. It is an amazing machine, with available power and comfort that easily topped the quads that were in its mid-range classification. By stretching it out 8 inches and adding a second seat still in front of the rear axle, the Max version was born for 2004. Bombardier had another winner on it's hands.

We brought one home to the ORC stable as immediately as possible, with the intention to put on those hundreds of trail-riding miles we have beat quads with in the past. Mud, snow, sand - nothing was off-limits to our testers. This was, to us, a recreational vehicle.

Ah, but it is so much more.

For the first time, with ORC headquarters now in a rural area of the Pacific Northwest, we took full advantage of the "utility" of a utility quad. Our Outlander Max has over 300 miles on it, most of them logged going round and round a very rocky 13-acre parcel with a deeply-digging harrow or heavily-loaded trailer behind. Add another 50 miles of slowly crawling work days with the local ATV club, with constant stops and starts for clearing brush and marking trails. It hauled hay to cattle in sub-zero temperatures and hauled rocks in 100+ degrees. With never a failure. (In fact, just this week we have our first flat tire!)

(Well, that's not quite right. We do have one curious problem that continues to plague us even now - early on, on a fairly tame trail ride, the battery fell out. No noticable impact - it just wouldn't start after taking a break. The rider looked under to check the battery connections and there was no battery!

He sent a rider up the trail they had just come down and found it, laying beside the trail. It is very difficult to access the battery connections on the Outlander, especially the front-most connection. Whatever clamp or strap is supposed to be there to hold the battery in, is no longer there. We are using an industrial-strength bungee now, but there is just enough give to allow that battery cable to occasionally wiggle loose. It often requires one person to hold it at a certain angle while you start the motor.

Curious, and a pain in the neck. We'll point it out to the dealer when we return it, so they can fix it for the final long-term owner.)

Even with this inconvenience, we have never worked a quad as hard as we did the Outlander Max.

By lengthening the frame, not only is the second passenger correctly balanced, but more weight (up to 175 pounds) may be added to the rear rack without causing it to lift in front. We were constantly pleased with the cooling and engine braking features.

We turned heads and answered questions from agricultural weed sprayers, construction workers and farmers. We assumed the second-person-seating would be used only on long trail rides, but we honestly were too lazy to take the seat off and put on the optional rear rack extension. Surprisingly, with the seating available, we found ourselves often putting on a second passenger - maybe just to run them up the fenceline as we went past, but a couple times to run a rescue mission for another rider whose bike had broken down and needed a ride to camp or back to their disabled vehicle.

No sense piling them on the back of a regular quad with their legs dangling just over the wheels or burning on the exhaust - the Outlander Max can safely (and legally) haul that second rider.

I will point out that we aren't wild about the plastic rack system on the Outlander and Outlander Max, and never have been. However, we did discover it is well-suited for carrying large flat gear like water or gas packs, or over-width items tents or fence posts.

ATV's with a traditional high-sided rack system compromise carrying long or large flat objects, so it's really a trade-off of preference and what style of packs you use most often.

What it scores high marks in, more than anything else, is COMFORT and RIDEABILITY.

You will not find a utility quad from any other manufacturer with the ride offered by the Outlander.

Don't assume this is the work-horse of the Bombardier line-up. For that, you need to look to the Quest or the Traxter. Despite how hard we worked it, the Outlander Max is ideally suited for trail and recreation riding. One afternoon on the trail will tell you that - and the longer the ride, the better.

Thanks to the Rotax High Output motor, It is surprisingly powerful - seemingly beyond it's 400cc's - and more nimble than you would expect 640 pounds of ATV to be.

The XT Option package provides some great goodies, such as the optional rear rack system extension and molded handguards. We also recently had the opportunity to test the fender protectors and mud guard extensions now available from BRP. We expect you mudders in the South will appreciate this option!

Max version MSR is $6,599; XT Version (definately go for the XT options!) is $7,399.

Bombardier Recreational Products