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If I had to use one word to describe the 1999 Polaris 500 XC SP it would have to be, impressive. It is well built, the fit and finish is excellent, the overall handling is exceptional and the power of the 500cc domestic twin motor is nothing short of incredible!
I have a short list of all time faves that I carry with me wherever I go. The list has five sleds on it and the 500 XC SP is one of them. I logged 1025 trouble-free miles on this snowmobile and the only complaint I can think of is that I had to give it back at the end of the long term test.
It's quite obvious that Polaris spent a lot of time and money on engineering and development. From the top down this is what you can expect for six grand. First, a windshield that really works. It's a mid height flared design that provides great driver protection and adds style to the overall looks of the machine.
The hood is brand new and is made of Thermal Poly Olefin designed by Polaris for extreme cold temperatures and high under hood heat resistance. The new style has no nose cone, further improving the fit and finish of the sled. And snow ingestion screens are standard on the front, clutch and brake louvers.
A 280 watt alternator powers the flush mounted three bulb halogen headlight, providing a 25 percent increase in lighting power over previous designs. Behind the hood Polaris totally redesigned the handle bars which are one inch longer, straighter and have new grips. On the left side of the handlebars Polaris developed a new left hand control assembly which houses a new hi-low beam switch, a four position handwarmer switch and a three position thumbwarmer switch.
The new assembly is very user friendly and easy to become familiar with. The only problem I encountered with the new assembly was the headlight dimmer switch had a habit of falling off. This happened on both Polaris sleds that I had for a long term test.
Also brand new on the left side of the handlebar is a totally new Polaris High Performance Hydraulic Brake system. The brakes worked extremely well, refused to fade, and as a bonus- brake lever effort has been reduced by 58 percent. On the other side of the handlebars is a is a very comfortable throttle lever that is connected to dual Mikuni TM38 flatslide carburetors resulting in a 40 percent reduction in throttle effort.
The instrument pod is functional and easy to read day or night at any speed. The 'racer' style seat with side pads is not only good looking, but also very comfortable especially in the rough stuff. The rear suspension is an XTRA-10 with a new Fox "Positive Sensitive" design shock. Working in unison with the XC-10 front suspension having 9.5 inches of travel, CRC handling package, Fox IFP gas shocks, and tipped in trailing arms for a flat ride in the corners, these suspension systems combine to offer what could very well be the best riding and handling sled out there. The heart of the beast is a sassy 500cc motor that just blew me away! I had no idea that someone could crank that much power out of a 500cc engine!
The new motor is liquid cooled and based on the racy 440 XCR. The engine is fed by dual Mikuni TM38 flatslide carbs. It also has digital CDI and direct oil injection, which means the oil is injected directly into the carbs rather than being mixed in the fuel pump.
The CDI results in more precise oil metering. This nasty little monster was extremely stingy with its gas and oil consumption. The 500 XC SP consumed 57.972 gallons of gas in 1025 miles for an astounding average of 17.682 mpg. Oil consumption was eight quarts for an average of 128.125 miles per quart.
This sled loved the rough stuff and gobbled the bumps and moguls as fast as I could feed em' to it. It was also a trail rider's dream, staying flat in the corners with lots and lots of power and torque for the twisties and straight stretches.
How fast was it? On one of our test courses with my wife on the back I actually saw 92 mph on the speedo. Granted we were on a very hard packed surface with two inches of fluff. Even knowing that speedometers can be off by as much as 10 percent this kind of performance is hard to believe. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent on the 500 XC. I logged over 6,000 miles this past season and truly believe that the 1,025 I spent on the XC were the most enjoyable.