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I have to admit that in the past year, I have not had a great impression of Arctic Cat's sleds. They were noisy, stiff and that damned fuel tank gave me fits. I went up to Thief River Falls to see what was coming down the line for the next season. To my surprise and relief, there's a considerable amount of new product about to hit the snow. To my further surprise, the Cat folk said there was a 2001 ZR 600 APV sitting at our dealership for us to do preliminary testing. "What a great program," I thought. "An actual test sled that could help consumers make decisions before they go to their dealers in the spring."
This past weekend I had a chance to put a few miles on the sled, along with our 2000 ZR 600 EFI. Test Rider Doug Erickson has been riding the EFI machine this season and jumped at the opportunity to make a direct comparison.
The first thing I noticed when we pulled out of Doug's yard in Hastings, Minnesota, was how noisy his 2000 Cat was. With my '01 sled running, I could hear his '00 sled across the road. When I was up in Thief River three weeks ago, Greg Spaulding (Cat's engine guru) gave a short presentation on the new Arctic Power Valve engine. One of the most important things, he noted, was that the new generation engines are much quieter than we would be used to. Apparently, one of the benefits Cat achieves with the variable exhaust valves is a muffling of exhaust noise when the valves are closed. The servo-controlled valve pops open at 6950 rpm and snaps closed again when the engine drops to 6850. "By using the servo to actuate the exhaust valves," commented Spaulding, "we can control exactly when the valves open and closed. It's much more precise than systems that use air pressures. Also, we have a self-cleaning and diagnostic feature when the sled is fired up. We also have a bleed line that runs out of the valve housing, which will evacuate any escaping air and residue away from the valve itself. This should keep the system from fouling up." However if there is some sort of failure, the system will go into a survival mode so you can get it back to the dealership without worry of additional mechanical difficulty.
Another noise-killing feature on the new Cats that is readily noticeable is the insulating wrapper around the larger pipe. Where older Cats make that tinny, Cat howl, the next generation won't.
Another of Spaulding's points about the engine is that it is much more fuel efficient than non-APV mills. Man, was he right about that. We ran for 60 miles in a couple of hours, on the sled's maiden voyage. When we got in, we compared the fuel left between the two machines. The APV machine was on the plus side of the half-way marker. The 2000 EFI sled showed less than a quarter tank left. Not too shabby!
The reason the '01 sled is so much more efficient, Spaulding explained, is because it makes more power at lower rpm. "You only have to be into the throttle a little bit to hit trail speeds," he said. "On the other sleds, you would be into the gas much farther. That equates to better fuel efficiency." We concur!
But as we all know, the ultimate test of a sled's merit is how it runs against the next guy. In our closed-course, private property, professional riders, do not attempt this at home speed runs, the ZR 600 APV out-pulled the ZR 600 EFI by roughly three sled lengths before the field ran out- roughly a quarter mile. Doug and I made four passes, and with the exception of the time I gave him the short count he jumped out and stayed out front on the APV. For the record, Doug's about 30 pounds heavier than I am.
On the trail, I thought the APV could benefit from a little clutch tuning, and it definitely needed to be rejetted for the warm weather. But we wanted to get a true from-the-dealer impression of the sled before we went in and started messing it up. With a little work, the throttle response should be as crisp and snappy as the EFI sled, which makes the carburetion changes automatically.
The rest of the sled is exactly what the Cat Faithful have come to enjoy. There have been very few changes in the suspension and chassis setup from 2000. If you're among the growing group of consumers waiting for the Cat to get back, you can let out that sigh of relief now. Even after one ride, it's apparent that we're about to enter a new era of snowmobiles from Team Arctic. "They've done a good job of addressing almost every one of our concerns from last spring," said Doug. "It's quiet and gets better gas mileage, without losing any engine performance. In my opinion, the sled is even calibrated a little softer on the suspension than what the old ZRs used to be. The only thing left is to fix the gas tank issue."
With all this said, you might want to go see your dealer about the '01 sleds now. We're guessing that with the industry backlog of two- and three-year-old sleds putting the big hurt on the market, Cat and the others won't be building many more new machines than early orders call for. If you don't order early, you may not be able to find what you really want.
With just over 200 miles on my 2001 ZR 600 APV, I can say it keeps getting better.
Day 3 was a little sketchy. The sun was out and it was warm. The snow had mostly compacted into that glacial sludge most commonly found in mid-March. But miles are miles, and my goal is to hit at least 750 before I have to give it back. I decided to spend an hour running over the same stretch of mogully ditch, trying the different rear suspension settings afforded by the cam on the torsion springs. I tip the scales at about 160 lbs, pre gear. As I suspected, the softest setting is definitely the one for short, skinny guys. The stiffest was like riding directly on the slide rails. I almost came unglued a couple of times. The middle setting was a little more forgiving, but still on the stiff side. That would probably be a good one if I had hit my season weight goal of 175-180 pounds, pre gear.
So it came back to the soft setting. As I spent more and more time on the sled, I made my peace with being on the softest part of the cam. Afterall, it's not a reflection on me as a rider, but more so a reflection of being skinny, right?
I hit the end of the gas tank at about 120 miles or so. Near the edge of the final stripe on the gauge means there is about three gallons left swirling in the bottom. I put 9.3 gallons in, and the odometer said 122.6 miles. The math says that it comes out to 13.13 miles per gallon. Not too bad for an Arctic Cat!
Day 4 was much better. It snowed in the morning and I knew things were going to look up. It was colder, too, which meant that the stock jetting was going to be closer to being right than when it was in the upper 20s and lower 30s. I put a 2-quart jug of oil into the reservoir.
It filled it to the brim. There were about 170 miles on the sled, but I made a mistake and didn't top off the oil before I started. We won't have a good consumption figure now until next time.
It's amazing what a little bit of snow for the sliders will do for a sled's performance. The throttle felt crisper, it carried itself better, and the dull hum of the track got much quieter.
Somewhere around the 200 mile mark on the odometer, I noticed a new attitude from this sled. It came on. The belt and track have broken in and the whole thing seems happier. Maybe it's all in my mind, but as soon as actual snow touched the machine, everything worked better.
I'm hoping to find more of this snow stuff over the weekend and see how it reacts to it. If I can find a quiet stretch of lake, I might try to break out the radar gun for some real performance numbers. We'll see if the DNR and Sheriffs are watching.
The snow is calling…