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1988 INDY 650 VS. 2013 INDY
A quick comparison
Just 25 model years ago Indy was in its heyday. It was considered by many to be one of, if not the best all-around snowmobile of its time. It was THE sled people thought of when they thought of Polaris snowmobiles.
We have compiled stats for both the 1988 Indy 650 triple and the new 2013 Indy 600 standard and SP models. We used the 650 Indy triple because we feel it was more comparable in horsepower to today’s 600 twin.
Certainly the smaller Indy 500s would have been cheaper, but in 25 model years the price of an Indy basically went up at the rate of $100 per year. In 1988 the cost of an Indy 650 was roughly $5,500 and today’s standard Indy costs roughly $8,000. You can upgrade today to the SP and it will cost you $1,000 more, but you could also upgrade certain features in 1988, which would have added additional cost as well.
This is a fun comparison, and we won’t point out the obvious technological improvements since 1988, but a couple things struck us as entertaining when reading the old brochures including noting that the old sled was 36 lbs. heavier.
Looking at the stock horsepower, the 2013 Liberty Cleanfire twin far outperforms the old 650 triple out of the box. (See stats boxes.) However, the 1988 Indy 650 really woke up when a set of triple pipes was added. Dynotech Research of Batavia, N.Y., tested several pipes back then, including an Aaen Performance set, Starting Line Products, and others and found a gain of nearly 30 hp was not uncommon.
Back in the ’80s Polaris also touted that the Indy 650 was a new, extremely wide sled with great fuel range, and small wind-cheating windshields. A quarter century later and this sled is now MUCH narrower than it’s new brethren. The old 650 also only had a 7.3-gallon fuel tank and got worse gas mileage than the new Indy, so range was small. Oh, and today we would have called the windshield on the original 650 a “mid-height” windshield … not even a small one!