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It’s hard to find any faults with the Summit, but if we had to nitpick, it would be about the fuel tank. Due to the shape of the tank, it’s not possible to completely fill up without burping the tank by pulling down on the rear bumper. Normally this wouldn’t be a big issue, but the Ski-Doo already has the smallest tank of the competitor 800s, so you need all the fuel you can get when riding with a buddy on a Cat or Polaris.
As is always the case with Ski-Doo machines, the fit and finish and level of refinement on the Summit was top notch. The bodywork fits tight, and the controls are minimal with everything you need and nothing you don’t. The color and graphics are also clean. We went with traditional Ski-Doo Sunburst Yellow rather than the love-it-or-hate-it Lava Red. The matte black hood was a nice change on the 2016 model, breaking up the all yellow that came on the 2015 T3 models.
Does it get any better?
Our test rider, Steve Sill, summed up this machine perfectly on a ride last spring. At the top of a sketchy hillclimb, he looked over, and grinning from ear to ear, he said, “It’s hard to believe that they could improve on this machine.” He was referring to the new Summit X 850 that will hit the snow this winter, of course.
It’s been cool to see the evolution of the Ski-Doo Summit. Back in 2010, it was a challenging machine to ride. It had its strengths, but sidehilling it required the strength of an ox with the thumb precision of a surgeon. Tweak by tweak, Ski-Doo engineers have listened to feedback and consistently improved the sidehilling characteristics. I’d love to be able to ride this 2016 Summit back-to-back with the first Summit XP from 2008. This machine has come a long way.