rode the new 05 arctic cat T 660

[northwoodsman]

i went to pokegama lawn and sport in grandrapids yesterday, i told the guy
that you could test ride the new cat he told me i had to wear
a helmet i said fine. i told him i wore a large gave me an XX large
**** thing was tight, he said stay in that field behind the building
i said ok, man it does have the get up and go with 110 hps
it rode excellent

[01zr800]

Yea those things move out and are soooo smooooth. But me I like my 150 hp zr800.

[Knotwood]

Wondering how the noise level was? I'm starting to look for a quieter machine. The howl wears on you after a while with the two strokers. The only way I'll get my wife to really enjoy the ride, too.

[northwoodsman]

knots, it was quiet you'd really like it
i did if i had the money i'd buy me one
it's an electric start no recoil to pull

[Knotwood]

Did it seem to handle good?... The only time I get on the lakes with any regularity is towing a fish house. In order to let it fly, I'd blast the lakes now and then with some friends, but mostly I get a charge out of trail riding... How much steering effort? Bumps?

[hanson]

knotwood,

If the new T660 is anything like my 02 ZR600, It should handle like a dream. Steering effort is minimal and the ride is sooooo comfortable. Arctic Cat has a good thing going with its AWS front suspension. They've been working on it since the introduction of the Prowler in '90 or '91.

Last couple years, Ski-Doo, then Yamaha, and Polaris FINALLY stepped up to double wishbone front suspension. Those boys up in Roseau sure like to take their time putting out a new product.

[northwoodsman]

knots, hanson's right it handled like a dream
and was a comfy ride to say the least

[hanson]

Hey all,

Just checked in the Arctic brochure and the T660 is using the ZR chassis with AWS V front suspension and Fastrack Rear. It’s a pretty potent suspension and chassis package. Great for soaking up bumps, smooth riding and terrific handling. If you want to step it up a little, the T660 ST is the new sled this year. Red w/ white racing stripes. It also has the ZR Sno Pro handle bars which everybody says are the best bars in the business. I won’t argue with that either. I have the same bars on my ZR.

Now for the interesting information. I pulled these numbers out of my current issue of Cat’s Pride magazine. (Even if they are biased a little bit, its still pretty impressive!)

14th Annual ‘American Snowmobiler’ Magazine Shoot-Out
Firecat F6 92 mph, 12.89 second ¼ mile
Polaris 600 Pro X2 86.2 mph, 13.64 second ¼ mile
Ski-Doo MXZ 600 HO 85.4 mph, 13.58 second ¼ mile
Yamaha SXVenom 77 mph, 14.39 second ¼ mile

Arctic Cat T660 Turbo 87 mph, 13.10 second ¼ mile

The numbers show an out of the box T660 will not only keep up with but beat all the other manufacturer’s 600 2-Stroke sleds in a drag race.

Not to drag this post out too much but the potential for Arctic’s 4-Stroke is very impressive from what I’ve read. The current motor is built very conservatively for reliability reasons right now. The current 650 turbo is making 110hp. If they were to adjust the bore & stroke to make it an 800 motor, you’re looking at 165 hp. Bump the boost pressure on the turbo up from 21 to 30 psi and you’re talking about a 200 hp motor.
These numbers were pulled from the Oct. 2003 issue of American Snowmobiler. Olav Aaen was the author of the article. Anyone familiar with Olav Aaen would have no reason to doubt his expertise.

For those that made it all the way through my post, I’d just like to say that I’m very excited about this sled and the direction Arctic Cat is going. I’m just a big Arctic Cat fan and that’s it. To think that 4 Strokes were just introduced into sleds a couple years ago, they’ve come along way.

One more quote from American Snowmobiler: “Al Shimpa, Arctic’s expert set-up man, claimed an Arctic turbo prototype blew away an F7 one cold evening when the intercooler worked really well.”