[sledcrusher]

Just got this in an email:

The new Etec has a high hp rating, and is proven to get 20+ mpg. That combined with decent torque numbers, as well as being in the light Rev XP chassis. Then factor in the fact it averages 200 miles to a quart of oil and has an easy to pull throttle.

I know I may sound biased when I say this, but I don't know how the answer of "Which sled should I buy" isnt clear when you want to buy a brand new sled.

 

[Empire087]

I don't think that the gap from skidoo to cat as far as oil consumption and fuel economy will be as wide as it is now for the 2012 sleds. However if other companys don't start to catch up I do think we might lose one of the big 4. The top 2 800s are definetly duking it out for power. But doo has it in fuel/oil economy.

 

[flatlander_summit]

I'm in the market for a new sled next year. I don't know if the Etec is a clear cut choice or not. First, there is the $11,200 price tag for a Summit X 154 or the $12,500 pricetag on a Summit Freeride 154 that is in the race chassis but 30 lbs heavier than the Summit X 154. The high horsepower rating isn't always the best, Doo revolutionized the 800s when it introduced the 800r in the 2007 model year Summits, that motor was a nightmare in 07 and for part of 2008. In this case bigger isn't always better.

From every report I've heard from the individuals who have ridden them they are a strong motor, and the 163hp number is not a myth, as they've been dynoed at a few different perfomance shops with that amount of power. However, the Etec 800 isn't a proven powerplant yet in my eyes, in fact, I don't even know if the reliability has been proven in the 600s from the few individual reports I've heard.

At this point the 2009 and 2010 800r, in my opinion are proven powerplants. A set of reeds, pipe and can, and mild porting will put a carbed 800r at the same horsepower if not more than a 800r Etec and you won't be a Ski Doo guinnea pig for a year.

I don't know why Doo uses their big selling point as the oil and gas consumption will be much lower. This is something that all manufacturers will have to be at very soon to fall within EPA regulations. If a person is buying a recreational machine and paying $10,000+, the oil and gas consumption costs are likely not too high on their priority list, I go into the season knowing I'm likely going to spend a pile on gas and oil and most likely others do too.

Finally, if you order an Etec with electric start a pull start with recoil an another $150-200 option depending on the dealer. It seems almost necessary even if a sled is bought with electric start that the added expense of throwing a recoil on the sled is necessary. Yes, I know the sleds can be started from the clutch, but that's not always the safest or the most fun undertaking either.

This is coming from a diehard Doo fan. I've spoken with multiple guys who are contemplating whether or not they should keep their current xp summits or go with the 800r.

 

[wakeboarderboy]

If you ask me, it would be an amazing sled for me to buy used in a few years, when they work kinks out. Who would want one? Probably a lot of people. But who can afford it?

 

[ClassicCat76]

Why wouldn't I want one? Not a fan of the looks, can't afford it, and I'd prefer a Cat. Everyone has their opinion. . . . . . . . .

 

[Dragon700]

first year engine. thats a good reason is it not? plus agree with Flatlander_summit. if you pay 11000+ for a new 800cc snowmobile, a few dollars for gas and oil prolly isnt goona make a difference.

 

[sledcrusher]

first year engine.

Wrong. The Etec has been around of a long time. People said the 600 Etec would have a lot of problems, but it didnt.

 

[Quinlan]

first year engine.

Wrong. The Etec has been around of a long time. People said the 600 Etec would have a lot of problems, but it didnt.

600etec has been proven for awhile...but as I recall the 800etec is new. Sure it has etec, but the fact that it's a new as a whole would be enough to keep me away for at least a year. Polaris has run CFI on their sleds for awhile, and look how their 800 turned out. Just because something is proven on one motor, does not mean it is on another.

Also, just because you've been prone to Ski-Doo, and think the 800etec is the way to go does not mean it's for everyone. Opinions are like a$$holes...everybody has one, and some are $#ittier than others. Personally, I don't concern myself with gas and oil consumption. Is better mpg nice? Sure...but it's not a make or break deal.

 

[srx_600]

I would love to try one, but doubt i will anytime soon.

You are either extremely brand biased, or ski doo is paying you. And i highly doubt the latter.

 

[Dragon700]

first year engine.

Wrong. The Etec has been around of a long time. People said the 600 Etec would have a lot of problems, but it didnt.

600etec has been proven for awhile...but as I recall the 800etec is new. Sure it has etec, but the fact that it's a new as a whole would be enough to keep me away for at least a year. Polaris has run CFI on their sleds for awhile, and look how their 800 turned out. Just because something is proven on one motor, does not mean it is on another.

Just because you've been prone to Ski-Doo, and think the 800etec is the way to go does not mean it's for everyone. Opinions are like a$$holes...everybody has one, and some are $#ittier than others. Personally, I don't concern myself with gas and oil consumption. Is better mpg nice? Sure...but it's not a make or break deal.

exactly. do tell me where the 800 e-tec has been around a while.

and he isnt brand biased. he is biased towards whatever brand sled he owns this week! hahaha

 

[sledneck1978]

Just got this in an email:

The new Etec has a high hp rating, and is proven to get 20+ mpg. That combined with decent torque numbers, as well as being in the light Rev XP chassis. Then factor in the fact it averages 200 miles to a quart of oil and has an easy to pull throttle.

I know I may sound biased when I say this, [highlight=yellow]but I don't know how the answer of "Which sled should I buy" isnt clear when you want to buy a brand new sled.[/highlight=yellow]

Because you haven't ridden a 121" Rush yet? Plain and simple. The 800 E-tech is like riding my dragon. The Rush is a whole new ballgame. Don't give me stats...give me experience. Oh, wait, you don't have any...you have a HP chart!

 

[sledcrusher]

I've actually been biased against anything thats not Ski-Doo since about 06'. I do appreciate tons of other sleds, such as the IQr, which I will admit is stronger chassis wise than anything Ski-Doo has ever made, and Cat makes an awesome mountain machine. Ski-Doo is behind in a lot of aspects, but, this 800 E-Tec seems to be the ticket. It's basically the same motor design that was in the boats ( at least thats what my dealer said ).

Just got this in an email:

The new Etec has a high hp rating, and is proven to get 20+ mpg. That combined with decent torque numbers, as well as being in the light Rev XP chassis. Then factor in the fact it averages 200 miles to a quart of oil and has an easy to pull throttle.

I know I may sound biased when I say this, [highlight=yellow]but I don't know how the answer of "Which sled should I buy" isnt clear when you want to buy a brand new sled.[/highlight=yellow]

Because you haven't ridden a 121" Rush yet? Plain and simple. The 800 E-tech is like riding my dragon. The Rush is a whole new ballgame. Don't give me stats...give me experience. Oh, wait, you don't have any...you have a HP chart!

Tried one out on a 3/4 mile loop on a demo ride ( which obviously isnt enough chance to ride it in real world conditions ), but I didn't appreciate it as much as I would have hoped. Also, like I said, I didnt get enough seat time to really experience it. How come the rush hasnt sold more though? Hopefully they get all the bugs worked out of the rear suspension freezing up as well.

 

[sledneck1978]

I've actually been biased against anything thats not Ski-Doo since about 06'. I do appreciate tons of other sleds, such as the IQr, which I will admit is stronger chassis wise than anything Ski-Doo has ever made, and Cat makes an awesome mountain machine. Ski-Doo is behind in a lot of aspects, but, this 800 E-Tec seems to be the ticket. It's basically the same motor design that was in the boats ( at least thats what my dealer said ).

Just got this in an email:

The new Etec has a high hp rating, and is proven to get 20+ mpg. That combined with decent torque numbers, as well as being in the light Rev XP chassis. Then factor in the fact it averages 200 miles to a quart of oil and has an easy to pull throttle.

I know I may sound biased when I say this, [highlight=yellow]but I don't know how the answer of "Which sled should I buy" isnt clear when you want to buy a brand new sled.[/highlight=yellow]

Because you haven't ridden a 121" Rush yet? Plain and simple. The 800 E-tech is like riding my dragon. The Rush is a whole new ballgame. Don't give me stats...give me experience. Oh, wait, you don't have any...you have a HP chart!

Tried one out on a 3/4 mile loop on a demo ride ( which obviously isnt enough chance to ride it in real world conditions ), but I didn't appreciate it as much as I would have hoped. Also, like I said, I didnt get enough seat time to really experience it. [highlight=yellow]How come the rush hasnt sold more though? [/highlight=yellow]Hopefully they get all the bugs worked out of the rear suspension freezing up as well.

Maybe you haven't noticed but the country is in a recession. 3/4 mile loop????? WTF???[Disappointed]

Pretty sure mine never froze up...NICE CHART[thumb]

 

[ZR600cce]

I've actually been biased against anything thats not Ski-Doo since about 06'. I do appreciate tons of other sleds, such as the IQr, which I will admit is stronger chassis wise than anything Ski-Doo has ever made, and Cat makes an awesome mountain machine. Ski-Doo is behind in a lot of aspects, but, this 800 E-Tec seems to be the ticket. It's basically the same motor design that was in the boats ( at least thats what my dealer said ).

Just got this in an email:

The new Etec has a high hp rating, and is proven to get 20+ mpg. That combined with decent torque numbers, as well as being in the light Rev XP chassis. Then factor in the fact it averages 200 miles to a quart of oil and has an easy to pull throttle.

I know I may sound biased when I say this, [highlight=yellow]but I don't know how the answer of "Which sled should I buy" isnt clear when you want to buy a brand new sled.[/highlight=yellow]

Because you haven't ridden a 121" Rush yet? Plain and simple. The 800 E-tech is like riding my dragon. The Rush is a whole new ballgame. Don't give me stats...give me experience. Oh, wait, you don't have any...you have a HP chart!

Tried one out on a 3/4 mile loop on a demo ride ( which obviously isnt enough chance to ride it in real world conditions ), but I didn't appreciate it as much as I would have hoped. Also, like I said, I didnt get enough seat time to really experience it. How come the rush hasnt sold more though? Hopefully they get all the bugs worked out of the rear suspension freezing up as well.

So you've been biased since about 2006 when you were what? About 12-13 years old? 14 if your lucky. I'm sure you had a whole lot of wisdom at that point of your life to be making extremely informed decisions. Also, do you believe everything your dealer says? That shows how many real world informed decisions you make right there. Basically any Tom, Dick, or Harry at your dealer could tell you something "amazing" about Ski-doo and I would bet you would report here regardless if the statement is true all because "your dealer said." Third, I bet your "dealer" loves trying to keep up with you and all your trades and brand jumping and model jumping. Probably just puts up with you cause your always having to buy parts in order to fix all the sleds you trade off. Last, I would trust your opinion on a sled because you can't seem to keep a sled long enough to truely enjoy it before you get rid of it for something thats supposedly better. My favorite thing is how you come on here and rant and rave about how this sleds much better than the last and then you only keep it a few months at best.

 

[snowmobileguy]

Didn't ski doo just come out with the E-TEC 800?

 

[KRSS144]

^yes they did...my Bro-in-law went down to the 2011 Ski-Doo show in Florida for all the dealers only party, he was bragging about the new E-tec with the 800 and how its 10 more ponies and yes it does look sharp but...he still cant stop talking about the Rush. HP charts are great to look at and post on the refrigerator, but in the real world its all about the rider. Ski-doo made snowmobiling easy and for "everyone" every sinse they introduced the rev chasis. If hp charts is all your looking at and thats leading your decision in buying a new rev then I say go for it, if where you ride hp is needed the most then whats to loose. As far as buying first year motors...I did and havent had any problems. Good luck

 

[wakeboarderboy]

I think that if anyone else would have posted this it probably wouldn't have turned into an arguement.

 

[sledcrusher]

So I'm not allowed to be biased for a company is what your saying? Even though I may agree with some things democrats say, I'm still republican. Im not quite sure what you were getting at.

And I know for a fact that the 600 E-Tec was the same design as the boat motor, so how is the 800 setup any different? The 600 E-Tec is a proven reliable motor. The 800 is just a bigger version if I'm not mistaken.

I also rode my Rev 600 for the whole season, and kept it long enough to ride it a few times on grass. I'm not sure why upgrading to a newer sled that is essentially the same thing is bad. So your mad because I have the ability to get a newer sled, with less miles, that starts easier, and is in better condition within an hour of getting rid of my original sled with no cash involved?

 

[flatlander_summit]

So I'm not allowed to be biased for a company is what your saying? Even though I may agree with some things democrats say, I'm still republican. Im not quite sure what you were getting at.

And I know for a fact that the 600 E-Tec was the same design as the boat motor, so how is the 800 setup any different? The 600 E-Tec is a proven reliable motor. The 800 is just a bigger version if I'm not mistaken.

I also rode my Rev 600 for the whole season, and kept it long enough to ride it a few times on grass. I'm not sure why upgrading to a newer sled that is essentially the same thing is bad. So your mad because I have the ability to get a newer sled, with less miles, that starts easier, and is in better condition within an hour of getting rid of my original sled with no cash involved?

You're basing your opinion of a propoganda email that you received from non other than Ski Doo itself. I can send an email out to all the hot women of the world claiming that I will pleasure them beyond belief, but that's only propoganda that I wrote in my favor. The only difference between the two is that BRP has a huge marketing department or ad agency and they are spending millions of dollars on their ad campaign.

What kind of real world opinions do you have on the Etec 800r? Have you talked with anyone that has ridden the sled? Have you called to any dealers and talked to any of the mechanics to find out if they've had any Etec 600s in the shop and what kind of problems they've had? Do you have any friends that have any experience on the Etec 600 or the 800r or the Etec 800r for that matter? You're taking everything that you've read on the internet as the gospel in this case. I've spent a significant amount of time on the phone with 7+ dealers, with riders, and on the forums trying to figure this sled out and I'm not sold on the injection system.

Real world reports are what matters to me and I've talked with one guy who has ridden the new and great Etec. One person's claim isn't enough to sway me in one direction or another. I do have real world reports from owners of the first year XP 800r or the first year 07 Summit XP 800r. Also, when those same owners of those sleds are trying to figure out whether or not to order an Etec or wait another year for Ski Doo to work all the bugs out seems pretty convincing to me that there isn't enough proof or knowledge about those sleds yet.

I, like a lot of people can't afford an $11,000+ snowmobile that could possibly end up sitting the season with reliability issues while I ride my back up sled, that is worth $7,000 the following year because no one wants the lemon. I don't have the luxury of living off mommy and daddy anymore and have real world bills to pay and don't have my mommy and daddy to bail me out of a possible bad purchase I made as many of you bandwagon youngsters do just because that new Freeride looks like a bada$$ sled. Oh to be young and naive again...

With that said, there are a few Freerides that are going to a race team in Wyoming to take to a hillclimb in about 10 days in Southern part of Wyoming. I should be getting a pretty comprehensive report on that sled during testing and after the race. However, a few passes up a hill for testing and a couple races still aren't going to be indicative of the longevity or reliability of the new setup. I might let you in on the report or you can maybe use some of your free time and do a little research yourself so you don't reinforce the forum's consensus that you're a jacka$$...

 

[Dragonryder]

I would love to try one, but doubt i will anytime soon.

You are either extremely brand biased, or ski doo is paying you. And i highly doubt the latter.

i have personally ridden the 800 etec and was simply not impressed..actually kind of disappointing..it just didnt have the response as the 800CFI did, and the fact that when i came to a stop it sounded like it was shutting off and restarting, i dont want that feeling in the middle of no where