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First Ride Review: 2024 Polaris Indy XC 137 S4 Four Stroke

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16K views 40 replies 24 participants last post by  EricNH  
#1 ·
First Ride Review: 2024 Polaris Indy XC 137 S4 Four Stroke

Very few reviews on this model, thought I'd share my thoughts. 30+ year sledder and current Polaris Dealer.

Just got done the break-in 100 mile ride on un-groomed logging trails and off trail bush whacking. Roughly a foot and half of snow. Must say I'm very impressed with this machine's performance!

The fly by wire throttle takes a bit to get used to as there is a bit of a delay, but eventually I got used to it and can't say I hate it. Say goodbye to sore thumb as throttle pull is way easier; very nice. Has a pile of torque and pulls really well up to about 65 mph, then slowly keeps accelerating. Never topped it out but think 75-80 mph will be where it sits. Seems similar to a RZR XP 1000 that pulls hard until upper end speed is achieved and clutches quit shifting. Was able to get up and out of lake slush with relative ease. Definitely not a slug on power, not quite a 650 but close. Don't expect it to lift the skis accelerating but it still has excellent torque and acceleration to haul the mail on twisty trails.

The clutch engagement is the smoothest thing I've ever felt on a sled, even smoother than an ATV. I can sip my hot coffee while loading it into the trailer... Lol. When put in eco mode it's very very very easy to drive one handed. I did about 10 miles holding my 1.5 year old niece in front of me half of which she was a limp noodle sleeping. Not one unexpected jerk caused by power delivery or accidental thumb jabs to the throttle flapper. (Eco mode delays throttle input almost rubber bandish) Smooth clutching and power delivery made it an excellent experience. Power wise I doubt I'd have any problem keeping up with bigger sleds on the trail when put in sport mode.

Chassis... for being 100 lbs heavier than a two stroke it feels very well balanced. Playing around in deeper snow carving back and forth is a bit harder but still pulled it off and had a blast doing it. Has really good ski pressure in corners and I was only running 4 inch single carbides. Unlike a lot of four strokes, this is the same chassis as the two stroke siblings. Essentially it's your normal Matryx with a different motor... so keeps all the excellent ergos with no sacrifice for bigger fairings/bodywork.

At 90 miles I put in about 25L of fuel. For break in those numbers are promising. Very quiet motor. Had multiple comments it could barely be heard. Riding in the cockpit it sounds like a RZR motor with a nice growl. Manual gear shifting is different than electric reverse for sure, but is a very smooth process and quicker to do than waiting for motor to start shut off and restart. The almost electric feeling clutch engagement helps it back up without getting stuck as easy as well it seems.

Coming from a Boost 850 129 last year I wasn't expecting much from this sled. Walked away impressed! Looking forward to another 1000 miles or so of testing.

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#6 ·
Talking to local dealer last year at this time, they had sold one, had another on show floor. I asked the parts guy if they sold any, he said 1. He then said, really surprised, the guy is a really good customer and is in here all the time, he said on decent conditions, it went 85 on speedo. That's stone stock on snow. Probably could squeeze 90 out of one in the right scenario. Probably go 75-80 anytime. That's not bad.
 
#12 ·
Polaris wants the transmission oil changed after the first 500 miles.

After that...

Every 2,000 miles, replace the brake fluid, change spark plugs.

Every 4,000 miles,
. replace Engine oil and filter
.. Remove left side panel, drive belt and both clutches
.. Remove drain plug from oil reservoir, drain, reinstall
.. Attach drain hose to filter adapter and open drain spigot,
.. Loosen oil filter, oil will drain from hose
.. Access drain plug on crankcase bottom thru hole in bulkhead
.. drain crankcase, reinstall drain plug and new washer, 13 ft. lb.
.. Remove filter, clean sealing surface, lubricate O-ring on new filter
.. Install filter by hand until contact, then 3/4 of a turn more
.. Remove drain hose from filter adapter
.. Fill oil reservoir with 4 quarts of Full Synthetic 0W-50
.. Start engine, check for leaks, stop engine, check oil level, top off
.. Reinstall both clutches and drive belt
.. Reinstall Left side panel

. Replace Transmission oil
. Check Valve Clearances and adjust if necessary

Every 5 years, Replace extended Life Coolant
 
#14 ·
Polaris wants the transmission oil changed after the first 500 miles.

After that...

Every 2,000 miles, replace the brake fluid, change spark plugs.

Every 4,000 miles,
. replace Engine oil and filter
.. Remove left side panel, drive belt and both clutches
.. Remove drain plug from oil reservoir, drain, reinstall
.. Attach drain hose to filter adapter and open drain spigot,
.. Loosen oil filter, oil will drain from hose
.. Access drain plug on crankcase bottom thru hole in bulkhead
.. drain crankcase, reinstall drain plug and new washer, 13 ft. lb.
.. Remove filter, clean sealing surface, lubricate O-ring on new filter
.. Install filter by hand until contact, then 3/4 of a turn more
.. Remove drain hose from filter adapter
.. Fill oil reservoir with 4 quarts of Full Synthetic 0W-50
.. Start engine, check for leaks, stop engine, check oil level, top off
.. Reinstall both clutches and drive belt
.. Reinstall Left side panel

. Replace Transmission oil
. Check Valve Clearances and adjust if necessary

Every 5 years, Replace extended Life Coolant
Soooo....about 8 beers...
 
#16 ·
I spent a day on the adventure S4 and Titan S4. I wouldn't do any off trail 2 up with the Adventure. The adventure is just an XC with a extra seat.

The Titan will go just about anywhere you want with the wide long track. Very capable machine and not to bad on trail. If I lived remote somewhere a Titan would be an awesome machine for work and play.
 
#17 ·
I spent a day on the adventure S4 and Titan S4. I wouldn't do any off trail 2 up with the Adventure. The adventure is just an XC with a extra seat.

The Titan will go just about anywhere you want with the wide long track. Very capable machine and not to bad on trail. If I lived remote somewhere a Titan would be an awesome machine for work and play.
Thanks, I appreciate the reply. How's the Titan ride? How does it steer compared to the Adventure? Wondering if the Titan takes more effort to turn? I need light steering effort. Thanks
 
#18 ·
Titan is a tank, but like an Abrams! I think it's better balanced front to rear. It will tractor through just about anything. It rides well, it got plenty of torque also. It is purpose built and does an excellent job at that.

You can notice the weight of the four stroke on the skis with the adventure, but it turns very well.
Heavier than the same two stroke, but this aids in steering. The sled stays flat in the corners. It's not as playful as a similar two stroke, but that's to be expected.
 
#19 ·
Titan is a tank, but like an Abrams! I think it's better balanced front to rear. It will tractor through just about anything. It rides well, it got plenty of torque also. It is purpose built and does an excellent job at that.

You can notice the weight of the four stroke on the skis with the adventure, but it turns very well.
Heavier than the same two stroke, but this aids in steering. The sled stays flat in the corners. It's not as playful as a similar two stroke, but that's to be expected.
Thanks. What's the chance of Polaris putting a turbo on the 4S this year? We ride from 8500-13000 ft elevation so the extra power would be helpful. Not sure I want to wait one more year but at the same time really don't want to buy a SkiDoo Expedition SE because all of my sxs's are Polaris
 
#20 ·
I personally don’t think the 4s was ever designed to be a high performance snowmobile engine. It is a very heavy engine. I’d like to see them come out with a 4 stroke turbo, but to compete with the doo it’s going to have to be substantially lighter than what the 4s is now, and im sure Polaris knows and understands that.
 
#22 ·
I know about the sxs engines. I wanna say the weights between a s4 137 and the 900r was around 80 pounds, dont quote me on that lol. Add a turbo and the stuff that goes with it and it increases. 80 pounds in a 1800 pound s x s isn't as big of a deal as it is on a 5-600 pound snowmobile. I just really don't think Polaris designed these sleds to be performance machines. More for entry level riders, fleet rentals, utility applications etc... And, I'm not sure how the emissions credits work anymore, but having some 4 strokes in the fleet may help them with that as well.
 
#29 ·
I spent a day on the adventure S4 and Titan S4. I wouldn't do any off trail 2 up with the Adventure. The adventure is just an XC with a extra seat.
Over here in scandinavia, the distributor got Polaris to build some sleds to their spec, to me the "Nordic Pro" looks like a cross between a SBA and a Voyageur. Which should give it quite decent off-trail capabilities IMO

One of the biggest rental outfits in town ditched their yamahas and went for the Nordic Pro S4. From what I hear, working good so far.
I also was able to take one out for a spin last year, I liked it and I'd say the engine feels much more exciting to drive than the other N/A 4 stroke twins I've ridden.




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Thanks, I appreciate the reply. How's the Titan ride? How does it steer compared to the Adventure? Wondering if the Titan takes more effort to turn? I need light steering effort. Thanks
Havent ridden the Titan S4 yet, but the titan 800 steers pretty easy. And I recall I saw some test video last year where the Titan S4 was able to turn tighter than a 137" sled
 
#30 ·
Has a pile of torque and pulls really well up to about 65 mph, then slowly keeps accelerating. Never topped it out but think 75-80 mph will be where it sits.
Thank you for your review.

Power sounds similar to the Ski-Doo XS ACE 900 N/A. The one (ACE 900) I rode was not bad off trail, very torquey, but signed off around 55 MPH then it was a slow crawl up to maybe 80 MPH.
 
#38 ·
Hey, I have a 2024 Indy xc S4 129 and it works very well. On the first 100 miles seemed to work pretty good up to 77-78 mph. After I got 450 miles it got a lot better. Do to bad conditions it was hard to find decent places for a good top end run. Best I had showing was 83 mph. In eco mode in 50 + mph--standard mode 80 +-- Sport mode 83 + mph-But with a lot more torque and quicker acceleration.
I run a lot of rail beds so you can cruise at 70 to 80 mph. Now with this sled only going to 80-85 mph ?(so-far) your running pretty well wide open. I`m not saying that the sled is bad, But I find it has a pretty wicked bottom to 60-65 mph then lvl`s out. If Polaris would do a tune and take 15% out of bottom and add to top end this would make this sled to as a real keeper. I know when I bought this sled it wasn`t going to a rocket and a big top end. This is just my 2 cents.
 
#34 ·
I wonder how much weight a turbo would add to an already heavy sled. It's too bad the package isn't a little lighter.

Polaris definitely needs a higher HP 4 stroke offering. They are missing out on a lot of market share for high mileage riders in northern Ontario and Quebec..in northern Quebec almost everyone rides 4 stroke doos and winders.