Everything Side-By-Side for the Off-Road Enthusiast

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"Earlier, Tyler jumped a ridgeback I was standing near and elevated to over 6 feet in the air and landed with no problem. Being a racer, I have been jarred quite a few times in race vehicles, and landing in the Revolt looked like something I could get used to."

After playing a bit in the dunes, we wanted a different perspective of its abilities, so we set off to Oldsmobile Hill. The only benchmark we had was our Rhino, that's basically stock when it comes to the motor, but can clip up Olds at a whopping 15 mph. I sent Damon up in the Rhino and gave him a good lead, about three-quarters of the way up. I started up the hill flying over the whoop section at the bottom and passing by the struggling Rhino before reaching the top. Amazing! This is the fastest I have gone up Olds in a comparable size vehicle. It felt like a sand car in comparison. Climbing up Olds was actually fun rather than a chore. The fun didn't stop there. At the top, there are some nice-sized bowls that are challenging for underpowered vehicles. You know the type, where the walls are so steep that even the sand has a hard time hanging on. Not the case with the Revolt. Again, the power shines through in this type of situation as it sticks to the sides and pulls you through. Transitioning from bowl to bowl is effortless in the Redline, and most of the time it leaps over them without you even knowing you've left the ground. Oh, so what about jumping. Are you kidding? The Revolt is very well balanced and will cushion even the sloppiest of jumps. How do I know? Because a test isn't a test unless you get the vehicle in a precarious situation, or, in my case, an unplanned situation caused by driver error. Cruising down Oldsmobile Hill at an angle, I hit the lip at the bottom and planned to air it out. Feeling like I was going a little too fast, what did I do? Yep, you guessed it. Let off the accelerator. Hello, ass end! Landing hard on the front left, all I could think about was this is going to be ugly. To my good fortune, I have to give all the credit to the well-engineered Revolt that pulled out even the nastiest of jumps. Unbelievable. I could have gone for hours, but I wanted to hand it over to Damon so he could enjoy some fun. I'll let him take it from here.

"Well, I have to admit, on the way out to do a photo shoot and test run the new Redline Revolt, I was not that excited. Having never seen it or heard about it, all that I could think about were all of the new UTVs that have come out in the last few years that I have been able to test that lacked the sport side of things. Other than the usual suspects -- Yamaha -- I have not been impressed, either by power, handling, or, in most cases, both. First thing we did was inspect the vehicle. Impressive, these guys have been out beating on this thing for 50 some hours and it had no signs of abuse. The construction of it and the quality of the components used were top of the line, from the Wilwood brakes, Fox air shocks, five-point harnesses, Weber motor, race seat, etc. This is a well-engineered and built piece of equipment. Watching this Sport Terrain Vehicle (STV) operate was incredible! It went through the dunes with no hesitation at all. Earlier, Tyler jumped a ridgeback I was standing near and elevated to over 6 feet in the air and landed with no problem. Being a racer, I have been jarred quite a few times in race vehicles, and landing in the Revolt looked like something I could get used to.

"At Oldsmobile Hill, I finally I got my shot. This was a different experience for sure. Once you crawl into the driver's seat, it has a real racecar feeling. I took off straight up the hill with no problem, accelerating straight to the top. Once up at the top, I played around, running some large bowls and hitting some ridgebacks. More than once I had to go back and see if I actually jumped it. It hits and lands so smooth, I wasn't sure that I got any air.

"After playing around for 30 minutes or so, we headed back to the trucks. I really was curious how it would handle the whoops of Sand Highway, since the majority of them are spaced out from trucks and sand cars. Driving through there wide open, hitting the whoops, it never felt like it was going to wash out. The ride was so smooth and controlled, I really could not believe it. I stopped and started in the middle of the whoops, and as the Revolt gained speed the damn car just handled better as it got on top of the whoops and stayed there. All in all, the Revolt is the best STV out there. With very few mods, I believe this vehicle would be more than capable of running a desert race and ready for motocross track. My hat goes off to Redline on one great product that is not only fun and safe, but one that stepped away from the mold with quality and performance. I was told that they are coming out with a two-seater version, and when it does, there goes the side-by-side market."

The Redline Revolt is easily the fastest vehicle we've tested. The important thing here is that it can handle the speed and then some. We have seen the Revolt on MX tracks, and they are equally impressive there. We know there are a few vehicles out there without four-wheel drive that do very well in rough, rocky terrain, and the Redline should fare the same, if not better. Hopefully, in the future, we will get the opportunity to drive this vehicle in different terrain. Lack of storage would be our only complaint, but we were assured that they are working on some racks that will accommodate storage needs. If you are saying to yourself, yeah, but it's only a single-seater, like we have mentioned, Redline is working on a two-seat version that is schedule for late 2008. Besides, you never drive the same way with a passenger as you do by yourself. So be selfish. Quad drivers are.