Question:
I am thinking of buying a new Arctic Cat 1000 Thunder Cat. Have there been tests done yet comparing it to any of the 800’s?
Mychal Barber
Response:
Thanks for your email!
Here’s the deal. At this writing the only T-Cats in existence are in TRF in the hands of the Engineers and Sales and Marketing guys.
If any comparos with other Big Bore Sport/Utes have been performed (and I’m sure they have) they were all done under wraps at AC in TRF.
We have ridden the T-Cat and were impressed with its performance. However, without any other Big Bores on the ground to ride back-to-back, our comparisons are totally speculative.
Here’s what we think will be the outcome – provide the production engines mirror what we experienced earlier this summer on the pre-production T-Cats we rode. We think the OL 800 will be as strong – maybe even a touch stronger out of the hole.
In the mid-range we felt the two engines were very equal and the top end felt like the T-Cat did have significantly more than the OL 800. The 1000 engine is a low-revver and very torquey.
The OL 800 is a higher revving engine but feels like its geared lower and produces wild wheel spin at low speeds. The T-Cat had a very gentle low speed response – something that would make it great for picking through rocks, roots and tricky trails.
The big end of the T-Cat was formidable and AC claims they have more HP than Rotax does.
That’s all we know right now.
Motorhead Mark
