Along with extra speed, cargo and towing capacity, customers wanted a style upgrade, he said. Rajesh Joshi, director of product marketing, turf and RTV, said the company did extensive customer research when designing the Sidekick. Options Kubota added two new colors for the launch of its Sidekick, green and black (shown above). On the test run, we were not hauling material, but the Sidekick took sharp turns with no hint of instability at speeds of 20 to 25 mph. The company enhanced the suspension for greater stability and designed the XG850 to distribute payload evenly throughout the chassis. The steering wheel also snaps back to center if you let go of it after rounding a curve. Gifford explained that the electronic power steering receives less power as engine speed increases. As speeds edged up to 30 mph, the steering became increasingly tighter, leaving a sense of control. Kubota added electronic power steering that provides an intuitive steering response and better control at high speed, Gifford said. The CVT-Plus also means longer life for the drive belt and clutch, Gifford said. The Sidekick also exhibited smooth, fast acceleration. On the test track, the transmission immediately slowed speed once the gas pedal was released when heading down a hill and kept the wheels rolling slower down the incline. The XG850 Sidekick features a continuously variable transmission with centrifugal clutch, or CVT-Plus, for faster, smoother acceleration and stable engine braking, said Roger Gifford, Kubota product manager, utility vehicles, during a press event August 23. To reach such speeds and handle added capacity, the company made several enhancements to provide control, stability and performance.
Performance updates and test drive A test drive in the Sidekick’s camo model. That’s an 11 mph boost from Kubota’s other RTV-X models, making it Kubota’s fastest RTV. The XG850 can travel up to 40 mph with its 48-horsepower, gasoline-powered Subaru engine. It has 1,000 pounds of payload capacity and can tow up to 2,000 pounds on flat surfaces and up to 1,550 pounds on hilly terrain.Īnd it’s fast. It’s designed for work, say company officials.
The company says the Sidekick represents its desire to capture a slice of the fast growing “multipurpose vehicle” market – a vehicle that allows those in construction and other industries to transition from pickup trucks on the worksite to a less costly and more nimble means of getting around.īut Kubota’s fastest RTV isn’t just about getting around and having some high-speed off-road fun in the process. On the sunny banks of the blue waters of Lake Lanier in Georgia, Kubota turned a former golf course into a media test track for its new gas-powered RTV-XG850 Sidekick “rugged terrain vehicle,” designed for work in a variety of applications, including construction.
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