Darker days may be on the horizon for combustion engines, but before they’re forced into retirement, they’re going out with—ahem—a bang. In this golden era of combustion, there are many engines that will be forever venerated, such as Chevrolet’s naturally aspirated 670-hp 5.5-liter V-8, Porsche’s screaming 4.0-liter flat-six, and basically any modern twin-turbocharged V-8. But have we reached peak snowmobile? “We might be there,” says Ski-Doo media relations manager Steve Cowing. “But we thought we were there over a decade ago and look what we’ve done since then. So maybe we’re not done yet.”
As with most of the typical frozen destinations in the United States, winter overlooked us this season at our Ann Arbor headquarters. So, we found ourselves in the higher elevations of West Yellowstone, Montana, to experience Ski-Doo’s latest and greatest trail rocket that packs all the latest technology into a single package, the MXZ X-RS 850 E-TEC Turbo R with Competition package.
Methed-Out
Turbocharging isn’t anything new from Bombardier Recreational Products’ (BRP) Rotax engine division. In 2019, they launched the turbocharged 899-cc four-stroke inline-three with 150 horsepower. A year later came the boosted variant of the naturally aspirated, 165-hp 849-cc two-stroke inline-two. Though it didn’t make any more power, it made all its available muscle up to the oxygen-deprived altitude of 8000 feet. Rotax evolves at a crazy pace, and in 2021 they revealed the Turbo R variant of the inline-three with 180 horsepower. Then in 2023, the Gen5 platform arrived with the two-stroke 850 Turbo R running 6 psi of boost—up two from the non-R—extracting its glorious 180 horses from a much lighter package.
The turbocharged four-strokes, which are designed for the trails, carry a significant weight disadvantage over the lighter two-stroke engines, and thus the boosted two-strokes were reserved for the mountain segment. That left the trail-riding flatlanders feeling left out—and loudly complaining. Ski-Doo listened, and thus the 2024 MXZ X-RS 850 E-TEC Turbo R with Competition package was born.
Mechanically speaking, the 850 E-TEC Turbo R engine is the same in the Summit mountain sled as in MXZ trail platform. But how the two are ridden is a completely different game. In the mountains, wide-open throttle applications are far briefer than they might be on a trail sled riding on a retired railroad bed, where the throttle can be pinned to the handlebar for miles on end. These extended periods of fun generate elevated and power-robbing intake temperatures. But with the real estate under the hood of a modern snowmobile being so limited, and weight reduction such a high priority, plumbing an intercooler isn’t an option. Ski-Doo’s solution to keeping the intake charge cool? Methanol injection.
Okay, so the Intake Cooling Enhancer (ICE) fluid is mainly water, and the methanol is present to kept it from freezing, but it’s just not as cool to say your sled has water injection. Nevertheless, when the sensors detect an above-normal intake temperature, injectors squirt microdoses of ICE to cool the charge and maintain peak power output. The ICE also removes heat from the the cylinders. How much boost juice is used depends on one’s riding style. Use lots of boost, use lots of juice. Keep out of the boost and, well, what fun is that?
Ride Time
Saddled up on the Competition, just one squeeze of the throttle is enough for a string of excited and expletive words to pour out. Thanks to Ski-Doo’s innovative airbox that breathes atmospheric conditions until it’s pressurized, there’s essentially no turbo lag (a spring-loaded valve in the airbox means that the throttle response is naturally aspirated snappy until the boost is ready). The boost rolls on with an ever-so-slight whistle from under the hood as pine trees begin to resemble lines of Morse code. We’re pretty sure we decoded “slow down.” And with a four-piston Brembo brake caliper, scrubbing speed is no issue. The on-and-off throttle responsiveness never ceases to impress, and after repeated hammering of the thumb throttle we never detected any falloff in acceleration, even well into indicated triple-digit speeds.
When it comes to drag racing, the Competition has a trick up its sleeve: launch control. With the brake and throttle applied, the engine revs to just shy of the clutch’s 4100-rpm engagement point. Snow explodes from underneath as the engine spits and sputters from the exhaust as the boost builds up. With the brake released, the Competition rockets away, and the ligaments holding elbows and shoulders together stretch like Silly Putty. From the seat of our pants, 60 mph feels like it should arrive in less than 3.0 seconds. On frozen precipitation. From an out-of-the-box machine.
The Competition isn’t all engine, though. When the trail coils up, Ski-Doo’s hot rod is ready to strike. For those in the know, Ski-Doo’s front end has lacked some of the precision of its competitors. For 2025, the performance models received a taller ski spindle and revised control arms that Ski-Doo claims reduce body roll by 20 percent. Paired with new skis, the Competition feels more surefooted through high-speed sweepers and less prone to being unsettled by midcorner humps and bumps. The speeds at which these machines can corner is truly impressive.
While the Competition’s Kashima-coated, manually adjustable standard damper package is nothing to scoff at, the optional $1800 adaptive KYB Smart-Shox are transformational. Inputs from the body-control module are relayed to the three-position electronically controlled dampers that can adjust on the fly. When the cornering forces increase and the machine wants to lean through an apex, the outside damper firms up to keep body roll further in check.
The bandwidth of the Smart-Shox is a boon for ridability as trail conditions change throughout the day. When set to Comfort, the ride is buttery smooth on a freshly groomed trail. Locked into Sport+, the ride firms up for attacking rough terrain as the trails deteriorate. With 10.4 inches of suspension travel up front and 11.5 inches in the rear, the Smart-Shox shrug off most any bump or jump. Just as magnetorheological dampers forever changed the ride quality of many General Motors products, KYB’s Smart-Shox take snowmobiling to the next level.
And like so many things in life, even snowmobiles aren’t excluded from omnipresent connectivity. BRP’s 10.3-inch touchscreen—optional elsewhere in the model lineup—is standard on the Turbo R Competition. The crisply rendered screen keeps an eye on the machine’s vitals, features built-in GPS navigation, and can control your playlist, if listening to music out in the woods is your type of thing.
With so much straight-line speed, corner-shredding capability, and a trick suspension, the MXZ X-RS 850 E-TEC Turbo R with Competition just may be peak snowmobile. And with a $22,549 starting point, it certainly should be.
David Beard studies and reviews automotive related things and pushes fossil-fuel and electric-powered stuff to their limits. His passion for the Ford Pinto began at his conception, which took place in a Pinto.