The 2023 Cat Lineup...

[Boonbocker1]

Its hard to imagine textron doing much with ACAT that is exciting, they are a play it safe conglomerate. I want to see cat succeed but seeing all the good minds either retire, quit or get fired and seeing blind fanboys like ramstad perfectly content with cat where they are its really hard to picture them doing much in the foreseeable future.   Will they continue making the same mouse trap as long as morons like ramstad keep buying and defending them with their wallet, or will they try to gain old customers back and pick up a few new ones?

Edited March 22, 2022 by Boonbocker1

[Badger**]

14 hours ago, Badger** said:

Guess the brand with 300 miles on it, stay out of it Krom. 

2019 mXz 850 <<< Ski-Doo sucks. Not my sled

[p51mstg]

What if Yamaha releases a completely new sled made by someone else before Cat releases their new chassis?

 

When I worked for a large appliance manufacturer, my territory was all of North Dakota, some of South Dakota and the northern 2/3's of Minnesota.  One day, I'm on US Hwy 2 east of Minot, headed for Grand Forks.  There's a stretch of highway where you can see every vehicle coming from the opposite direction for maybe 10-15 miles.  I've got the cruise control on, and in brain autopilot.  I glance over at the west-bound traffic and maybe a mile away I see the left rear tire come off a pickup.  The wheel is now rolling along side the truck and the brake is grinding itself into a shower of sparks.  The brake lining or something flammable is burning in the wheel well as the truck passes me and I'll never forget the puzzled look on the two guys riding in the cab, like they had no idea why the road was so bumpy. 

Last I saw them, the two guys were bouncing in their seats, the brake was on fire and the detached wheel was still rolling along side.

I couldn't do anything about it and also couldn't look away.

I'm suddenly reminded of that story, not sure why......

 

[mnstang]

36 minutes ago, p51mstg said:

What if Yamaha releases a completely new sled made by someone else before Cat releases their new chassis?

 

When I worked for a large appliance manufacturer, my territory was all of North Dakota, some of South Dakota and the northern 2/3's of Minnesota.  One day, I'm on US Hwy 2 east of Minot, headed for Grand Forks.  There's a stretch of highway where you can see every vehicle coming from the opposite direction for maybe 10-15 miles.  I've got the cruise control on, and in brain autopilot.  I glance over at the west-bound traffic and maybe a mile away I see the left rear tire come off a pickup.  The wheel is now rolling along side the truck and the brake is grinding itself into a shower of sparks.  The brake lining or something flammable is burning in the wheel well as the truck passes me and I'll never forget the puzzled look on the two guys riding in the cab, like they had no idea why the road was so bumpy. 

Last I saw them, the two guys were bouncing in their seats, the brake was on fire and the detached wheel was still rolling along side.

I couldn't do anything about it and also couldn't look away.

I'm suddenly reminded of that story, not sure why......

 

I guess I'm not sure what your point is.  Unless you are one of the people that think completely new equals better.  Saying something is completely new doesn't mean much to me.  You could buy one of those completely new China Tao Tao snowmobiles if you think completely new is the benchmark, save yourself some money.

[p51mstg]

33 minutes ago, mnstang said:

I guess I'm not sure what your point is.  Unless you are one of the people that think completely new equals better.  Saying something is completely new doesn't mean much to me.  You could buy one of those completely new China Tao Tao snowmobiles if you think completely new is the benchmark, save yourself some money.

No, that was mostly just wondering out loud what Cat riders - me included - would think if Yamaha went another direction and actually beat Cat to market.  Not sure how I'd feel about that.

No Chinese sleds.

[krom]

52 minutes ago, p51mstg said:

No, that was mostly just wondering out loud what Cat riders - me included - would think if Yamaha went another direction and actually beat Cat to market.  Not sure how I'd feel about that.

No Chinese sleds.

Unless Yamahaha takes a year off, they will have to at least tie AC

[Crnr2Crnr]

6 hours ago, Boonbocker1 said:

Its hard to imagine textron doing much with ACAT that is exciting, they are a play it safe conglomerate. I want to see cat succeed but seeing all the good minds either retire, quit or get fired and seeing blind fanboys like ramstad perfectly content with cat where they are its really hard to picture them doing much in the foreseeable future.   Will they continue making the same mouse trap as long as morons like ramstad keep buying and defending them with their wallet, or will they try to gain old customers back and pick up a few new ones?

I think what most people really want from Cat is a glimmer of hope... TextronCat has failed to deliver so people are moving along to other brands.

I'm reminded of Pontiac's 'we build excitement' campaign as I worked at a dealership that sold them at the time.  They built an exciting advertisement platform but the cars... not exciting, not taking sales away from anyone, then GM killed the brand.  I was privvy to a few inside stories of cars that were exciting that the bean counters killed.

Reminds me a LOT of TextronCat...

[Palu49]

22 minutes ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

I think what most people really want from Cat is a glimmer of hope... TextronCat has failed to deliver so people are moving along to other brands.

I'm reminded of Pontiac's 'we build excitement' campaign as I worked at a dealership that sold them at the time.  They built an exciting advertisement platform but the cars... not exciting, not taking sales away from anyone, then GM killed the brand.  I was privvy to a few inside stories of cars that were exciting that the bean counters killed.

Reminds me a LOT of TextronCat...

I’m a big Pontiac guy, and I like arctic cat obviously. I was actually just thinking earlier today after seeing a bunch of oof GTO ads on Facebook the similarities o the two. Mostly based on their classic old school marketing/ads. But the most scary similarity is they were both once the epitome of performance and innovation until getting neutered by their parent company.

[Crnr2Crnr]

5 minutes ago, Palu49 said:

I’m a big Pontiac guy, and I like arctic cat obviously. I was actually just thinking earlier today after seeing a bunch of oof GTO ads on Facebook the similarities o the two. Mostly based on their classic old school marketing/ads. But the most scary similarity is they were both once the epitome of performance and innovation until getting neutered by their parent company.

I still have all the Firehawk promo VHS tapes... the first gen one Ed Hamburger came up with is by far my favorite and most rare.  This is in the era of the Ferrari F40.

 

 

[Doug]

20 minutes ago, Palu49 said:

I’m a big Pontiac guy, and I like arctic cat obviously. I was actually just thinking earlier today after seeing a bunch of oof GTO ads on Facebook the similarities o the two. Mostly based on their classic old school marketing/ads. But the most scary similarity is they were both once the epitome of performance and innovation until getting neutered by their parent company.

Freinds 67 GTO that he's owned since 1972

[Palu49]

24 minutes ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

I still have all the Firehawk promo VHS tapes... the first gen one Ed Hamburger came up with is by far my favorite and most rare.  This is in the era of the Ferrari F40.

 

 

I love when the 3rd Gen firehawk a come up and so many “die hard” fbody guys claim they don’t exist. I know I said I’m a big Pontiac guy but aside from the firehawks and TTAs I prefer IROCs when it comes to 3rd gens.

9 minutes ago, Doug said:

Freinds 67 GTO that he's owned since 1972

66/67 GTOs I honestly think are the best looking car of all time. I don’t know if I had to pick between a Judge and a 66/67 what I’d do though, a tri power 66 might close that gap to where it was really impossible to pick though.

[Doug]

1 minute ago, Palu49 said:

I love when the 3rd Gen firehawk a come up and so many “die hard” fbody guys claim they don’t exist. I know I said I’m a big Pontiac guy but aside from the firehawks and TTAs I prefer IROCs when it comes to 3rd gens.

66/67 GTOs I honestly think are the best looking car of all time. I don’t know if I had to pick between a Judge and a 66/67 what I’d do though, a tri power 66 might close that gap to where it was really impossible to pick though.

This one has the first year 400.

[Deephaven]

5 hours ago, p51mstg said:

What if Yamaha releases a completely new sled made by someone else before Cat releases their new chassis?

 

When I worked for a large appliance manufacturer, my territory was all of North Dakota, some of South Dakota and the northern 2/3's of Minnesota.  One day, I'm on US Hwy 2 east of Minot, headed for Grand Forks.  There's a stretch of highway where you can see every vehicle coming from the opposite direction for maybe 10-15 miles.  I've got the cruise control on, and in brain autopilot.  I glance over at the west-bound traffic and maybe a mile away I see the left rear tire come off a pickup.  The wheel is now rolling along side the truck and the brake is grinding itself into a shower of sparks.  The brake lining or something flammable is burning in the wheel well as the truck passes me and I'll never forget the puzzled look on the two guys riding in the cab, like they had no idea why the road was so bumpy. 

Last I saw them, the two guys were bouncing in their seats, the brake was on fire and the detached wheel was still rolling along side.

I couldn't do anything about it and also couldn't look away.

I'm suddenly reminded of that story, not sure why......

 

You will repeat that story in your head over and over and over everytime you read one of Dumbstads posts.

4 hours ago, mnstang said:

I guess I'm not sure what your point is.  Unless you are one of the people that think completely new equals better.  Saying something is completely new doesn't mean much to me.  

If completely new doesn't equal better than the engineering team that designs it sucks.  Considering the current ineptitude at Textron snowmobiles on the engineering team we understand why it doesn't mean much to you or anyone who only has eyes for green.

2 minutes ago, Palu49 said:

66/67 GTOs I honestly think are the best looking car of all time. I don’t know if I had to pick between a Judge and a 66/67 what I’d do though, a tri power 66 might close that gap to where it was really impossible to pick though.

That is easy...you don't take the Judge.  No way, no how.  The GOAT is the choice.  Super sexy cars.  Wish they weren't so desirable so I could cut one up and have some real fun with it.

[Palu49]

13 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

You will repeat that story in your head over and over and over everytime you read one of Dumbstads posts.

If completely new doesn't equal better than the engineering team that designs it sucks.  Considering the current ineptitude at Textron snowmobiles on the engineering team we understand why it doesn't mean much to you or anyone who only has eyes for green.

That is easy...you don't take the Judge.  No way, no how.  The GOAT is the choice.  Super sexy cars.  Wish they weren't so desirable so I could cut one up and have some real fun with it.

I think I’d take the judge, and I hate to say it. A RAIV 4 speed “the judge” just has that cool factor. But like I said a 389 4 speed 66 with 3 carbs would make it a tight race. I’d also give up the chance to own any old Pontiac if I had the chance to line up every 70 SS Chevelle and clone in existence (likely 20% of the worlds cars at this point) and watch them burn to the ground.

[Palu49]

25 minutes ago, Doug said:

This one has the first year 400.

Yep they’re cool too, moved in with my girlfriend about a year ago and noticed one of the neighbors had a safari wagon in the driveway. Stopped one day when I saw him outside and he showed me the wagon then kind of snuck away while I was checking it out and opened 2 garage doors which revealed a 400/4 gear GTO and a 400/4 firebird. The gto he has owned since 70 or 72 and all 3 cars were 67s.

 

 

 

But back on topic, Arctic cat sucks and Jimmy still needs a lobotomy.

[Deephaven]

I'd have to pro touring mine so the rarity of stock is not appealing.  Better looking body however is.

[Not greg b]

The thunder cat pricing is high this year. If you can get one under 20k out the door you did well. 

[Badger**]

64-65 GTO the original mussel car my friend had the 65 GTO and 65 Lemans I had the Dodge 67 R/T Cornet. Somewhere in this world I have a picture of my 67.   

[mnstang]

19 hours ago, Deephaven said:

You will repeat that story in your head over and over and over everytime you read one of Dumbstads posts.

If completely new doesn't equal better than the engineering team that designs it sucks.  Considering the current ineptitude at Textron snowmobiles on the engineering team we understand why it doesn't mean much to you or anyone who only has eyes for green.

That is easy...you don't take the Judge.  No way, no how.  The GOAT is the choice.  Super sexy cars.  Wish they weren't so desirable so I could cut one up and have some real fun with it.

You are not worth it.

[Premium]

On 3/22/2022 at 1:11 PM, Boonbocker1 said:

Its hard to imagine textron doing much with ACAT that is exciting, they are a play it safe conglomerate. I want to see cat succeed but seeing all the good minds either retire, quit or get fired and seeing blind fanboys like ramstad perfectly content with cat where they are its really hard to picture them doing much in the foreseeable future.   Will they continue making the same mouse trap as long as morons like ramstad keep buying and defending them with their wallet, or will they try to gain old customers back and pick up a few new ones?

This is what scares me the most.  As a younger guy I worry I will witness a long slow decline of a once great brand because blindly loyal boomers are perfectly content buying mediocre products as long as it says Arctic Cat on the side...what that name used to stand for be damned. Of course they'll eventually be gone and out of the sport but I'll still be here watching Textron suck the remaining life out of Cat while they squander the last iota of relevance in the snowmobile industry.

[Deephaven]

2 hours ago, Premium said:

This is what scares me the most.  As a younger guy I worry I will witness a long slow decline of a once great brand because blindly loyal boomers are perfectly content buying mediocre products as long as it says Arctic Cat on the side...what that name used to stand for be damned. Of course they'll eventually be gone and out of the sport but I'll still be here watching Textron suck the remaining life out of Cat while they squander the last iota of relevance in the snowmobile industry.

Me too and sadly it has been happening.  Hurry up Textron and sell Cat so they can start making great sleds again.

[Crnr2Crnr]

It's not very often I completely agree with Luke Lester... 

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4538cziq0c

Edited March 27, 2022 by Crnr2Crnr

[racinfarmer]

I'm not sure if I should laugh or not at all the interest in people wanting the R-XC.

Ya'll asking can't outride a fucking LXR, so why bother?

And that OCD guy scored himself up an R-XC, so we'll see how he is able to butcher that thing up after he changes plugs after every ride.

[Cat45]

Just now, racinfarmer said:

I'm not sure if I should laugh or not at all the interest in people wanting the R-XC.

Ya'll asking can't outride a fucking LXR, so why bother?

And that OCD guy scored himself up an R-XC, so we'll see how he is able to butcher that thing up after he changes plugs after every ride.

You should laugh. Next season fb will be full of people complaining about how stiff it rides

[racinfarmer]

2 minutes ago, Cat45 said:

You should laugh. Next season fb will be full of people complaining about how stiff it rides

I'll just hope I can score one up cheap then.

Funny thing is, most of them will run all the shocks at 1 of 3, the torsion springs at 1 of 3, and a low coupling setting, and probably a slack limiter strap to book, then putz down the trails at 35mph all day.  That is if they even touch anything other then the shock settings on the front only.