Everything We LOVE and HATE About the 2025 Polaris Xpedition ADV Northstar

UTV Driver

We FINALLY got our hands on the updated 2025 Polaris Xpedition ADV Northstar! Here are the five things we LOVE and the five things we HATE about Polaris' overlander.  Looking to buy? Get prequalifed https://octane.co/vehicle-selection/?partner=A8PrQQB&a=298&flow=long-prequal&appTheme=3a49337c5724d18079602a4ca5a91626  Favorite Gear:  Packtalk Edge ORV: Code 'octane' for 10% off https://cardosystems.rfrl.co/z8qy5   For more stories, reviews, and first-looks check out https://www.utvdriver.com/   Want to see even more shenanigans from the UTV Driver team? Give us a like and follow:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UTVdriver/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utvdrivermagazine/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/utvdriver/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@utvdriver

Transcript

00:00This is five things we love and five things we hate about the 2025 Polaris Expedition ADV5

00:06North Star Edition. It's the company's unapologetic grab for a big share of the

00:10overlanding market. It's got seating for five, lockable and closed storage, a banging stereo,

00:16and it can accommodate a rooftop tent. Polaris built this thing to convince people who would

00:20otherwise go overlanding in a truck to leave their street vehicle at the trailhead and take

00:24this thing into the boonies instead. And this package makes a really compelling case for itself.

00:28In short, it's a beast. And for 2025, Polaris has made a really important update. This thing is

00:3420 decibels quieter inside than the outgoing one. The 2024 Polaris Expedition was loud enough that

00:41you needed ear protection to drive it for any length of time. So now it's time to go over the

00:45five things we love and the five things we hate about it. And then we'll talk about who it's for,

00:49how much it costs, and whether you should put one in your garage. Let's dive right in.

00:53The first thing we love about the 2025 Expedition is that it's quieter in here now. With the engine

00:58running in a 2024 Polaris Expedition XP model, we measured 115 decibels in the interior. That's

01:05as loud as a rock concert or an air horn blowing or something that is just not comfortable to stand

01:11beside. Now, 85 decibels isn't what you would call quiet, but you can at least have a conversation in

01:16here now. The noise isn't a big deal just because it's more comfortable to be in a quieter rig.

01:20Loud noises are a safety concern. If you spend any length of time near 120 decibel sound,

01:26you're going to be exhausted by the end of the day. And that's no good when you're trying to deal

01:30with technical obstacles on a trail or set up a campsite or make decisions on the fly. So the

01:35quieter it is, the safer it is, and you can focus on navigating, driving, and enjoying your time away.

01:41Thing number two that we love about the Expedition is that the interior is huge and it can be configured

01:46for whatever adventure you can imagine. There's seating for five people inside and the rear bench can be

01:51split 60-40, revealing a 28-inch deep flat load floor. And if that's not enough, the back of the

01:57backseat can be folded flat so that you now have a 70-inch deep cargo area that is almost four feet

02:02wide. The machine's total payload is just over a thousand pounds, which means it's an honest-to-goodness

02:07half ton. That's enough space to keep all your camping gear, your coolers, your kitchen equipment,

02:12maybe a spare tire, safe out of the elements and locked away. That level of storage is something we

02:16haven't seen in a UTV before, and it shows that Polaris really did their homework. Instead of just

02:22building something that's vaguely SUV-shaped and slapping on an overlanding badge, they actually made

02:26sure that this thing would be useful to people who were using it for what they designed it for.

02:30Okay, thing number three that we love is the chassis. We talked about it when we drove it at the press

02:35launch, and it remains excellent. It's a ground-up design from Polaris. It's not based on anything else

02:40they make, and it's super stiff and composed, even for as heavy as this rig is. Part of that is because

02:45it has Fox QS3 shocks on it, and hauling the whole thing down, you get the same brakes as are on the

02:49Razer Pro Series and the Ranger XD1500. These are five-lug automotive-style hubs, and they are great.

02:56Even beating across the desert at 45 miles an hour, this thing didn't really rattle or squeak, and it was

03:01totally composed. We love it. Number four, this is the North Star Edition, which means it has a fully

03:06enclosed cab with glass windows all around and HVAC inside. It also has air conditioning and a

03:13heater, which means you can get it warm on a cold morning or cool yourself off on a hot day. That

03:18makes riding safer. It makes it more comfortable, and it's going to extend how long you can stay on

03:21the trail. So we should say that glass windows probably seem like a low bar to clear at the $50,000

03:26price point, but look at it this way. There are rigs in the $40,000 range that don't come with that.

03:32They just leave you open to the elements. In fact, the cheaper Polaris Expedition doesn't come with

03:36a windshield or door glass. So yeah, it's nice to have. Number five, as with all top-tier Polaris

03:43side-by-sides, the technology suite is fantastic. You get Ride Command Plus. You get a big JBL stereo

03:49that's powered by the Ride Command. You can connect between other rigs with Ride Command. You can

03:53navigate more than a million miles of mapped trails, and you get front and rear cameras. Now,

03:58while we're talking about the technology suite, we're going to transition into some of the things we

04:03don't like about this rig. And the first thing is, this backup camera for a $50,000 rig is

04:09unacceptable. It's laggy, it's delayed, and it has the video quality of a CCTV camera.

04:15So now that we've dipped our toe into the five things we hate about it, let's dive right in with

04:20number one. It's the passenger side rear compression adjustment knob. It's like sticking your hand into a

04:25bucket of hot knives. The exhaust pipe is here. The exhaust heat shield is here. And if you go to adjust

04:31this after you've been driving for a while, you're going to get a burn. Now, it's not a big deal if

04:35the rig is cold and you want to reach up there and adjust your knobs before you take off. But who does

04:40that? You adjust suspension on the fly. That's what suspension adjustment is for. And if it's

04:45inconvenient and or painful to do, why is it there? Fox Live Valve would be a huge solve for this. I

04:51don't know how you would reroute the exhaust, but Polaris, please figure something else out.

04:55Number two, we were going to save this one till last, but the hell with it. It's the cost. This

05:00thing is $44,999 before taxes, before destination charges, before you even look at the accessories

05:09catalog. So by the time you're out the door of your local dealer, you're going to easily be into

05:14the $50,000 range. So for those of you who blow up our comment section every week saying, you can get

05:19a Jeep for that much money. Ah, my Toyota was 10 grand. You might be right on this one. Is this thing

05:24worth 50 grand? Only you can make that call. But $50,000 is a lot of money, no matter who you are.

05:30Number three, this winch is too small. This rig weighs the best part of 3,000 pounds ready to

05:37roll. And this winch is rated for 4,500. Now, anyone who's been off-roading will tell you,

05:42you want a winch that has double the capacity that your rig weighs. And this is not that. Then

05:47you start adding camping gear and people and all kinds of stuff. And you quickly are going to stress

05:52this winch out. It may be fine once or twice to pull the rig out of a sticky situation, but for goodness

05:58sake, you want more capacity than you need. And this ain't it. Come on, Polaris, give us a 6,000

06:03pound winch. Number four is the fuel economy. Polaris' website touts a 200 plus mile range for

06:10the expedition. And frankly, that's not going to happen. Now, when we were in Arizona driving this

06:16thing, we had a 120 mile loop. And granted, we were getting after it, but we barely made it to the

06:22end of that ride. And the fuel light was flashing when we got there. That means that even if you were

06:27taking it easy, you're looking at 150 to 170 at the outside. Now, that's not too shabby, but it ain't

06:34more than 200. And if the idea is to get way out into the boonies, you're going to want more range

06:38than that. Quite apart from that, it means you're going to have to have at least two jerry cans with

06:42you. And there's really nowhere to store them. Are you really going to ride around with 10 gallons of

06:47gas in an enclosed cab? No. So you need a rack. So you got to go buy a rack. And again, that costs money

06:53on top of something that's already pretty expensive. Number five to round it out is the

06:58engine. The Polaris ProStar 2 Parallel Twin. It's not a bad mill exactly, but it is definitely

07:04overmatched here. When was the last time you drove a 3,000 pound car with 114 horsepower engine? We're

07:11going to guess it was in the mid 2000s and that car probably had a Mitsubishi badge on it. And it

07:15wasn't fast. So this rig, yeah, it's pokey, especially off the line. Once you're up and moving,

07:21it's a little bit better, but still the engine is lacking. Fortunately, we've got a solution in

07:26mind and Polaris already builds it. It is the three cylinder engine in the Ranger XD 1500. That

07:32engine is silky smooth. It's super torquey. Most importantly, it's quiet. It has way more than

07:38enough power to move this thing around. And it's attached to a steel belt CVT, which means you get

07:44all the durability you want in a utility rig. This thing has a rubber belt transmission. It's Polaris's

07:49traditional PVT, continuously variable, and it's fine. But with a heavy load, we think you're going

07:55to stress that rubber belt. Again, Polaris, you make a better solution. Put it in here to us. That

07:59is a no brainer. Okay. So those are the five things we love and the five things we hate about the

08:04Polaris Expedition ADV5. That leads us to the important question. Who is this rigged for? Well,

08:10this is a fantastic recreation utility rig for anybody with a couple of kids who wants to introduce them

08:16to the great outdoors, introduce them to wheeling without the discomfort of a rickety old open side

08:22by side. It's also a fantastic machine. If you have access to acres and acres of BLM land, this is a

08:28great weekend getaway rig. But even if BLM access isn't your reality, this thing is a fantastic off

08:34rotor with comfort and convenience for days, and it will outwheel your Wrangler any day of the week.

08:41Pick the trail. Thank you guys so much for watching. Hit the comment section. Tell us what we're wrong

08:46about. Tell us what we're right about. Tell us how much you love me. Then hit that like button.

08:50Hit the subscribe button. And then head over to utvdriver.com five days a week. We've got a buyer's

08:55guide on this thing. We've got news. We've got reviews. We've got all sorts of nonsense. And

08:59we're on all the social media channels. We will see you there.

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