Talon VS YXZ

B

bjniceguy

Well-Known Member
May 25, 2019
322
431
63
Iowa
Ownership

  1. Talon R
YXZ / Talon Comparison (I own both) These are my observations / opinions and really don’t mean crap, so take them for what they are worth.



2017 YXZ SS SE with Tubeworks 70/30/15 transmission, 30” Carnivore tires, PRP seats, and the radiator moved to back. Now 1,200 plus miles



2019 Talon R with 14” STI HD9 Wheels & 30” Liberty tires (note 14” run really close to brake stuff and rocks may damage inside of wheels) Now 200 miles



Both cars have front & rear windshields, winches, rear storage boxes, Radios, Rokbloz mud protection, and bunch of little crap. YXZ has mounted spare tire also



Ride

YXZ rides better, but I have done a lot of adjusting to it (plus has PRP seats) and have not done any spring adjusting yet to Talon. Stock seats in the Talon are not bad.



Handling

YXZ corners flatter (has front sway bar, sway bar links, and has shocks / springs all set up)



Transmission

The Talon is hands down better. It is noisy, but nothing compared to the slam bam you get with the modified YXZ at shift. Both transmissions whine, but Talon gets quieter after 3rd where YXZ just keeps getting louder as you go up in speed and gears.



Power

Seat of the pants says YXZ is faster but have not raced them. If running Talon in Manual, you can match most of the feel especially in low range. Nice thing about the low range is that you can go 40 Plus and not seem wound up as the Transmission just keeps shifting. (No constant stopping to go in & out of Low range like a Polaris as speed changes) Talon RPM shift points are totally dependent to your foot as the computer shifts based on how you are pushing it. (both in auto & sport modes)



Heat in cab

Stock, the earlier YXZ is Way hotter inside than the Talon. With my radiator moved to rear in yxz, it has no heat just like the 2019, But looses half the storage in rear. Road Talon at 90 and it had some heat, but not unbearable.



Dust

Both bad (even with rear window) unless you crack the front windshield an inch or so.



Mud in cab

Both bad especially with agressive tires, I had to put Rokbloz on bot. I am talking the run of the mill mud stretches, not Real mud (I avoid it)



Climbing / rock crawling

Really have not done enough with Talon to compare. YXZ does well with transmission work. Talon seems to have a good low gear & low range.



Cruising

Talon is way smoother acting? At 35-50 it is just “going along”, where the YXZ starts to sound “Reved up” Both will obviously go much faster than that and flat out fly on blacktop



Fuel Mileage

Talon was a little better but I was still breaking in so not as aggressive as may be later. Both have reasonable range.



Talon Idles way rougher than the YXZ (as any twin does)
 
H

hondabob

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
May 14, 2013
1,159
4,522
113
Prescott Valley, AZ
Ownership

  1. Other Brand

  2. 1000-3
After doing the maintenance on my 2016 YXZ to get it to over 20,000 miles I'm so Happy with my Talon with super easy maintenance. The grease job on the YXZ is stupid hard and to change the oil filter you have to remove the skid plates. The passenger seat and center console has to be removed to get to the trans. To remove the rear deck to get to the engine the shop manual has you removing the cage. The paddle shift YXZ is a bit faster but speed shifting the clutch pedal model causes some missed shifts and trans damage. The top radiator mount breaks on all of the 2016, 17,and 18's due to the top hose preloaded way too much. The 3 spot welds fail with the mileage as does shifting without the clutch. To get the radiator out you have to remove all the front plastic and the passenger floor board. Replacing the water pump seal is a 5 hour job. The mechanical parking brake wears the forward pad due to dragging. I could go on and on with YXZ issues but it has a great fun factor and no belt. The passenger gets cooked in hot weather use. The 2019 model fixed many of the problems but not all of them. I do expect an all new model for 2020 or 2021 so them can also have a 4 seat model. I was going to buy the 2019 SS SE but it was 2 months later for availability and the Talon spy pictures came out.
 

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