ATV: 2008 Yamaha Rhino 700 FI Side by Side

Test Review of the new Rhino
by David King

There is no question that there has been a huge explosion in the side-by-side ATV market. There are many different makes and models of side-by-sides available from many different manufacturers. The jokes about these being glorified golf carts have slowly faded as the performance of these machines has increased dramatically. The introduction of the Yamaha Rhino 660 a few years ago really hijacked the market with its ability to not only work, but to play…and play hard. Yamaha rolled in some of the features found on their popular Grizzly ATV and made the Rhino well-equipped to handle rough terrain both on and off the farm - not to mention the tricked-out versions people were kicking out on the West coast. As the competition started to close in, I felt it was definitely time for Yamaha to kick-start another chapter in the Rhino adventure. Once again, by piggybacking off the success and technology found on the new Grizzly 700 FI ATV, Yamaha has added and improved upon some features that make this more than just a bump in the engine department.

Increasing the motor a bit on the Rhino was a given and, nowadays, any new utility ATV should come with fuel injection. Hence, the Rhino 700 FI had no surprises so far. With the new motor and added performance and benefits of the fuel injection, it was time to look deeper at what else was new. Of course, with the added power from the engine, strength was added to the motor, tranny, and other areas to handle the extra strain. At first glance, you quickly notice the addition of some custom fit doors on each side of the ATV. These doors were added to provide additional safety by keeping feet and knees inside the machine. They are also to block water, mud, branches and brush. At first, I wasn’t impressed and wasn’t quite sure what the deal was with the doors. I was anxious to see how they affected the overall ride. To continue with the safety theme, Yamaha also added a hold bar and handle grip next to the passenger seat to aid in giving a secure and safe ride for the passenger. From what I understand, Yamaha is willing to provide the doors and hold bar to previous Rhino owners at no charge to extend these safety features to all. Other added features are the improved parking brake lever, cup holders, higher air intake location, relocation of the air filter, enhanced steering wheel, expanded diagnostics feature on the digital instrument panel, improved engine and exhaust mounts for a quieter experience. The final new feature I will mention is the dual rear-wheel disc brakes and a separate single-disc brake for the parking brake. Obviously, there were a lot of new features to test out. I headed off to Knoxville, Tennessee to see if this new Rhino was going to have enough to keep it ahead of the class.

I hit the foot brake and turned off the key. I was sitting at the base of a hill and I was pondering what I would soon encounter at the top. In front of me was a nice sandstone ledge that had a two-foot shelf just to give me a little excitement before reaching the safety of the top of the hill. Nice, let’s see what this thing can do! I fired the motor back up and, being a little cautious, I shifted into low gear and pushed the button into four-wheel drive. Then, just for insurance, I flicked the switch and engaged full-wheel differential lock. “Might as well,” I thought. “You can never be too prepared.” Hitting the foot pedal, I laid on the gas. Now I was cruising up the hill with plenty of torque and realizing that I probably didn’t need to gear down to low. I was soon approaching the steep part. This is usually the time that, if you’re on a normal ATV, you would be wondering if you could get enough momentum to get over the lip, but not popping the front tires up and over. Realizing I had a long wheelbase under me and a full roll cage over me, I decided to not be a wimp and try and go around it. I lost most of my momentum when I approached the ledge. Hitting with my front tires with a slight angle, I hit some gas to get them over pretty easy. As the back tires hit and socked into the ledge, I pushed the gas with some controllable torque and, the next thing I knew, all four tires where clawing me up and over without a whimper. “That was it?” I thought to myself as I glanced back at the hill I just conquered. “That was too easy; I needed to try that again in high range and with no differential lock!”

Conquering the beautiful hills, rocks, roots and mud of Tennessee was all part of the setup that makes the new Rhino 700 FI perform so effortlessly. I did come to realize very quickly that the mud bogs in “Volunteer” country are very deep and smell really bad. With that said, I was very grateful for the doors and realized how much mud and water they kept out of the cab of the Rhino. Brush and branches were also deflected with ease. Maybe these doors weren’t so bad after all. The only drawback I found is that they did make it more difficult to get into the Rhino. The smoothness of the motor was great and the power to get through or over obstacles was never an issue. The wheelbase, combined with the four-wheel drive system, really made the Rhino 700 a tremendous hill climber. I don’t think I fully realized how much I took for granted the ease of going up the slippery hills with exposed tree roots and rocks until I saw a group of guys on four-wheelers stopped at the base of a hill. After I cruised up the hill in the Rhino without thinking twice about it, I realized that those guys were actually taking pictures as I was working my way over a group of gnarly rocks half-way up the hill.

It might be simple, but one of my favorite features on the Rhino was the improved parking brake. The lever has been extended to make it easy to pull and the brake is strong and secure. The braking system is much better with the dual-disc brakes in the back. Throw in the solid Yamaha engine braking and the big Rhino seems fairly nimble. Speaking of nimble, one surprise was not only how the Rhino was able to traverse steep terrain up and down, but also tight trails. I was able to go through not only tight four-wheeler trails, but trails that were lined with trees. I was surprised at how the Rhino, as big as it is, still managed to get through the tight, winding roads. The design of the roll cage allowed it to roll off a tree if it did get caught or hit and not snag.

I believe one of the successes of the Rhino is that is falls right in the middle of both a work/utility side-by-side and also a sport side-by-side that can perform as well as an ATV. There are also no shortages of accessories that you can pile onto the new Rhino 700 as well. Roofs, windshields, winches, bed boxes, gun scabbards, brush guards and more are available to make it the ultimate hunting rig. Yamaha didn’t have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to keep the Rhino 700 FI in top condition. They made the necessary improvements that they were lacking and continued with a package that will be hard to beat.

Video Review

Tags: ATV, HI34, rhino 700, Video, yamaha

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