Best advice is to go ride. 2010 has better suspension geometry so if price is close get the 10. But don't let people.tell you the 08 and 09 suck. cause at first they were the best mountain sled of all.time couldn't be beat etc etc then next year came out and it was a pos. My 09 does great but this summer I am doing s36 and 2010 rear suspension with motion moving the steering post and xm spindles and skis cause I want to improve it.

 

Yeah i didnt figure they could be as bad as people were saying.. Ive stood on some in are local shop before and they felt fine to me. But i guess riding one would be totally different. None of the people i ride with have one so i dont have the chance to test ride them. I want one since im gonna buy a different sled next year but i cant make up my mind on what i want. I think the 09 and 10 look pretty sick. How well does yours do for sidehilling?

 

i have a 2010 163 with s36 and t motion and its ausum love it

mind you it not a 2013 tmotion

mine flips up easy

buddys 2013 is even easeyer

 

Say i didnt buy the tmotion and s36 kit. How would it be for sidehilling then? Would you pretty much have to man handle it to get it to stay on its side?

 

Where in MI are you? I have an 09 Hillclimb edition with the S-36 on it. I love this sled. I have taken it out west twice and have had no problems at all out there and only been on about 40 miles of trail total since I've had it new.

 

I have an 08 xp x. It sidehills and pulls over fine, but it is far from stock. If you can get a '10 that would be my choice all the updates and refinements are hard to copy. One of the best mods is post forward! The only way to know which one you will like is to ride it.

 

Okay ill look into them both. So all sleds have problems.. What problems comes with the 2010?

 

It also depends on what you compare it to. Ive been riding my old 2002 zr 800 with a 156 extension on it, rmk's of the same year, and summits/mxz's in the zx chassis. I rode my 08 summit 800 with 154 track and it carved like a dream compared to them! It was sooo light. But, i guess they get easier. It sounds like the first place to start is getting the longer front shock and arm set up on the rear skid. this will take some pressure off your ski's. You have to have it to put the t motion on it without risking damage to your front shock from what ive read. then, its your choice from there. it sounds like the t motion is good if you still want the front end wider for trail handling, but for ultimate tipping ease, the S36 is the one to start with. It sounds like the XM spindles and pilot ds2 ski's are a place a lot of people like to start before the s36 kit to see if that alone makes the sled handle the way they want. The post forward kit by C3 also sounds like it makes a pretty big difference for leverage. If you are on the trail to the mountains a lot, i would leave the S36 for the last mod you do, in case you wind up getting the sled to handle the way you want with all the other mods, that way you will still have a more stable front end.

 

What sled are you coming off of????? That is what is going to determine if you will have an issue with a new sled. Years ago I rode a 809 skidoo Mach Z. I quit riding for a few winters, and came back on a skidoo 1000. I loved it compared to the Mach Z. Last year I sold it and bought an 09 xp. Unreal!!!! It has all the updates, C3 forward steering post, S36 front end, 2010 rear skid geometry (longer shock, scissor bracket etc). It is a blast to ride. About 2 weeks ago I rode a friend's 2013 xm, and it was fun. I didn't think it was a huge improvement over the xp, but it sure was easier to hold a side hill. Every time I got a new sled, I became a better rider, and was trying things I probably would not have with the sled before.

Now that I have told you about my upgraded 09 and how fun and easy it is to ride, I don't think you need all that to have fun. My 13 year old Son has a totally stock 08 xp with 4000 miles. He rode an 05 skidoo 550 fan cooled for one year. Now he has rode his 08 for 2 years, and I can't believe how well he rides it. He can do steep down hill turns and come back uphill, he can sidehill through the trees all day long. When he gets on my sled (09), he can work the tight stuff a little easier, but for the most part he can take that 08 anywhere he can take the 09. The xp chassis is just a great sled, and all the little upgrades from 08 to 2012 just seam to clean up small details from the year before. So depending on what sled you are coming off of, you can't go wrong with either one of them. This is just my opinion.

 

Im coming off a 06 summit 600.

 

all comes down to price IMO i like to mod so I'll take the cheap sled and put time in know things are done right

 

Most that i have seen for around here, from 08-10 are pretty much in the same ball park for prices. Except those guys who way over price there stuff because they think they can.. But the lowest ive seen for an 08 800r summit in my town was 5500. Now that sounds good but also makes me wonder if its a POS and has had lots of problems. And then ive seen some used and abused ones go for 9000 which just wont happen. I guess for 5500, getting something with some problems wouldnt be all that bad. Still leaves room for mods.
Mods that i would wanna do..
1. Post forward.
2. s36 kit.
3. hps can.
4. Dj clutch kit.
Then maybe a t-motion and i was thinking a drop in kit?