Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 Long Term Review
Story & Photos: Casey Cordeiro
The Green Machine. Triumphant Kawasaki Teryx. KRXcellent. Kool KRX. What’s your name for the KRX? Probably none of those, but, hey, these are some of the names we’ve come up with over the last 910 miles in this standout UTV.
This article isn’t about “Kool” names or the total of 910 miles that we have put on this vehicle. It is, however, about our recent 710 mile continuous ride on the Arizona Peace Trail. Over a 7-day period, we became intimately aware of the capabilities, comforts, and demerits that come along with the KRX. One thing is for sure – the Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 is one of those UTVs that only comes around every couple of years. It’s just different from every other vehicle on the market, and that is a great thing.
You’ve seen it, you’ve read about it, and you might have been able to drive it at your local Kawasaki demo ride. Shoot, some of you own a KRX! Let’s get into the long term ride review… Oh, and I forgot to mention that Nala, our adventure-ready pup, was sitting in the passenger seat for the entire trip to verify our findings…
ALSO, SEE: 2024 Kawasaki Ridge Review
COMFORT
Comfort is one of those things that is hard to pinpoint on one 15-minute demo ride or by sitting in the vehicle in your local dealership. If you do the latter thing in a KRX, you’re going to find that the seats are made from an almost Jet Ski-like material that provide a lot of grip to keep you secure in the seat. The seat bottom has good bolstering for your bum, and there is also good side bolstering for your lower back. Up a little higher, we could use a bit more support for our back shoulders so they stay in place better. However, we have found that drivers who want to move around a bit in the cockpit are rewarded in the KRX because the cockpit is so roomy. I am 6’3” tall and moved the seat forward one or two clicks to get comfortable. There is plenty of leg room, and there are minimal hard edges to hit your knees on.
The storage options built into this KRX are also super handy. Everyone LOVES the massive storage capacity behind the seats, and there are already aftermarket companies making storage solutions for this area. The dashboard also offers plenty of storage options with open and close-able storage solutions ready to be used.
If you have ever driven a regular Teryx (2- or 4-seater), then you have probably experienced how the foot pedals are elevated a bit higher than you would find on other UTVs on the market. Call it a Kawasaki thing, I’m not really sure. But, these foot pedals make you bend your ankle up more than competitive units, creating more fatigue than you’re used to. The KRX’s pedals aren’t as straight up as the Teryx, but I still found my ankle a bit sore by the end of my third day behind the wheel of the KRX. It’s just something to be aware of if you like long rides.
Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 Long Term Review
PROTECTION
Kawasaki has always made a great set of UTV doors for the Teryx, and the KRX is no different. With inside and outside door handles, plus full skins on the inside to really set a quality standard, these easy-open/close doors are some of the best in the industry. These don’t rattle whatsoever, shut like a glove every time, and provide built in quality straight from the factory. The only thing that Kawi could improve on is including a seal around the door from the factory.
After so many miles in unpredictable terrains, we found the the skid plates from the Kawasaki KRX Accessories catalog are well worth your investment. Get the full skids underneath, the a-arm skids, and the trailing arm skids. No doubt the KRX is tough straight from the factory, but the skid plates allow you to truly slide over rocks and very gnarly terrain with just these simple add-ons.
With the big tires and open windshield area, I will say that there is a lack of protection over the front of the vehicle when you go through water at a high rate of speed. Big splashes mean you are going to get wet. This can easily be fixed with a full front windshield.
POWERTRAIN
I’ll start out with the only negative to the entire powertrain system on the KRX – the engine is a rev-happy engine that you’re going to have to listen to right behind your head. On our 7-day trip, the high RPM’s that this engine spins definitely takes a bit of a toll on your ears after 7-straight days in the saddle. On the flip side, it could be much worse. The exhaust sounds good and has a more subtle tone to it compared to other vehicles on the market.
Every other thing about the powertrain is phenomenal on the KRX. The clutching allows you to crawl up the gnarliest rock climbs in Low gear at 2mph. You can also surpass 60mph with ease in High gear. The 4WD system is easily actuated with the turn dial switch on the dash, and we LOVE the fact that you can take the vehicle in and out of 4WD at any speed, which is very handy when you’re going up to a massive hill at speed.
Another standout quality on the KRX is the power steering, which is light for low speed maneuvers and well weighted for high speed traveling. It might be a bit too light for high speed, but to each his own on that one. Either way, I really appreciated how easy it is to maneuver the KRX around the garage or when in a very tight rock climb.
Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 Long Term Review
BUILD QUALITY
You expect exceptional build quality out of an American-made product, which the KRX is (right in Nebraska!), but the Teryx KRX was engineered out of the gate with another level of quality that is insanely apparent right off of the factory floor. With almost 1000 miles on this KRX now, there hasn’t been one loose bolt, one unexpected scratch or chip in the paint, or one mechanical problem. The engine starts the same every single time. The plastics on the KRX are exceptionally well made, even after we drove this vehicle through an entire forest of scratching trees. And, we soaked this KRX through the river crossing over and over to see if we could try and drown it with water. You guessed it, we couldn’t find a fault in the KRX in the quality department.
THE WOODSHED
There are a couple other things that we found that could use improvement on the KRX. One of those things is the gas gauge. I don’t know if it’s just our test unit, but the gas gauge doesn’t accurately represent the fuel level in the tank. We tested it out one trip (with other vehicles in our group, of course) and found that we could go over 50 miles with the E blinking at us, which is usually a sign that you only have 1-2 gallons of reserve left. In our real world test, we still had almost 3 gallons left in the tank after traveling 50 miles. Crazy! In total, we could easily get 110 miles out of a tank of fuel, and the blinking E usually comes on around 60-70 miles in the ride. The gas cap was also a contentious issue because it didn’t vent properly after coming down from 6000 feet of elevation to 1000 feet in elevation in approximately 20 miles. No other machine in our group had this issue. However, this was easily fixed after we quickly unscrewed the cap to vent it.
CONCLUSION
The Teryx KRX brings capability to its owner in so many forms – extreme rock climbing, awesome trail riding capabilities, comfort and protection for both passengers, and expansive storage capabilities. Mold all of that together with the excellent build quality on the KRX and you have one heck of a great vehicle, especially when we look at the great starting price of $20,499.
If you haven’t already sat in one, make sure you check out the Teryx KRX 1000 at your local Kawasaki dealer. And, until next time, be safe on the trail, and we’ll see you out there!
ALSO, SEE: 2024 Kawasaki Ridge Review 2020 Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 Best Features, 2020 Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 Review and 2020 Kawasaki Teryx KRX 1000 Specifications.
