........ I'm curious to know how a Pioneer would fare in this situation. Please don't look at it as a Polaris vs Honda competition. I am looking for something which could be used in this type of terrain and thought this video really explained what I may put my machine through. I have never owned a Polaris, so I am not advertising for them. As a matter of fact, I have never owned a sxs, only Jeeps and ATV's
I currently own a Jeep TJ w/35" tires & a long arm suspension, a 900 Polaris RZR, and now a Pioneer. I have also owned numerous ATV's, a Yamaha Rhino, and a Kawasaki Teryx. Therefore I can probably speak on your question with about as much 1st hand experience as anyone can.
In general an ATV is the most nimble machine of the group, however, as I'm sure you already know, in very rough terrain its narrow track and short wheel base can make it difficult to handle. Therefore a SXS with its wider track and longer wheel base will be more stable. However they are both limited by their smaller tires. Therefore although a SxS can usually run away from a Jeep in most rough terrain, the Jeep will be better in the very rough (big rock) terrain. My Jeep picture was taken in Moab Utah and as you can probably imagine, an ATV or SxS with their smaller tires would have a much more difficult time traversing something like this.
I have had my Pioneer in rough terrain, but I have not had it in extremely rough terrain, but it seems to do just as well as my Polaris RZR or my old Teryx. Remember, we aren't talking about high speed use, so high horse power is seldom needed, and therefore in most cases we have enough power to easily crawl over any obstacle that the tire size (and clearance) will allow.
I like all my machines, and each has its place, but I am coming to like my Pioneer more and more every time I use it ............... Now hopefully the new Walker Evans shocks will make it even better.