Speed UTV

I stopped by Veys yesterday around 2pm. There were probably 20 people there looking at the car. Todd and 1 other guy from Speed were answering questions. The car looked/felt much like I expected. I mean, we have seen renderings/pictures/videos for years now. I do like that is looks like a true off-road car, not a space ship like the Can-Am's. I am not a fan of all the weird angles. Sitting in the drivers seat, it was very easy to see over the hood. My last 2 cars had long(er) hoods and in the dunes it was tough to navigate over ridges. Neither were issues in the desert. It looked to be a good size. Not overly long like a Can Am. The seats are very comfortable. The rear seat was a little tight, with the front seat back. Speed was saying a 6' guy in the front and 6' guy in the back. I don't know about that. There were small issues I noticed but I believe they are being addressed from the testing. Mostly rubbing hoses and wires, some plastic parts broken and I did cut my knee on the door latch. The doors did seem flimsy, but again I think that has been addressed. Overall it looks like a good/fun production car. 

 
NIKAL said:
I was told by Todd as that car sat with spare tire, Jack, tool box, that it weighed right about 2250ish lbs. The SXS Blog guys weighed the new Pro R 4 seat at over 2400 lbs with no accessories. 
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Wait WHAT?  That is 200 - 300 lbs over the Pro R and with beefier everything? Im impressed and with 300HP with speed key and e85, that will be a fun SXS. 

 Closer then ever for the first 50 to get to the hands of customers.  I recall RG saying Coyne was the first customers to drop deposits so I can imagine a few will land at their showrooms.  Im in no rush and doubt I'll get mine in by Sand Season 2022/23 but Im fine with it so Speed can fix any flaws  when customers start to wreck I mean drive them.  

 
NIKAL said:
  I was told by Todd as that car sat with spare tire, Jack, tool box, that it weighed right about 2250ish lbs. The SXS Blog guys weighed the new Pro R 4 seat at over 2400 lbs with no accessories. 
 
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It’s a bit heavier than that. 2455 dry from factory is what they said, fluids and don’t think it was topped off with fuel , she weighed 2609 lbs. El Jefe with out spare, jack and tools should be around 2150ish. F2BC813C-5B6C-4426-9E5E-B351F98B19EC.jpeg

 
NIKAL said:
I stopped by around 3:30 and the parking lot was packed and so was the street. The two people there were Todd Romano and Mike Rebello. Pretty cool to have a CEO of the company standing there taking questions and answers. And he’s quick to point out the flaws. 
 

As far as the seating goes, I’m 5-11 and adjusted the drivers seat two clicks from all the way back. A guy about the same hight or 6ft sat in the rear and he said he was comfortable. He said he had Turbo S with PRP seats and said he could not squeeze in the rear if he wanted too. 
 

Remember this was a pre production car that has been non stop testing in Parker & Barstow. The messy wiring you saw on the right side of the engine is because they have allot of extra sensors & plugs for testing. The hoses are all hand made hoses and not the molded hoses we would see in final production. The plastics are the same plastics from Sand Sports. The door fitment and alignment was a mess. But again those doors were made with the wrong property plastics and too soft. The plastic itself will be more ridged like the Arctic Cat XX door plastics. This should help greatly in alignment and rigidity. (I still think a internal metal bar or plate should be added inside the door structure. They will need it for the closed cab. I bet this is changed on Gen 2)  We also know door gaps and the rear door striker location have been moved from this pre production model, so the doors will not bind, and the striker is not a knee banger. 

Overall the car looked used and beat on, which was good. Considering the off road miles it has, the suspension did not look totally sand blasted or beat, like a RZR arm and radius rods get. The rap looked pretty good and only dinged up on the two running boards, but that’s also taking in to consideration of all the rides they have given and people climbing around the car. Not sure if anyone noticed the spring rates? But the rears were 350 over 350. I was told by Todd as that car sat with spare tire, Jack, tool box, that it weighed right about 2250ish lbs. The SXS Blog guys weighed the new Pro R 4 seat at over 2400 lbs with no accessories. 
 

I got to talk with Todd about allot of stuff which was cool. Some Speed related, some not Speed related, some was Textron, some was racing. But one thing that is Speed related that I will share is the white carbon car that was only seen for a brief time at the Sand Show. That car is strapped to a dyno and running 12 hours a day every day. Another car no one has seen has been at CARB since August, and another mule car has been there before that. 

After looking at the Speed car and going in and looking at what Veys is charging for a built up Can Am 4 seater at $80K and another built out 2 seater in the $60’s. The Speed UTV even at the current 4 seater LE price at $38K and the RG reaching the $40K mark is a deal. 

As I think of more things that I think is ok to share I’ll do so, unless the thread becomes a sh!t show again. 
 
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So has production started on those 50 cars? Or do they have to wait for final CARB cert before beginning production.  

 
NIKAL said:
Production, Yes. It has been going for awhile now. They recently showed a video of a machine adding gasket sealer to the engine block. 

Final Assembly, Not that I’m aware of. 

My understanding is Production of parts and sub assemblies are being produced and they are finalizing the final assembly line process. 

You can’t get your final CARB cert without having a full Production parts, Assembly line produced vehicle to run those final tests on. I had previously explained much of how this process works. 
 

What most don’t understand is the manufacturing process. When people hear Production has started, they think cars are driving off the assembly line. There are many manufacturing lines producing parts. For example a engine is it’s own assembly line. It starts as hundreds of parts. It goes through an assembly process to become a complete engine.  Once completed it becomes a sub assembly as it might be mated to another part like the trans, or the radiator might be added to this sub assembly to be installed on the chassis at the same time as the engine & trans are. Then that sub assembly has to be then staged to go into a final assembly. The final assembly is when it’s installed in a chassis as it goes down the final assembly line. But you first have to figure out the order each final sub assembly or part is installed as it goes down the final assembly line. 
 

A few years ago I got to meet a customer of the company I work for. This persons job was a production engineer. His job was to develop the assembly process. Things from parts built on benches by human hands. Parts built by machines. And then how to lay out and build a final assembly line to take all these completed parts and instal them on the final product. A good example would be, do you install the seat sliders in the chassis first, then mount the seats? Or do you have the seat sliders mounted to the seats in a sub assembly process prior to getting to the final assembly line? 
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Thanks for the explanation.  I figured when they showed the video of the engine line it was really sub-assembly.   I would think they had the final assembly figured out by now.  

 
I've always loved the in depth videos CanAm has shared with the public showing every detail of their design, testing and production process. It gave us amazing insight into the intricacies of how they produce a new vehicle.

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
I've always loved the in depth videos CanAm has shared with the public showing every detail of their design, testing and production process. It gave us amazing insight into the intricacies of how they produce a new vehicle.
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Or Artic Cat, Textron, Polaris, Kawasaki, Honda, and on and on and on...

:lol:

 
Crusty said:
Or Artic Cat, Textron, Polaris, Kawasaki, Honda, and on and on and on...

:lol:
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Exactly.

It's interesting how Sand Shark keeps misinterpreting the videos he sees. You'd think he'd have more questions about mfrs who don't post weekly videos of what's going on.

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
Exactly.

It's interesting how Sand Shark keeps misinterpreting the videos he sees. You'd think he'd have more questions about mfrs who don't post weekly videos of what's going on.
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Come on...what everyone else does is BAU.

The weekly SPEED UTV Videos are cool, but also part of their marketing. It's smart for an upcoming mfg. start up.

When do you get yore Speed UTV?  That invite for Tacos at yore camp still open?

Might be enough to get me back out  :lmao:

 
I felt like RG had to provide the tech background. He was making claims that he was making everything better than the other UTVs and of course people want to see pics and video, or they tend to disbelieve. I'm glad he provided the pics and video proof of what he was talking about. 

Even with all of that, it seems clear that a lot of people, especially on FB, had no clue what they were actually looking at. They can't tell a ball joint from a meatball.

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
I felt like RG had to provide the tech background. He was making claims that he was making everything better than the other UTVs and of course people want to see pics and video, or they tend to disbelieve. I'm glad he provided the pics and video proof of what he was talking about. 

Even with all of that, it seems clear that a lot of people, especially on FB, had no clue what they were actually looking at. They can't tell a ball joint from a meatball.
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That may be a little harsh!

A meatball usually has marinara sauce & cheese on it

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
I've always loved the in depth videos CanAm has shared with the public showing every detail of their design, testing and production process. It gave us amazing insight into the intricacies of how they produce a new vehicle.
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Love the in depth videos all the established companies have about their designs.  Really love how all the trophy truck makers and sandcar makers give us weekly videos on their designs.

oh wait they don’t to do that beciae they have a track record of producing cars.   
 

Do you think many would of stuck it out this long with the Speed UTV if he never did any videos?   I think most of you would of bailed 

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
Exactly.

It's interesting how Sand Shark keeps misinterpreting the videos he sees. You'd think he'd have more questions about mfrs who don't post weekly videos of what's going on.
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I know what I am looking at 90% of the time in those videos. I can also see when someone is being a salesman in those videos.  All those designs look great.  You should know that all those designs on paper, drawings, and prototypes don’t always work out in real world applications.  

How many changes did they have to make since September 2021?  

Yes he is testing, but guess what so do all the other manufacturers. 

What are you going to be saying about that testing and weekly shows when they are hit with warranty claims?  

Still going to be happy about all those  weekly shows as you probably go a 3rd desert season with no Speed UTV?

 
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