I took a test ride in the Evictus setup today, on road and offroad. It's ...........incredible.
Just pulling onto a relatively new section of pavement you could immediately tell how much calmer the van is side to side. The road still had little undulations that are uneven across the lane, and it was just so muted. I tossed the van side to side like an emergency lane change, and again, no violent rocking. Just smooth lane changes.
I was doing about 50 down the road when the rep told me the trail we're taking was right in front of me. I hit brakes, and it was a big drop from the pavement to the dirt, followed by deep washboard from people spinning their tires trying to get back on the pavement and up to speed. I was bracing for a pretty violent exit as the van was under heavy braking as I pulled off. Nope - just smoooooooth. That would have been an event in our van.
The trail was pretty rough, sandy with embedded rocks and vehicle-length depressions that are likely filled with water in the spring. Ruts and some unevenness across the trail that would toss our van side to side quite a bit. I'd take this trail in our van at maybe 10-15 mph, and that's the limit. I'd still be slowing down to a crawl to negotiate the side to side rocking sections.
I was doing 15-20 in the Evictus setup, and it was comfortable enough that I could tell I wasn't at the limit. I swapped with my wife so she could drive, and she was trucking faster than I was. If that's all we did - I would have been impressed. I'd say it's good value, and let's do it.
The Evictus rep then drove us back, and good LOOOOOOOOOORD! I think we were mobbing around 40 mph, boosting the lips coming out of the big depressions. I thought for sure we were going to die or bend metal, but the van took it, and it felt controlled. This is beyond any speed than any stock road-going vehicle would go. The best way I can describe it is a side by side (razor). If you've ever driven a performance oriented side by side offroad, you know that feel of just floating over rough terrain. I grew on up dirt bikes and have driven some side by sides, and this is far closer to those than to a road vehicle. And this was all on worn K02 tires in 265 size vs our cushier 285 33" tires. My van feels like an XC bike on a DH track, and then someone gave me an actual DH bike.
With Falcons new strut coming online and the Evictus setup, we're going to have some pretty incredible options to choose from. I say all this and yet the VC setup is still really good that we have. I spent a week driving my parents new F150 hybrid around Banff, and our 9k lb van handles much better than a new truck with 4 people in it. That's pretty impressive, and their truck is quite comfy.
I have a video of the drive from the rep, and I'll try and upload later.
I've heard a lot of comparisons from various people, seen the reaction vids, etc. I figured they were all stretched a bit. One of the mechanics told me the Evictus setup on a heavy van is faster than his Tacoma with upgraded suspension. I figured that has to be a lie, but I can see it now.
As I'm typing this, I'm still trying to process WTF just happened, lol.
