AllOutdoor Review – Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 Sage Green UTV

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AllOutdoor Review – Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 Sage Green UTV

One of the best workhorses we can have in our stables is a high-utility, no-compromise vehicle to deploy for hunting, farming, recreation, and everything in between. A reliable UTV (utility task vehicle) or ATV (all-terrain vehicle) that doesn’t bust your wallet can be incredibly clutch during hunting season to haul in a whitetail deer or whatever your favorite wild game species is. The difficulty for many aspiring hunters and outdoorspeople in 2026 though is the price points we have evolved to. While I am not stating the retail of many vehicles is not worth the asking price, for price conscious hunters it can be hard to get into a UTV when a firearm, crossbow, and hunting stand chisels away at our checkbooks. Polaris understands that pain-point for many prospective buyers. So, they went back into the lab for 2026 to deliver to us an affordable yet reliable UTV offering in the new Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV. So, in this AllOutdoor Review, we are going to take a look at the new Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV in a Sage Green colorway to see how it performs out in the field. Let’s dive in!

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Specifications – Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 Sage Green UTV

The Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV in a Sage Green colorway, like many Polaris offerings, can be customized and tailored to your liking with a starting MSRP of $9,999. It also carries a 1-year warranty, and two basic colorway options of Sage Green or Stealth Gray. The rest of the important specifications for the 2026 Ranger 500 UTV can be read below as presented by Polaris:

Engine & Drivetrain

Cooling: Liquid
Cylinders Displacement: 567 cc
Drive System Type: All-wheel drive with auto-locking front drive and selectable VersaTrac Turf Mode
Engine Type: 4-stroke single cylinder DOHC
Fuel System/Battery: Electronic fuel injection
Horsepower: 28
Transmission/Final Drive: Automatic PVT H/L/N/R/P; shaft

The box is pretty small on this UTV – a hair under 3 feet long and barely shorter than 4 feet wide – but it still offers ample room for hauling tools, hunting equipment, or food for farm animals like I employed my 2026 Ranger 500 test unit. With a standard receiver hitch of 2″ and a 9 1/2 gallon fuel tank, you can still accomplish quite a bit of small towing and travel with this compact UTV.

Dimensions

Bed Box Dimensions (L x W x H): 32.6 x 46.2 x 11.25″
Box Capacity: 500 Lb
Curb Weight: 1,210 Lb
Estimated Dry Weight: 1,155 Lb
Fuel Capacity: 9.5 Gal
Ground Clearance: 10″
Hitch Type: Standard 2″ Receiver

Overall Vehicle Size (L x W x H): 110″ x 58.5″ x 74.8″
Payload Capacity: 1,000 Lb
Person Capacity: 2
Towing Capacity: 1,500 Lb
Turning Radius: 13.5′
Wheelbase: 73.2″

With aluminum wheels, disc brakes on all 4 tires, and a solid suspension system, the 2026 Ranger 500 is definitely ready for a day of work or play – you pick!

Brakes

Front/Rear Brakes: 4-wheel hydraulic disc
Parking Brake: Park in-transmission

Wheels & Tires

Front Tires: 25 x 8-12; Carlstar 489
Rear Tires: 25 x 10-12; Carlstar 489
Wheels: 12″ aluminum

Suspension

Front Suspension: MacPherson strut 9″ travel
Rear Suspension: Dual A-arm, IRS 10″ travel

By having simple cargo net doors, that definitely aids in keeping the price-point sharp on this model yet you still get the valuable benefit of a 2,500 Lb winch being included at that $9,999 MSRP. Add in bright LED (Light-Emitting Diode) headlights and taillights plus a DC outlet, and you receive simple creature comforts like being able to charge potentially your cellphone and other tech items and the ability to see well in darkness, fog, or other visually-impairing weather conditions.

Exterior Features

Cargo System: Gas-assist dump box with Lock & Ride accessory integration
Door Type: Cab nets
Vehicle Protection: Steel front bumper with integrated winch mount
Winch: 2,500-lb. winch with wired remote

Lighting & Electrical

Electrical System: DC outlet, 660-W stator charging system
Lighting: LED headlights and taillights

Something that is becoming commonplace in ATVs and UTVs alike in the past decade is a display screen – similar to our trucks, cars, and cellphones – to show us a lot of valuable information about our Polaris. The 2026 Ranger 500 has over a dozen different measurements or indicators it can display for you so you are always aware of the condition and health of your machine at all times.

Comfort & Convenience

Cab Components: Roof
Driver Instrumentation: 4″ LCD rider information center: user-selectable blue/red backlighting and brightness, programmable service intervals, speedometer, tachometer, odometer, tripmeter, clock, hour meter, gear indicator, fuel gauge, coolant temperature, voltmeter, service indicator and codes, seat belt reminder
Seat Type: 2-person, flip-up bench seat with 3-point harness.
Speed Limiting: Speed limiting controlled in gauge
Steering: Tilt adjustment

A Word from Polaris on the 2026 Ranger 500 Sage Green UTV

Minneapolis, MN – Polaris Off Road, the world leader in powersports and off-road innovation, today unveiled the 2026 RANGER 500. This all-new mid-size utility side-by-side brings all the quality and reliability of the American Powersports Co. into the value segment. The RANGER 500 is compact, easy-to-use and practical for everyday use offering value and versatility to help get work done around the property faster. An array of accessory options allow owners to customize the vehicle to work best for how they’ll use it, maximizing productivity.

“With the continued shift from city living to more suburban and rural residences, more and more people are finding themselves with ample space, yard projects, and time spent outdoors,” said Reid Wilson, President of Off-Road Vehicles, Polaris. “While the RANGER brand has been the No. 1 selling utility side-by-side brand for 27 years, we see an opportunity to expand our lineup with a vehicle that offers the right features at the right price, helping to make the work a little easier and creating the opportunity for a little more fun while doing it. The new RANGER 500 is an approachable and capable solution that is backed by Polaris’ legacy of off-road excellence.”

Starting at a U.S. MSRP of $9,999, the RANGER 500 caters to those who need tools to help get their tasks done more efficiently while offering more features from the factory including a roof, front bumper, winch, and LED headlights at a competitive price point. Backed by Polaris’ 70-years of powersport innovation, the RANGER 500 was engineered to be easy to operate, with simplified controls and minimal upkeep. Its compact size and nimble handling makes it ideal for navigating tight spaces and accessing hard-to-reach areas.

“Similar to all our vehicle designs, we start with the question ‘what does this customer care about’ and ‘what do they need from their vehicle,’” said Brandon Kraemer, Vice President of Product Portfolio, Polaris Off-Road Vehicles. “With the new RANGER 500, value is key; but it also needs to deliver the RANGER brand’s reliability along with a practicality that is important to this customer. We focused on incorporating the features that a first-time side-by-side owner would find most valuable when working around their yard or property.”

What’s in the Box?

One of the most common and recurring questions I receive reviewing firearms, motor sport vehicles, or anything else on AllOutdoor is, “What’s in the box?” Meaning, what do you all get with your purchase. This is important because what you do and do not get will dictate what type of accessories you need to additionally buy depending on what you want your end-product to look like. All this being said, this is everything that you will receive in a standard configured package:

Dump Box: 500 Lb
Towing Capacity: 1,500 Lb
Winch: Standard
Roof: Standard
LED Headlights: Standard

What’s the Upsell? What’s the 30 Second Elevator Pitch?

So, what is the upsell to this UTV compared to others in the marketplace today? What is the metaphorical and literal elevator pitch to this off-road machine? For me, it boils down to three essential elements:

Conveniently Sized – Easily store and navigate small spaces with a narrow 58.5” width.
Easy on the Lawn – Selectable Turf Mode unlocks the rear differential—enabling easier and tighter turns that won’t tear up the grass.
Room for the Essentials – Grab what you need, when you need it. Convenient interior storage makes it easy to bring and access essentials – such as your phone, beverages and small tools.

Field Use

So, how did the Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV in a Sage Green colorway perform for me throughout this review?… I had the opportunity to test this model for close to 2 months. During that time I put less than 20 miles on it because all of the work I employed it for was short, but meaningful tasks while ranching my family’s small herd of Red Angus cattle, Mangalitsa pigs, and egg-laying chickens of varying breeds.

This ended up being quick tasks like hauling chicken feed out of my truck into the barn for safekeeping, checking trail cameras close by that also act as surveillance of our animals, and even delivering a 200 Lb mineral lick to the pasture so our Angus can be supplemented in the colder winter months.

For probably 90% of the United States, this is a perfect little UTV for your home or the farm considering most places don’t get any deep, appreciable amount of snow. For Minne-snow-ta though, we’ve gotten over 2 feet of snow so far this winter. So, that forced me to stay closer to home (or the barn) with the 2026 Ranger 500. When the accumulated snow fall was 1 foot or less, this lil’ machine was a champ and I could still go anywhere that I wanted. Once the snow pack got above the tires, then I had to be less adventurous because I did not want to get stuck somewhere far from help.

Something that impressed me about the 2026 Ranger 500 is ability to start in inclement weather. That sounds so basic and silly, but in the 2 months I reviewed this UTV, we saw temperatures dip to -25°F in Minnesota with the wind chill drastically worse. Even on those miserable days, I would start up the 2026 Ranger 500 (to see if it could) – and it did! – which was very confidence inducing for me.

In my short life, I have used a lot of ATVs, UTVs, and snowmobiles, and when it gets goofy cold outside it is not always a guarantee that equipment will work. So, knowing this model will still start for you is important. The only sidebar comment I will add is I always had this unit stored in a barn out of the elements, but it was not a heated barn. So, if the wind chill was -40°F (which on one day it was), it was still -25°F inside the barn.

The only point of constructive criticism I’d really make against the 2026 Ranger 500 UTV is that it is an open cab model, which in Minnesota as we outlined can be pretty brutal. So, in the future if I were to buy a Polaris UTV, I’d definitely get an enclosed model to hide from Mother Nature, even if it is an unheated cab. Simply getting out of the wind would feel really nice.

To play devil’s advocate to my own comment though, if the 2026 Ranger 500 were an enclosed cab model that would likely kill the affordable $9,999 starting price. So, for people who want an affordable UTV, the 2026 Ranger 500 as-is, is still a great value.

Final Thoughts

So, what are my final thoughts on the Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV in a Sage Green colorway?… Overall, I liked how compact the 2026 Ranger 500 is. It is small, but mighty and easy to maneuver through brush through a pasture or a patch of woods. It has essential features like a winch and LED lights, which I greatly appreciated. Also, in the world we live in where everything is increasing in cost, I applaud Polaris for creating a feature-rich, affordable option in their UTV lineup. For anyone who wants a UTV for hunting or farming that won’t break the bank, this is authentically a good value for your investment.

In closing, I want to say thank you to Polaris for allowing AllOutdoor and myself the opportunity to try out their new Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV in a Sage Green colorway. That is greatly appreciated. Also, we would like to know what all of you guys and gals think? Do you believe that the Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV in a Sage Green colorway is something worth spending your money on? Would you deploy one on your next whitetail deer hunt? Use one for ranching or farming? Potentially add it to your fleet for recreation and fun? As always, let us know all of your thoughts about Polaris and the new Polaris 2026 Ranger 500 UTV in a Sage Green colorway in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.

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