Can Am F3 Limited Review in the Snow
UTVs have staked out an evolving niche in the market place. At a fraction of the price of a pickup, homeowners are buying them for yard work and farm chores, as much equally these off-road capable golf carts on steroids are being used by utilities to repair power lines in hard to reach places and tapped past ranchers to brand the rounds. Amongst UTVs, the Tin-Am Defender stands out for its no-compromises work/play split personality. It hauled firewood like a boss and tackled rugged trails with the aforementioned gusto. Information technology took me places a pickup won't ever achieve and was as much fun every bit information technology was utilitarian.
I tested the 2021 Can-Am Defender Limited for 2-months in fall and winter in Vermont, and for two-days on a game ranch almost Austin, Texas in sweltering summer heat. Here is what I notice first hand about this impressive machine.
Similar a Pickup in Miniature

The Can-Am Defender Limited'south luxurious cab has a three-person, leather-trim demote seat that flips up to reveal a removable passenger-side storage box and spare cup holders. The console has cup holders and a space to set glasses or keys where they wouldn't slide. The cab is heated and air-conditioned, with like shooting fish in a barrel to read gauges on a dashboard digital brandish.
A windshield wiper kept the front window clear of rain, snow, and pine needles, and full doors with power windows kept branches out, and cool or warm air in as the season dictated. A four,500 lb winch was controlled from the dashboard. So were ii to 4WD, a rear differential lock, and lights. My test unit was optioned with boosted lights mounted on the roof.
The Defender's bed held a one-half-pickup-sized load and was appropriately rugged. I added a headache rack and sidewalls to the unit of measurement halfway through my testing, which, for hauling firewood, doubled the capacity. Levers on each side of the bed allow me dump the bed contents with minimal endeavour, which was a major back saver. When I load my pickup with wood, I accept to manually unload it.
Able & Agile, Even With a Load
The Can-Am Defender was able to go to zones I won't ever be able to bulldoze my truck into considering the copse are too tight, the footing is too soft, or the slope is as well steep. It was nimble and responsive, with a surprisingly tight turning radius. Previously, I carried wood a piece at a time to a landing my truck can reach. Now, I drive wood from where I felled the tree to where I stack it under my back deck.
On punchy, slippery rollers, I engaged the rear differential lock and climbed out of any miniature valley or abrupt dip I encountered. The vehicle'southward depression center of gravity and relatively narrow width made it platonic for accessing places my pickup couldn't, and for driving materials to build trails on parts of my land that I've only ever accessed by foot.
The Defender had both speed and ability cheers to the is class-leading HD10 engine, which has 82 hp and 69 lb.-ft. of torque. Can-Am says the Defender can hit 62 mph. My top speed was 53 MPH on a paved route, though I generally used it on logging roads backside my house, in a friend's carbohydrate bush, and on recreational ATV trails. I was less concerned with speed than traction and handling. Heavy-duty 27-inch Maxxis Bighorn two.0 tires had me covered.
Tin can-Am Defender: Ready For Fun When Work is Done
When I wasn't moving firewood, I used the Defender for trail riding, driving to my favorite remote pond hole, and escaping into the woods further than I could get on my own power. At 65-inches wide, it's got more girth than an ATV or trail specific rig. But that didn't stop me from total-day tours on Vermont's VASA network, which at times included slippery river bed traverses, precipitous climbs and rolls, and miles of off-camber fun on every type of clay surface imaginable. This is non the automobile to accept to Moab for farthermost rock itch. But it can get rowdy, and nonetheless haul firewood, rocks, leaves and castor dorsum home.
The merely fourth dimension I cried uncle and turned the Defender around was on a steep and slippery climb up a mount in a narrow rut of a trail with greasy diagonal roots. The consequences were besides high if something went wrong, and it was a rails where a harness would accept been advisable, not the basic seat chugalug I was wearing.
Several times when I was trail riding, I used the winch to get me past an obstacle. Including on a whale of a rock, and in a steep corner with a thick and slick diagonal root. When the tires hit a challenge straight on, they but kept rolling. Diagonal obstacles were harder to navigate. And even though the Defender tin exist spec'd with a more powerful engine, engine ability wasn't ever an effect.
With the Class III 2-inch hitch, which is rated to 2,500 lbs, I put a bike rack on the Defender and drove friends to the meridian of a run. The hitch also let me mountain kayak racks and fishing rod holders on the roof, using Thule's Goalpost paired with their fishing and kayak-specific racks.
Snowcat Mode: 2021 Tin-Am Defender With Tracks
When the snow started falling, I had the local Can-Am dealer swap wheels for tracks. Tracks fabricated the Defender longer and wider than it is with wheels. With tracks on, the Defender measures 140-inches long and 74.5-inches wide.
Tracks turned the Defender into a winter monster truck that could bulldoze anywhere. Fifty-fifty with tracks on, the Defender had the same ability to turn in ridiculously tight spaces, and the same predictable treatment. It maneuvered through narrow dips, over snow-covered logs, and climbed slippery slopes.
Only once did the tracked Can-Am Defender not just get where I pointed it. When I pointed information technology upward an off-camber water ice-encased rock slab, I slid sideways. But I was able to alter my line slightly and go on on cruising.
Back To Work: Snow Plow Duty
When the dealer-installed the tracks, they also installed a Pushframe attachment organization for a plow, which allow me go it on and off in a flash. I just threaded the winch cable through a guide and clipped it to the plow. When I retracted the winch, the plough automatically clipped onto the Pushframe, a process that on my truck plow usually takes 30-minutes or more, and involves a lot of swearing.
The 66-inch turn is short (17-inches high from the bottom of the bract to the top), just it'southward ane of the most able UTV plows made. It raises and lowers with the winch command. The Pushframe attachment raises and lowers with more range and plows with a better snow-clearing angle than most other UTV plows. To angle the turn I used an external lever. There's no push or lever to angle the turn inside the cab.
It's been a low-snow winter, so I've but been able to examination this plow with six or and so inches of snow to remove. When it's deep, it will be a great tool to movement snow effectually every bit well every bit to articulate my road and driveway. Information technology comes off as fast as it goes on, with the stomp of a foot pedal.
2021 Can-Am Defender Review: Not Perfect, But Close
There are few negatives to the Tin can-Am Defender. The biggest was that I liked information technology so much I'll probably end up buying one. It seemed similar every time I had a project, it was the right tool for the chore.
The total doors did sometimes trap the seatbelts when I close them, but they also continue the cab impressively temperature regulated. The temperature settings apply a unmarried knob to choose oestrus or cooling, and the specific temperature. Temperature is nearly impossible to adapt while driving, notwithstanding. When I wanted estrus or air conditioning, I had to stop to fiddle with the knob until I could become the settings I wanted.
I did have issues with door and window seals. When I received the unit, information technology had a faulty window seal that was fixed by the dealer. In winter, the door seals stick to the door frame and peel off whenever there is a freeze-thaw cycle. And then far, I've been able to push button them back in the groove in the door that holds them each time.
Many Options to Choose From

The Can-Am Defender line offers an incredible number of choices for customization. The Can-Am website is a bit disruptive and made it difficult to determine which add-ons were compatible. Simply, if you work with your local dealer to hone in on what you want and need y'all'll leave the showroom with a tool that makes work fun and efficient, and one that will give you excuses to recollect up far-flung weekend adventures.
The Can-Am Defender has a starting price of $10,399. The 2021 Tin-Am Defender Limited starts at $25,499, which is before all the added accessories.
In summertime mode our Defender Limited had $2,686.94 in optional upgrades, for a total of $28,185.94. In winter way, with tracks and plough, we added another $v,008 to that price tag, for a 1000 full of $33,193.94.
Yep, you could buy a bones new truck for the toll of one of these, or a nice used truck. Although, that truck couldn't do many of the things this machine can practise and for sure couldn't get to equally many places, peculiarly in the winter.
2021 Can-Am Defender Limited Specs:
- HD10: Rotax® 976 cc V-twin 82 hp – 69 lb-ft, the highest torque in the UTV category
- HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
- four,500-lb winch with roller fairlead
- XT front bumper
- HMWPE total slip plate
- Full hard roof with liner and interior dome low-cal
- Total blackness doors with electric opening windows
- 3-position full glass tilt upwardly windshield with wiper/washer kit
- Rear glass
- 7.half dozen in. digital display with keypad
- Signature LED
- PRO-TORQ Transmission with Quick Response System (QRS)
- high airflow ventilation and Electronic Drive Belt Protection
- Front: Arched double A-arm with sway bar
- Rear: Biconvex TTA with external sway bar
- VERSA-PRO bolster reinforced bench seat
- 12 in. (30.5 cm) ground clearance
- 27 in. Maxxis Bighorn two.0 tires
- 14 in. (35.6 cm) cast-aluminum wheel
Optional Upgrades (Seen On Our Test Model):
- Apache 360 LT Rails System- $iv,699
- 66" wide turn- $309
- Light Rack – $164.99
- BED WALL EXTENDERS – $1369.99
- Risk Roof Rack – $534.99
- LinQ Front Rack – $394.99
- 3.5″" (ix cm) LED Driving Lights (2 ten 14W) – $214.99
- Linq Adaptor (for adventure roof rack) – $26.99
- Delux Headache Rack – $374.99
Source: https://autowise.com/driven-2021-can-am-defender-limited-review/
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