The new Quadski has got to be the perfect boys toy for any budding bachelor with a spare AED 200,000 ‘floating around’. The truly amphibious vehicle allows the craft to switch between quad bike mode to jet ski in a matter of seconds.
The clever retractable wheels allow the owner to drive straight into the water and in no time at all engage the jet engine to power it along the water. The Michigan based manufacturers, Gibbs, claims the switch takes as little as four seconds, and that the Quadski is capable of 45mph on land or water.
It’s the ideal solution for anyone whose daily commute is near water and as Dubai continues to add miles of waterfront and coastline in the form of the new canal project this is a vehicle Dubai may be seeing an awful lot more of. So much so, that Dubai Police have purchased one just as the waterways around JBR and the Palm Jumeirah become increasingly busy.
The Quadski performs admirably on land, despite it being slightly wider and longer than a standard quad bike. The effect on the handling is minimal largely due to the independent front suspension which helps to create a fantastic ride on any surface.
The engine itself is lifted from a BMW motorcycle and is responsible for driving the wheels in land-mode as well as the water-jet system when on the open water. The 1,300cc engine produces 175bhp which is more than enough power for most amateur riders. Two separate cooling systems a closed system and water based one keeps everything under the hood working well.
However with a hefty AED225,000 price-tag it is possible to buy a better quad bike and jet-ski for similar money. Certainly the Honda Aquatrax series is almost half the cost and is one of the fastest jet skis on the market, combine that with a Yamaha raptor quad and you probably have two superior machines but without the amphibious crossover for a very similar budget.
If money were no object what would be the best jet ski and quad bike combination? Don’t look any further than the 158 performance sea-doo jet ski (below).
This colossal machine produces 360bhp, that’s more than a Porsche 911, and the manufacturers claim can hit 80mph on water. For the super wealthy quad bike enthusiast nothing quiet comes close to the Wazuma V8F (below). The quad is an eye-watering 900,000AED but with good reason. It produces 250hbp and can accelerate faster than a Ferrari 458. Aesthetically it looks like something out of a batman movie. Produced by Lazareth, the 3.0litre V8 catapults this machine off the line and makes it a match for even the fastest super cars.
In short the Quadski is the best of both worlds, the first completely amphibious vehicle of its kind in production that is realistically affordable for the general public and given its widespread use by coastguards and police forces around the world is a testament to its reliability and build quality. If its top performance you are after there are definitely alternatives but for that true James Bond moment of driving into the water, retracting the wheels, and jetting off into the distance the Quadski is in a league of its own.
The Insider UAE 