Man, kids these days get all the cool shit. When I was a pre-teen I got a WalMart-sourced mountain bike for my birthday, and I was over the damn moon about it. Oh, that was so cool, getting the freedom of riding around town, hauling my butt down to the local stop-and-go for a Stewarts Orange and Cream and a Little Debbie snack cake. Oh man, those were the days. These days kids get a 180cc engine with electronic fuel injection, 10 inches of ground clearance, 24 inch tires, LED headlights and taillights, and advanced safety-oriented connectivity. This thing is like the most advanced off-road go-kart.

I didn’t even get a bike helmet!

When I did finally grow up a little bit in my early teens, my folks picked up a couple Yamaha Blaster four-wheelers, and in hindsight that was probably a mistake. I ate shit on those things so often, including one time I tried to jump over our burn pile in the back forty and fell off mid-air. That one hurt. I couldn’t sit down for like four days. Um... where was I?

Oh, right, I wasn’t trustworthy enough to not do dumb shit. Polaris understands that kids aren’t to be trusted, and has instituted a few parental controls for the RZR 200 to ease their minds a bit. One time I took my four wheeler out on the local dirt roads, and my parents got pissed. With the RZR you can geofence where you want your kids to drive through the Ride Command app. If you’re feeling like your kids are driving recklessly, you can artificially limit the top speed of the RZR through the same app.

My favorite piece of the safety puzzle, however is the all-new helmet aware tech that Polaris has thrown at this thing. Every RZR 200 comes with two helmets with bluetooth beacons. Parents can pre-set controls to lock out the ignition if the helmets aren’t detected inside the vehicle. Teach your kids to ATGATT, and start them early.

If you’re an outdoorsy family that likes to spend weekends ripping around out in the wilderness, maybe it’s time to add an RZR 200 to your toy hauler for your youngins. It’s not cheap, but it’s probably the best way to keep your kids safe-ish in a very dangerous sport. You know your 10 year old isn’t quite ready for something like the 168 horsepower RZR Turbo S, right? Maybe start them out in something a little more their size.

Anything to get more kids into motorsport is probably a good idea. And these are a lot safer than the Yamaha Blasters I used to ride around. Hell, it’s probably a lot safer than my old WalMart bike.

Polaris doesn’t give a horsepower rating for the RZR 200, nor does it mention anything about a top speed or acceleration figures, but you can kinda guess, right? It’s not exactly cheap at $5,899, but if you’re going to go spend the weekend camping in a $80,000 fifth wheel camper to rip around in your SxS that starts somewhere in the realm of a new Mitsubishi Mirage, you’re probably already up to your eyeballs in debt anyway, so what’s another six grand?