High-performance UTVs like the Can-Am Maverick R offer incredible off-road speed straight from the showroom, but how close do they really come to a purpose-built desert race truck? A recent video tackled that question directly, pitting a stock Maverick R against a Brenthel Engineering spec Trophy Truck in a head-to-head comparison on a challenging desert loop, with racer Gray Leadbetter behind the wheels of both beasts.

The video aimed to find out what the Maverick R can do. As the narrator, Travis Pastrana, said, “Today, we are going to find out what this thing was meant to do and see how close it can come to a Brenthel truck.”

Jordan Brenthel, co-founder of Brenthel Rentals, explained their truck fits the popular 6100 class, utilizing a sealed LS3 V8 making around 550 horsepower, combined with unlimited-class suspension featuring roughly 30 inches of wheel travel.

While acknowledging the Can-Am’s potent power-to-weight ratio and all-wheel-drive advantage on smoother terrain, another representative from Brenthel Rentals predicted the difference would become clear: “You’ll feel the difference… when we’re going through the big bumps, we’re kinda sitting like a kind of like a boat ride.”

Gray Leadbetter, praised by Pastrana as an exceptionally fast learner behind the wheel, first tackled the course in the stock Can-Am Maverick R. She completed the approximately five-mile loop in 13 minutes and 4 seconds.

However, observations during the lap showed the stock UTV suspension “bottoms out everywhere” in the rougher sections. The crew reported Leadbetter felt “fairly sore” after the lap due to the “really big” bumps, highlighting the physical toll of pushing the stock machine hard over challenging terrain.

Switching to the Brenthel spec Trophy Truck revealed a stark contrast in capability. Footage showed the truck absorbing large impacts with much greater composure, allowing the driver to maintain higher speeds through the roughest parts of the course. Josh, riding along during a later lap driven by Brenthel’s Chuck Dempsey, described the experience as “horrifying, but it’s awesome,” amazed that insane speeds could be carried over terrain featuring large rocks.

The final analysis showed the Trophy Truck completed the loop roughly one minute faster than the Can-Am on this particular course, averaging about six seconds per mile quicker. Pastrana concluded that while the Can-Am might potentially go faster if the driver endures the physical abuse, the Trophy Truck’s sophisticated suspension simply soaked it up.