Jalopnik is greater than only a automobile weblog. We cowl and evaluate all types of transportation, from boats to trains to bikes, however this evaluate is of one thing far more nebulous: The Polaris Slingshot. , that three-wheeled, two-seat, open-topped tricycle factor with a single belt-driven rear wheel. My apprehensions ran excessive previous to driving this Volt Orange 2024 Polaris Slingshot SL, and after every week dwelling with the Slingshot, these apprehensions had been validated. The Slingshot actually isn’t for me.
Full disclosure: I’ve seen Polaris Slingshots terrorizing the streets of LA for years now, and I can truthfully say that I by no means thought I’d drive one, however the beneficiant people at Polaris modified that. They loaned me a Volt Orange 2024 Polaris Slingshot SL with a five-speed guide transmission and two helmets, and that is the way it went.
Hopping into the Slingshot requires you to step over the tube body construction on the facet of the automobile, as there aren’t any doorways. When you get into the seat there’s a shocking quantity of legroom, virtually sufficient for my 6-foot-8-inch body to suit comfortably. Virtually. In fact, headroom is a non-issue since there’s no roof over your head, however as a result of Polaris requires anybody driving in considered one of their press automobiles to put on a helmet, I didn’t get the wind-in-your-hair feeling I had hoped for as a lover of convertibles. Weirdly, each of the Slingshot’s seatbelts are anchored within the heart of the automobile, in order the motive force you must attain over your proper shoulder to seize the belt and buckle it in your left facet. This choice paired with the shortage of doorways and lack of satisfactory seat bolsters amplifies the already perilous feeling of piloting a Polaris.
Driving the Slingshot by LA is a disturbing expertise, as confirmed by my Whoop health watch monitoring all of my drives as instances of elevated stress. You sit very low to the bottom, with no airbags, no doorways and no roof. The engine is thrashy to the fullest extent of the phrase, but gutless till its 8,500-rpm redline the place it lastly makes peak horsepower. The clutch is stiff and heavy, the transmission tunnel will get concerningly scorching to the contact when you’re driving, the experience is harsh, and since the Slingshot is such an uncommon form, it’s onerous to gauge the place the automobile begins and the place it ends. All of those components contributed to my elevated stress ranges from behind the Slingshot’s tiny steering wheel, mixed with the information that any one of many three-row mommy mobiles on Los Angeles roads might run me over with out even noticing.
The Polaris-built 2.0-liter inline-4 engine within the Slingshot SL is rated at 178 horsepower and simply 120 pound-feet of torque, the latter of which hits its peak at 5,500 rpm, and the Slingshot weighs simply 1,633 kilos in whole, practically 1,000 kilos lower than a Mazda Miata. This could make it a ton of enjoyable to drive, however as quickly as the ability builds it simply spins that single pushed rear wheel, which may make you smile should you don’t want it to hook up. And it’s removed from quick, and the engine’s demeanor is conflicting. It’s a must to rev it out to redline to get energy, however the engine is so rattly it sounds prefer it’s going to explode. I used to be not a fan of the exhaust observe both, because it sounded extra like a leaf blower than a automobile, which is perhaps excusable in a side-by-side, however not in one thing that’s meant to be an on-road enjoyable machine.
Driving the Slingshot on winding roads was additionally a harrowing expertise. My canyon street of selection had some occasional particles, which might trigger the Slingshot to lose traction regardless of how sluggish I used to be going. In a single state of affairs there was just a little stripe of dust within the heart of my lane on a curve; I slowed right down to 10 mph and nonetheless practically slid off the cliff as a result of the rear wheel hit the dust and misplaced traction in a giant manner. Fortunately, the Slingshot does have traction management and ABS, however the single rear wheel makes it too risky to be reliable sufficient for me to push it on twisty mountain roads. It’s additionally unreasonably troublesome to guage the width of the factor, as a result of the entrance finish is freakishly vast and the rear is freakishly slender, so threading the needle turns into an train of religion and elevated cortisol ranges.
My tester got here with the no-cost 5-speed guide transmission, which made the driving expertise extra partaking however nonetheless had its faults. The transmission is notchy and feels simply nice to shift, however the high-revving character of the Polaris engine doesn’t match properly with the gear ratios. First to second gear is okay, however once you shift into third gear the RPMs fall so drastically that it drops you proper out of the ability band and the automobile bogs down.
“So what about cruising on the world well-known Pacific Coast Freeway,” you may ask, “if it isn’t any good within the twisties possibly it’s a minimum of an excellent cruiser?” Nope. There’s no time when you’ll be able to calm down behind the wheel of the Slingshot. The rear wheel feels prefer it’s consistently bouncing round, requiring infinite steering inputs to maintain it centered within the lane. Sporting a helmet makes the cruising expertise even much less enjoyable. In the event you get caught in visitors, you’ll begin cooking within the solar, you’ll get gassed out by the smelly exhaust, and your left leg will begin cramping from the heavy clutch.
The seats on my tester had been heated and cooled, which is a welcome possibility. Sadly, when mixed with seatbelts which can be tethered in the course of the automobile as an alternative of over the occupants’ outdoors shoulder like in each different automobile, it felt like I used to be about to slip out of the Slingshot round each nook. Different creature comforts embody Apple CarPlay that requires a bluetooth headset to be linked to permit operation, so I by no means tried it.
My check automobile got here with minimal choices, together with heated and cooled seats for $1,629.99, a $100 cellphone mount, and a $549.99 navigation and CarPlay bundle, bringing the whole MSRP to $30,428.97. The most cost effective new Slingshot S sells for $21,999 with none choices, and the most costly Slingshot Roush Version begins at $38,149 earlier than any choices. For my part, there are a litany of higher methods to spend $30,000, like shopping for hair plugs and a face carry in its place method to show to the world that you simply nonetheless bought it, or by shopping for a used sports activities automobile, or $30,000 of lottery tickets.
General, I’m not a fan of the Polaris Slingshot, however then I don’t assume I’m the audience. What’s the audience, you could ask? Beats me, however folks purchase them and appear to like them, so should you swoon once you see a Slingshot drive by, go strive one. There’s actually nothing fairly just like the expertise of driving a Polaris Slingshot, for higher or for worse.
