Jalopnik is greater than only a automobile weblog. We cowl and assessment all types of transportation, from boats to trains to bikes, however this assessment is of one thing rather more nebulous: The Polaris Slingshot. You realize, 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 per week dwelling with the Slingshot, these apprehensions have 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 handbook 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, nearly sufficient for my 6-foot-8-inch body to suit comfortably. Virtually. After all, headroom is a non-issue since there’s no roof over your head, however as a result of Polaris requires anybody using in certainly one of their press vehicles 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 it’s important to attain over your proper shoulder to seize the belt and buckle it in your left facet. This determination paired with the dearth of doorways and lack of enough seat bolsters amplifies the already perilous feeling of piloting a Polaris.
Driving the Slingshot by means of LA is a annoying expertise, as confirmed by my Whoop health watch monitoring all of my drives as occasions 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 sizzling to the contact whilst you’re driving, the experience is harsh, and since the Slingshot is such an uncommon form, it’s arduous to gauge the place the automobile begins and the place it ends. All of those elements contributed to my elevated stress ranges from behind the Slingshot’s tiny steering wheel, mixed with the data 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, almost 1,000 kilos lower than a Mazda Miata. This could make it a ton of enjoyable to drive, however as quickly as the facility builds it simply spins that single pushed rear wheel, which may make you smile in case you don’t want it to hook up. And it’s removed from quick, and the engine’s demeanor is conflicting. You need 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 word 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 highway of alternative had some occasional particles, which might trigger the Slingshot to lose traction irrespective of how sluggish I used to be going. In a single scenario there was slightly stripe of dust within the heart of my lane on a curve; I slowed right down to 10 mph and nonetheless almost slid off the cliff as a result of the rear wheel hit the dust and misplaced traction in an enormous means. 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 tough to evaluate the width of the factor, as a result of the entrance finish is freakishly huge 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 handbook 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 nicely with the gear ratios. First to second gear is okay, however while you shift into third gear the RPMs fall so drastically that it drops you proper out of the facility band and the automobile bogs down.
“So what about cruising on the world well-known Pacific Coast Freeway,” you would possibly ask, “if it isn’t any good within the twisties perhaps it’s not less than a great cruiser?” Nope. There’s no time when you possibly can calm down behind the wheel of the Slingshot. The rear wheel feels prefer it’s continuously bouncing round, requiring limitless steering inputs to maintain it centered within the lane. Sporting a helmet makes the cruising expertise even much less enjoyable. When you get caught in site 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 have been heated and cooled, which is a welcome possibility. Sadly, when mixed with seatbelts which might be tethered in the course of the automobile as a substitute of over the occupants’ exterior 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 telephone mount, and a $549.99 navigation and CarPlay package deal, bringing the overall MSRP to $30,428.97. The most cost effective new Slingshot S sells for $21,999 with none choices, and the costliest Slingshot Roush Version begins at $38,149 earlier than any choices. In my view, there are a litany of higher methods to spend $30,000, like shopping for hair plugs and a face carry instead option to show to the world that you simply nonetheless obtained it, or by shopping for a used sports activities automobile, or $30,000 of lottery tickets.
Total, I’m not a fan of the Polaris Slingshot, however then I don’t assume I’m the target market. What’s the target market, you could ask? Beats me, however individuals purchase them and appear to like them, so in case you swoon while you see a Slingshot drive by, go strive one. There’s definitely nothing fairly just like the expertise of driving a Polaris Slingshot, for higher or for worse.
