Polaris Slingshot: A three-wheeler with sports car pretensions

Don’t let your eyes deceive you. What you can see in this image gallery accompanying the post is not a state-of-the-art sports car. It is a three-wheeled motorcycle, but one designed to fool everyone into thinking it’s one of them.

The Polaris Slingshot has car seats, even with three-point seat belts for driver and passenger, but to get into it you need to wear a helmet, because despite appearances, it is a fully fledged motorcycle. To ride it, you need a motorcycle licence.

The engine fitted to this original and eye-catching vehicle is a 2.4-litre EcoTec, designed by General Motors, which delivers 173 CV at 6,300 rpm and a maximum torque of 225 Nm at 4,700 rpm. This power will offer plenty of fun to the lucky few who get behind the wheel of this motorcycle with sports car pretensions.

The 5-speed manual gearbox sends all that power to the rear wheel via a carbon fibre-reinforced belt drive. Electric power steering helps maintain control of the wheel, and it also features traction control, stability control and ABS.

It measures 3.80 metres in length, with a wheelbase of 2,667 mm, and at the front it is 1.97 metres wide. Its look bears no resemblance to a motorcycle, but the experience of riding it is exactly that: the wind in your face, the thrill of speed and the sense of freedom you feel while driving it.

It will go on sale in the United States in two versions. The base model will cost 20,000 dollars, while the SL, which will feature a windscreen and MP3 player, will reach 24,000 dollars. We don’t know whether it will be imported into Europe, but if it is, its price will be somewhat similar to the American one.

Source | Polaris
Via | Car Scoops