Driving the Polaris Slingshot, the grown-up's 173-hp trike

The Polaris Slingshot is a controversial machine. Thanks to its three-wheeled configuration, it straddles a fine regulatory line between motorcycle and car, thus causing consternation with certain state DOTs — notably Texas’. Bureaucrats want nicely defined categories, and a three-wheeler is neither fish nor fowl. But when the rules are all sorted and Slingshots are slinging to and fro around the country, I think the bigger controversy, the ongoing one, will concern price: Is this thing an expensive toy or the deal of the century?

The base Slingshot costs $19,999 and gives you 17-inch front wheels and an 18-inch rear; a 173-hp, 2.4-liter four-cylinder hooked to a five-speed manual transmission, and two waterproof seats nestled in a skeletal steel spaceframe. The $23,999 Slingshot SL adds bigger wheels, a stereo system with backup camera, and a windshield. You’ll know base Slingshots by their titanium metallic paint, while SLs are all red. And that’s it. You know you’re dealing with an elemental machine when the windshield is an option.

Now, 20 grand sounds like a lot of money for a machine with a Pontiac Solstice powertrain but one fewer wheel. But in the weird world of motorcycles and ATVs, that’s actually not bad. Plenty of bikes cost more, and the closest machine in concept — BRP’s Can-Am Spyder — can top $30,000. A Polaris executive told me that when they announced the Slingshot’s price at a dealer meeting, the news caused a spontaneous standing ovation. The dealers knew that at $19,999, they’d move a lot of these things. And indeed, Polaris says initial orders are way beyond their most optimistic projections. It’s a lot of visual bang for the buck, that’s for sure.

You really can’t go anywhere in a Slingshot without causing a sensation. Sure, right now it’s new and strange and shocking, but this thing gets more eyeballs than a Lamborghini. Everyone’s looking, everyone’s doing double-takes and pulling out their phones and shooting photos. As I was driving through town with a friend riding shotgun, he gestured to the phones aimed out both rear windows of the car ahead and said, “This must be what it feels like to be Adam Levine.”