The Polaris Slingshot is a

three-wheeler A three-wheeler is a vehicle with three wheels. Some are motorized tricycles, which may be legally classed as motorcycles, while others are tricycles without a motor, some of which are human-powered vehicles and animal-powered vehicles. Ove ...

. The first edition of the model was introduced in 2014 as a 2015 model.

Specifications

The Slingshot has a tilt-adjustable

steering wheel A steering wheel (also called a driving wheel, a hand wheel, or simply wheel) is a type of steering control in vehicles. Steering wheels are used in most modern land vehicles, including all mass-production automobiles, buses, light and hea ...

, side-by-side

bucket seat A bucket seat is a car seat contoured to hold one person, distinct from a flat bench seat designed to fit multiple people. In its simplest form, it contours somewhat to the human body, but may have a deep seat and exaggerated sides that partially ...

s, and does not

lean Lean, leaning or LEAN may refer to: Business practices * Lean thinking, a business methodology adopted in various fields * Lean construction, an adaptation of lean manufacturing principles to the design and construction process * Lean governmen ...

. It has no

roof A roof (: roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of tempera ...

doors A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide secu ...

, or side windows. The open interior is waterproof and can be hosed down and drained because it has drain holes in the floor. The S and SL models include a 20x9-inch back wheel fitted with a 255mm width tire, and 18x7.5-inch front wheels with 225mm wide tires. The SLR and R models have the same front wheels and tires, but feature an upgraded 20x11-inch rear wheel fitted with a 305mm wide tire. All models have a front

double wishbone suspension A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckl ...

with an

anti-roll bar An anti-roll bar (roll bar, anti-sway bar, sway bar, stabilizer bar) is an automobile suspension part that helps reduce the body roll of a vehicle during fast cornering or over road irregularities. It links opposite front or rear wheels to a t ...

. An optional five-speed

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (AT) or automatic gearbox is a multi-speed transmission (mechanics), transmission used in motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving conditions. The 1904 ...

became available in 2020 with the release of the generation two models. A small

windshield The windshield (American English and Canadian English) or windscreen (Commonwealth English) of an aircraft, car, bus, motorbike, truck, train, boat or streetcar is the front window, which provides visibility while protecting occupants from t ...

is an optional extra on the base model, and fitted as standard on the SL model. ''"this is most certainly not a car, and it's also not a motorcycle by any stretch of the imagination"'' There is also an optional fiberglass wind and sun cover, which Polaris calls a "Slingshade", that features inset

polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate ester, carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, toughness, tough materials, and some grades are optically transp ...

windows and snaps onto the Slingshot's tube frame, acting somewhat like a hardtop roof. The steering wheel,

gear stick A gear stick (rarely spelled ''gearstick''), gear lever (both UK English), gearshift or shifter (both U.S. English), more formally known as a transmission lever, is a metal lever attached to the transmission of an automobile. The term ''gear s ...

, and brake, clutch, and throttle pedals have a conventional

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

layout.

Classification

In the United States, depending on the jurisdiction, the Slingshot may be registered as a motorcycle or autocycle. It is classified as an autocycle in 49 states (with one state, Massachusetts, requiring a motorcycle license) as of January 2024. Three-point seat belts are fitted; however, it has no

airbag An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system using a bag designed to inflate in milliseconds during a collision and then deflate afterwards. It consists of an airbag cushion, a flexible fabric bag, an inflation module, and an impact sensor. ...

s or

crumple zone Crumple zones, crush zones or crash zones are a structural safety feature used in vehicles, mainly in automobiles, to increase the time over which a change in velocity (and consequently momentum) occurs from the impact during a collision by a ...

, and in certain jurisdictions, the driver and passenger must wear

motorcycle helmet A motorcycle helmet is a type of helmet used by motorcycle riders. Motorcycle helmets contribute to motorcycle safety by protecting the rider's head in the event of an impact. They reduce the risk of head injury by 69% and the risk of death by 4 ...

Performance

Beginning with the 2020 model year, the Slingshot is powered by a 2.0 L

inline four A straight-four engine (also referred to as an inline-four engine) is a four-cylinder piston engine where cylinders are arranged in a line along a common crankshaft. The majority of automotive four-cylinder engines use a straight-four layout ( ...

-cylinder gasoline-powered Polaris ProStar Engine rated at at 8250 rpm and of torque at 6500 rpm. It can be fitted to either a conventional five-speed manual or an AutoDrive five-speed

automated manual transmission The automated manual transmission (AMT) is a type of transmission (mechanics), transmission for motor vehicles. It is essentially a conventional manual transmission equipped with automatic actuation to operate the clutch and/or shift Gear train ...

the first time an

has been made available on the Slingshot. This transmission is essentially the same standard five-speed synchromesh-equipped manual gearbox, but the

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...

and shifting are hydraulically actuated and computer-controlled. The interior was also redesigned, and the exterior was updated. For the 2015 through 2019 model years, the Slingshot was powered by a GM-sourced 2.4 L Ecotec I4 that is rated at at 6200 rpm and of torque at 4700 rpm.

References

External links

Polaris Slingshot
{{Polaris Industries

Slingshot A slingshot or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two tubes or strips made from either a natural rubber or synthetic elastic material. These are attached to the upper two ends ...

Three-wheeled motor vehicles Vehicles introduced in 2014 Open wheel cars

Specifications

Classification

Performance

See also

References

External links