- Oh, my hair is just.
(car honks)
You know what, I was checking my hair.
(exciting music)
- Oh (bleep).
It's another episode of the Internet's
fourth favorite car review show,
The New Car Show, starring me, your boy, James Pumphrey.
Check this weird thing out.
This is the Polaris Slingshot,
and it's technically not a car.
It's a motorcycle.
And since this is The New Car Show
and not The New Motorcycle Show,
I don't want to compare it to other cars.
But Nolan has been begging me
to drive something for months now.
- Please let me drive a cool car.
- No.
- Please let me drive a cool car.
- No.
- Please.
- No.
- Please.
- You're a (bleep).
So I thought, why not?
Let's give the kid a shot.
I mean, if it goes well, he can review
all the three-wheeled cars from now on.
But if it doesn't, then he's (bleep) fired.
- Hey everyone.
As soon as this thing rolled into the office,
I knew I had to go for a long drive.
I don't think there's anyone who sees this thing and goes,
nah, I'll pass.
It's just so freaking weird looking.
It has one wheel in the back.
It looks like an alien fighter ship from Independence Day.
It's kind of funny, but I've been wanting to drive
the Slingshot since its debut in 2014.
- That's a lie.
- There's no way that with looks like that,
it wasn't going to be a blast to drive.
And I was right, sort of.
But I'll get to that later.
It's the Polaris Slingshot.
It's powered by a 2.4 liter GM Ecotec engine,
making 173 horsepower.
Woo, I will say at lower RPMs,
not the greatest engine I've ever heard,
but take it down into a lower gear,
sounds pretty good.
Polaris sent us the SLR model,
which comes with a Sparco steering wheel,
a Sparco shifter, Sparco pedals, and a wider rear tire
as well as forged wheels and this,
I think GPS system isn't standard,
I'm not sure, it might be.
The price tag for that is $8000 over the base at $28,000.
That is not a small amount of money, alright,
especially considering you get no AC,
no heated seats, and barely any mirrors.
But you get the same amount of attention as you would
if you were in a Lamborghini or a Ferrari
or something like that
for a fraction of the cost.
- [Woman] That looks fun.
- It is fun, thank you.
The seating position is very good.
Steering wheel's right here, perfect visibility,
it's not getting in your way.
You don't really need to look at the tachometer.
You kinda hear everything that's going on in front of you.
And the shifter feels really good.
It's a five speed.
Overall, the ergonomics are really good.
Suspension wise, there's double wishbones up front
like the Integra or something,
and out back, it's like your standard motorcycle
swingarm suspension.
Pretty cool.
Now this thing technically is a motorcycle,
which means you need a helmet
in order to operate it.
There's like four states at least
where it is mandatory to wear them.
I think it's like Montana and some other states like that.
You know what I'm talking about.
Just driving around town,
that's what this car was made for, really.
There's really no better environment
than this street right here, Ocean Avenue, man.
You're just cruising.
People giving me the thumbs up.
Forget about the fact that you live with four other guys
and you don't have a couch in your living room
and you still don't have a washing machine.
Makes you forget all your worries.
If you are a single man or woman,
I definitely advise against driving this car by yourself
because you will realize how lonely you are.
Now with the aggressive styling
and driver-oriented seating position,
you might expect this car to be awesome in the canyons.
But you'd be wrong, very wrong.
See, the double wishbones up front,
they do a decent job.
But the back, since it has that motorcycle style
rear swingarm, it can't deal with weight changes
like normal suspension.
So when you go around a turn pretty aggressively,
there's just no confidence in the back end.
And to make matters worse,
I just don't think the tires are good enough,
so you got understeer at the front
while you have oversteer and wishy washy feely in the back
and together, there's just no confidence
when you're really pushing the car in the canyons.
And that's a pretty big disappointment, honestly.
But don't take my word for it.
This is Sarah.
She's been racing for 11 years
and is a much, much better driver than I am.
Sarah, what do you think of the Slingshot's handling?
- Not great.
- I thought this car was gonna be all about
going out on the weekends, thrashing hard,
but it's just not that, it's not.
If you're shopping this car against something like a Miata
or a BRZ, a lightweight, momentum car,
this is not the car for you.
I think that's because it's not really a car at all.
You gotta remember this is a toy.
It does not have all the bells and whistles of a car.
But honestly, I think I'm being a little
too harsh on this thing.
I think I put too many expectations on it.
Since its debut, I've been wanting to drive this thing,
and I've just built it up and up and up.
It's like when you finally go on a date with someone
you've been chasing for a long time
and they're just rude to the wait staff.
They're a horrible person.
But before you went on that date,
you imagined your entire life together.
That's what this car feels like right now.
But I'm determined to find something I like about this car.
Luckily, it's not that hard.
With no roof or doors, it's so much more open
than anything I've driven.
And you can look directly down at the road,
which is really neat.
The Slingshot also has speakers, which is hilarious.
I'm sure I looked super awesome listening to Fleetwood Mac
in my brand new Klingon bird of prey.
♪ Listen to the wind blow ♪
- What, too nerdy?
I'll say what I want.
This is my show now.
- No, it isn't.
- Oh.
Right.
- Did you just wink at the camera?
- No.
- Yes you did.
I (bleep) saw you.
You're still, why are you still winking?
That's not even why you wink.
- Sorry.
- Just finish, it's getting dark.
- I think I saw the perfect customer for this car
a few days ago.
I was at a stop light, and I saw a dude
who was driving like a Lexus crossover.
He had real Ray-Ban aviator glasses on,
hair was slicked back, and he was wearing
a button up bowling shirt.
That's the ideal customer.
The days of thrashing the canyons
and hitting the Autocross and just being a hooligan,
those are behind him.
But he wants to recapture that feeling,
this is the car for him, absolutely.
What the people at Polaris have done really
is build a muscle car but not in the traditional sense.
It's a wide open experience that lets you see the road
in a totally different way than you would in any other car
or convertible.
Trust me, I've driven the Miata.
I know what I'm talking about.
Oh, did I mention it does really big burnouts too?
The Slingshot is a novelty, sure,
but one that makes something as mundane
as a trip to In N Out a really good time.
Thank you guys for watching The New Car Show.
If you haven't yet, please hit that yellow subscribe button
right there and hit the notification bell as well
so you never miss an episode.
Leave me a bunch of positive comments
so James doesn't fire me from the show.
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Be nice, see you next time.