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Commuter Dude: Test driving the Slingshot

If you're looking for something that will draw a few curious stares while on the road, perhaps an autocycle is the way to go.

ATLANTA – If you’re looking for something that will draw a few curious stares while on the road, perhaps an autocycle is the way to go.

When the folks at Polaris 11Alive Commuter Dude Jerry Carnes if he would like to test drive a three-wheeled Slingshot, he jumped at the chance.

“It'll go 140 miles-per-hour,” says Kyle Goede of Polaris. It'll go as fast as a car.”

But it's not a car. It's not a motorcycle. It's a little bit of both. It’s an autocycle.

“It's kind of for those thrill seekers, people who want to drive something different,” says Goede.

The Polaris Slingshot puts you closer to the street than any motorcycle. There's no fixed roof. no doors, no airbags. Your helmet is your roof.

It has the pedals and gear shift of a sports car.

“It will have that convertible feel because you've got the open cockpit, but it handles like a Porsche would on the corners,” says Goede. “That's how this thing really excels.”

Then came Commuter Dude’s turn to drive. Despite the unique design of two wheels in the front and one in the back, there was no feeling of imbalance. The experience is more like driving an open-air sports car than a motorcycle.

You can't help but notice you're much lower than the vehicles around you...

“You've got the sun in your eyes and you're part of the wind almost,” says Commuter Dude. "I have no idea, but it feels like maybe what it's like to fly a jet plane, except real low to the ground.”

At $20,000 or more, it's not for everyone. If you like that open cockpit feel and more than a few stares from your fellow commuters, maybe autocycle is the way to go.

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