Accompanying image for Polarizing: Does the Vanderhall Venice do 3-wheeling better?

 

Polarizing: Does the Vanderhall Venice do 3-wheeling better?

More expensive, sure. But is it more fun than the Polaris Slingshot?

Opinion
 
MrEvil - Sep 14, 2017

 

 

First off, I'm going to be straight here.  I am writing this post having never sat behind the wheel of either a Vanderhall Venice or Polaris Slingshot.  You are free to take this with a heaping portion of salt.  Neither vehicle is out of my price range, but I don't quite have the budget for an open air recreational vehicle yet.  That being said, as someone who could hypothetically afford either of these vehicles let me tell you about both of these.

Polaris introduced their Slingshot three wheeler back in 2014 for the 2015 model year.  It has a 2.4L GM Ecotec 4 cylinder engine mated to a five speed manual transmission which drives the single rear wheel.  Many states had to update their vehicle laws as they did not cover a three-wheeler that you sit in like a car.  Texas, was one such state that had to update vehicle registration laws to cover these "Autocycles".  They are registered like a motorcycle but do not require an M endorsement on your driver license to operate.

Vanderhall Motor Works, a Utah based manufacturer, makes their own upscale 3 wheelers to compete with the likes of the Morgan 3 wheeler or Campagna T-Rex.  Their Venice model is powered by a 1.4L turbocharged GM 4 cylinder mated to a six speed automatic transmission driving the front wheels.

Now first off, why am I comparing the two?  Well, the Slingshot's top model starts at 30,995 and the Venice starts at 29,950.  Both are 3 wheeled "autocycles" with GM 4 cylinder engines under the hood.  Which brings us to the tag line of this article.  The Venice is a more expensive and less fun competitor to the Slingshot.  The wrong wheels are driving the thing and it lacks that third pedal.  Apart from the wind in your face it likely has all the driving dynamics of the Chevy Sonic they got the powertrain from.  Even the president of Vanderhall, Steve Hall, stated that they couldn't make Rear wheel drive stable enough.  However, Polaris seems to be doing just fine getting the Slingshot's big back wheel to behave itself.  

I mean for my $31k I feel I'd have a better time with the Slingshot, which has quite a few nice additions for your money, like in-dash navigation.  The seats are a little wider on the Slingshot, something a yuuuuge individual such as myself kinda needs.  The only thing that might make me consider the Vanderhall over the Slingshot was if it used a Ford Ecoboost rather than a GM engine.  (Seriously, Polaris, put a 1.6L Ecoboost with three pedals in the Slingshot and I'm a day one buyer.).

 
 

 

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