There is a way out.
Of half a dozen (or more) air bags and seat belt buzzers and back-up cameras and narc-you-out black boxes and automatic braking (soon to be a mandatory “feature” on all new cars).
Just don’t buy a car.
Buy a “motorcycle” that just happens to be a car… or close enough to be serviceable as one.
Like the Polaris Slingshot, for instance.
Technically – legally – it is a motorcycle. But it seats two, side-by-side. You do not ride it, as you would a bike.
You drive it.
Just like a car.
But without all the “safety” folderol – and weight and cost – that every new car comes with, like it or not. Which means the Polaris Slingshot is extremely quick (zero to 60 in under 5 seconds) and extremely fuel efficient (nearly 40 MPG) which is a function of the fact that it weighs just over 1,600 pounds… which is a function of that fact that motorcycles do not have to meet Uncle’s many mandates that apply to cars.
The Slingshot does not have to pass the ridiculous crash tests that have resulted in subcompact cars that weigh 1,000 pounds more than the subcompacts of the past – and, for this reason, don’t match the gas mileage delivered by the subcompacts of the past, despite the new stuff having all the advantages of modern technology.
Now, the Slingshot is technically a motorcycle. To maintain that pose, it’s got three wheels rather than four – and it hasn’t got a roof (or doors) though a windshield is available as an option.
This is how it slips through the cracks, Uncle-wise.
It is sold as a motorcycle – and registered as one. But you could absolutely use it as a car.
Especially if you were to add a targa top and/or similar doors to the thing, for rainy days and such. Think of the Jeep Wrangler. You can remove the doors in minutes and convertible models have just a fabric top that can be peeled off at will when the weather’s nice and snapped back on when it’s not.
But you can’t remove the Wrangler’s multiple airbags, or the backup camera or the rest of the Uncle-mandated gear.
With the Slingshot, you don’t have to worry about all that – because it’s not there in the first place.
