2021 Polaris Slingshot scores much-needed improvements, lower price
The ever-outrageous trike is getting key transmission upgrades, plus a louder stereo and dancing lights. Your neighbors are gonna love you.
The outrageously styled Polaris Slingshot three-wheeler received its first major overhaul for the 2020 model year, gaining a new, in-house-designed Prostar four-cylinder engine and an optional automatic gearbox, plus new infotainment tech. Along with a modest restyling and various other changes that totaled up to a 70% redesigned vehicle, the much-improved trike has helped Polaris realize record Slingshot sales in 2020. During peak top-down motoring season -- May through September -- Polaris says the Slingshot range nearly doubled its sales.
Much of that increase is being credited to the availability of the AutoDrive transmission -- for the first time, you don't have to know how to operate a manual gearbox in order to pilot a Slingshot -- although part of credit likely also has to belong to the coronavirus pandemic, which has triggered hot sales for both power sports equipment and RVs. Those upgrades and that momentum are great news, but that doesn't mean the better-driving autocycle has been without significant nits to pick. Now, the 2021 Polaris Slingshot is here to address those issues and add some new features, too.
AutoDrive transmission improvements
Those shortcomings started with the aforementioned all-new automatic gearbox. While the availability of AutoDrive was a very welcome development, the transmission itself wasn't properly sorted out. Single-plate, dry-clutch units like the one in the Polaris are inherently short on smoothness, as they lack a torque converter or second clutch to enhance gear-change refinement.
The upshot? At the media press drive in January, I found that the pushbutton transmission serially delivered slow, jerky and often ill-timed shifts that marred both casual, around-town motoring and concerted on-track hammering. Bafflingly, Polaris hadn't even included paddles to let drivers manually preempt the transmission's ham-fisted programming. Mercifully, all that should change for 2021. A Polaris rep tells Roadshow that both transmission and engine software has been overhauled, with the biggest improvements said to be found in the trike's low-speed maneuvers.
According to Polaris, for the new model year, AutoDrive has received a "complete retune" that "noticeably improves shifting at low and high speeds in both drive modes." The proof will be in the driving, but that sounds encouraging. Just as encouraging is word that an automatic hill-hold feature has been added, too. The best news, however, may be that paddle shifters come standard on 2021 AutoDrive-equipped R models, and they're optional on other lesser trims.
If you're the owner of a 2020 Slingshot with AutoDrive, you're probably seeing red right about now. Fear not, as Polaris has thoughtfully pledged to make transmission reprogramming, hill hold and paddle-shifters available to existing owners. This is great news all around, and should result in both a smoother and more engaging driving experience for everyone. The new calibration will be free for all 2020 AutoDrive owners, and all MY20 owners can add Hill Hold functionality to their Slingshots for $299. If you own a 2020 AutoDrive or are buying a 2021 S or SL AutoDrive and you want to upgrade to shift paddles, the cost is $399.
New Rockford Fosgate tunes
The Slingshot's improvements don't stop there. A new Rockford Fosgate audio system gains Apple CarPlay connectivity (Standard on R and a new R Limited trim, optional on SL). Polaris says this is an "industry-first for side-by-side three-wheeled vehicles" -- admittedly a very specific market segmentation. Like the transmission updates, 2020 R and Grand Touring Limited Edition owners will also be able to download this new feature to their Slingshots for free, as well. 2020 and 2021 SL customers can score CarPlay by upgrading to a new Navigation 2.0 bundle that includes turn-by-turn navigation and connected services.
In any case, the Slingshot's redesigned audio setup offers the same 100-watt output as before, but it boasts a 3-decibel peak increase through smaller speaker pods, and there are new tweeters built into the dash as well as an expandable plug-and-play amp. This is all welcome news, as it has been hard to enjoy the Sling's previous audio systems at speed -- even without a helmet.
In other audio news, there's an optional new Stage 3 roll hoop audio kit from Rockford Fosgate that can be paired with multicolor LED illumination provided by XKGlow. The latter allows for choreographing pulses of light to match the audio system's music. A novel LED light pod can be mounted in various places of the interior and two different-colored lighting zones can be user-selected via a special mobile phone app.
Lookie! You can now get Apple CarPlay in a side-by-side autocycle. What a world.
Pricing and trim
Finally, there's a new top trim level, R Limited Edition, displacing last year's Grand Touring LE, which is no longer available. Offered with either a six-speed manual gearbox or the AutoDrive transmission, the R Limited Edition is a heavily optioned model featuring unique aesthetic touches including matte-black alloys, asymmetrical Neon Fade paint and blacked-out badges.
The pricing ladder for the 2021 Polaris Slingshot starts with the manual-transmission S. This trim returns for the new model year priced at $19,999 -- $1,000 less than the lowest-priced model you could buy previously. At the other end of the spectrum, pricing tops out at $34,799 for an AutoDrive-equipped R Limited Edition (any applicable delivery and setup charges are determined by your local dealer).
The new models are starting to roll out of Polaris' factory in Huntsville, Alabama, and into showrooms as you read this.
