Got to wondering if there’s ever been any 3-wheeled cars sold in the USA? I don’t recall ever seeing one. If you purchased a 3-wheeler made elsewhere, would you be allowed to register it for use in the USA?
3 wheel vehicles are motorcycles, not cars.
And yes, lots of 3 wheel vehicles have been sold over the years.
The Corbin Sparrow
That makes sense to treat them the same a motorcycles. I presume that means the driver of a 3-wheeler must possess a motorcycle drivers license if the state requires that for driving motorcycles. It seems like a 3 wheeler would be prone to tipping over. If that happens I suppose the driver just gets out tips it back onto all 3 wheels.
The licensing requirement isn’t key to the 3 wheel “car.” A 3 wheel car does not need crash testing, airbags, seatbelts and a ton of other safety items required of automobiles, only those required of motorcycles.
That is why the Corbin Sparrow, the Elio, the Aptera and others were created as gas-sipping alternatives to the trucks and SUVs. The Sparrow at least got built.
The very first gasoline powered car built by Karl Benz was a 3 wheeler. Many 3 wheel cars were built through the first few decades of car production… and then resurrected after the war. The Isetta was first built as a 3 wheeler and later made a 4 wheeler.
The Reliant Robin, irrespective of its success, is a very poor design. The single front wheel and 2 back wheels is fundamentally unstable. Braking and turning will dump it on its side. Two front and single rear is the correct way to do a 3 wheeler.
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In another thread it said that no one would buy a new car without modern safety features and air conditioning. They have been selling these new vehicles with a wheel missing for years.
No airbags, no A/C.
And for a TON of money! $22K to almost $40K. I’d rather have a Miata.
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The Morgan Super3 and the Polaris Slingshot fall under a different category as Autocycles, in most states you don’t need a motorcycle licence to drive one and can legally drive one on the street. Morgan will also bring back the Plus4 but for now the super3 is the only US offering. Haven’t seen a price but it’s more of a novelty or track car.
A guy I know put down a deposit for a 3-wheel gasoline-powered Elio years ago
I believe he got his money back and bought a sensible car . . . Some kind of Scion, I believe
My brother has a young-ish relative (by marriage) who bought one of those vehicles for commuting long-distance, via expressways, to work. Just before he took delivery, he was bragging to my brother about how much money he would save on gas, and my brother asked him…
What are you going to do when winter comes, and on days when it’s rainy?
At that point, the relative admitted that he had never considered weather conditions before he bought it. Whoops!
It is his nice weather vehicle, and he only uses it in Spring and Summer, on dry days.
That reality is just one of the many factors that led to the demise of the Davis Divan, a post WW II three-wheeler. Over the space of 2 years, they produced only a handful of cars.
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Here are several, including the two mentioned above; three if you include the vaporware Elio. Some of the others might not be currently available either, like the Evergreen and Santarosa.