At first glance, the Slingshot looks for all the world like an exotic car. It has an open cockpit, and angular polymer body panels that define a low, wedge-shaped profile. The bodywork hangs on a tubular steel frame, dressing the vehicle without attempting to conceal its skeleton. It’s got three headlights, a lower air splitter, and two big exposed car-like 17″ x 7″ wheels (18″ x 7.5″ on the SL model) connected to the power-assisted rack and pinion steering with double wishbone suspension, coil over springs and a sway bar — very performance car-like.

The 2015 Polaris Slingshot is not a car. It is a three-wheeled motorcycle.

This distinction is very important to Polaris, and it’s very important to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Because if the Slingshot was a car, it would not exist. It would never be street legal. If it was a car, it would have to be loaded down with airbags, bumpers, crash protection, a collapsing steering column and other car safety equipment. It would have to be crash tested. It would never have made it past the development stages at Polaris, because the costs would have been astronomical.

The Slingshot has none of those things.

The Slingshot is a motorcycle, and requires a motorcycle operator’s license or endorsement in order to be ridden on public streets. Drivers — I mean riders — and passengers will have to conform to motorcycle helmet laws. The Slingshot will be eligible to be licensed and insured as a motorcycle in all 50 states, and presumably will be entitled to the same privileges (what few there are) that are accorded to other motorcycles, like access to carpool and HOV lanes, reduced tolls and motorcycle parking.

Back to your eyes. They still tell you that you’re looking at a car.

The Slingshot seats two riders side-by-side in its weather-proof open air cockpit. Riders sit in adjustable seats that look more like car seats than saddles, complete with a pair of three-point safety belts. The pilot sits on the left, and uses automobile-style hand and foot controls to drive/ride the vehicle. There’s a tilting steering wheel, three foot pedals (clutch/brake/throttle) and a manual gear selector/stick shifter on the center console. There’s a locking glove compartment, and two locking storage compartments (one behind each seat).

Still looks like a car. Ignore the signals from those lying eyes.

Under the front-hinged hood, a car-derived powertrain holds court. It’s a GM Ecotec 2.4-liter inline four-cylinder gasoline engine with liquid-cooling, dual overhead cams and variable valve timing, tuned to produce 173 hp and 166 lb-ft of torque. The engine is hooked up to a conventional five-speed manual transmission with a reverse gear. The Slingshot can carry 9.77 gallons of gas in its tank, and it prefers 91-octane Premium.

Enough talk. What’s it like to drive/ride the thing, you must be asking by now.

It’s a hoot. I don’t care much whether the Slingshot is a car or a motorcycle, to be honest with you. It’s light (about 1,725 – 1,743 lbs, depending on equipment), it’s very low to the ground (5.0″ of clearance and a seat height of about 11″) and it feels incredibly fast. I don’t know what the 0-60 figures are — I’d have to guess that it takes about 5.0 seconds to get up to speed — but the sense of speed is amplified by the proximity to the pavement. You could easily reach out of the Slingshot and drag your knuckles along the ground if you wanted to (why would you? I don’t know, but you could).