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I assume that 3 wheel cars have a bad stigma attached to them dating back to the Reliant Robin- at least the single-wheel-in-front variety. Since most of these

I assume that 3 wheel cars have a bad stigma attached to them dating back to the Reliant Robin- at least the single-wheel-in-front variety. Since most of these cars have low top speeds, they also face a usefulness problem. Parking is too expensive in dense cities for super cheap cars to have a large market, and they are too slow to be useful in suburbs or the countryside.

dwaltrip 6y ago
I'm not following the cost of parking comment. What does that have to do with the cost of cars?
- zdragnar 6y ago
  If you can afford parking in some cities, you probably aren't buying a cheap car. If you are, you probably are commuting or at some point driving enough to where you need to be able to get up to highway speeds, and are better off buying used. There is a market here for cheap city driving only cars, but it isn't terribly big, hence the trouble breaking into the US.
- dagw 6y ago
  For me at least, parking for 8 hours near my office (back when that was a thing) would cost more than taking the bus to work and back, meaning that from a commute point of view a car would never make financial sense no matter how cheap. If parking was free then a really cheap car for commuting might make sense, financially.
ansible 6y ago
> ... Reliant Robin- at least the single-wheel-in-front variety. To be clear, this is because the single-wheel in front vehicles will roll over if turned sharply or at too high a speed. The single-wheel in back designs are much more dynamically stable.
- zdragnar 6y ago
  True. There is a picture of a wheel in front version in the article, which is what made me think of it. I do have an irrational desire to take a Polaris Slingshot for a drive, though.
  - ansible 6y ago
    The various three-wheelers available in the NA market are kinda cool, but don't particularly appeal to me. Except for the Piaggio MP3 and similar that allow the rider to lean into turns.

dwaltrip 6y ago

I'm not following the cost of parking comment. What does that have to do with the cost of cars?

zdragnar 6y ago
If you can afford parking in some cities, you probably aren't buying a cheap car. If you are, you probably are commuting or at some point driving enough to where you need to be able to get up to highway speeds, and are better off buying used. There is a market here for cheap city driving only cars, but it isn't terribly big, hence the trouble breaking into the US.
dagw 6y ago
For me at least, parking for 8 hours near my office (back when that was a thing) would cost more than taking the bus to work and back, meaning that from a commute point of view a car would never make financial sense no matter how cheap. If parking was free then a really cheap car for commuting might make sense, financially.

ansible 6y ago

> ... Reliant Robin- at least the single-wheel-in-front variety. To be clear, this is because the single-wheel in front vehicles will roll over if turned sharply or at too high a speed. The single-wheel in back designs are much more dynamically stable.

zdragnar 6y ago
True. There is a picture of a wheel in front version in the article, which is what made me think of it. I do have an irrational desire to take a Polaris Slingshot for a drive, though.
- ansible 6y ago
  The various three-wheelers available in the NA market are kinda cool, but don't particularly appeal to me. Except for the Piaggio MP3 and similar that allow the rider to lean into turns.