Crazy Car Alternatives

If traffic in your area is rampant, or the trip short, or you just want to stand out, a car might not be the best way to get around.

You might be better suited with one of our quirky car alternatives. Many of them blend the characteristics of cars and motorcycles and have just enough presence and practicality to make them more useful than a scooter.

Most of these unique rides are made by European manufacturers and designed for the European market, where such tiny vehicles run a smaller risk of being crushed by SUVs. They are all small, nimble, and stylistically outrageous. Any of them would flourish in an urban environment, and most would come in handy for a quick trip to the store, even in the suburbs.

Sbarro Pendolauto

From the Swiss auto and motorcycle customization shop Sbarro (no relation to the pizza chain) comes the Pendolauto, which leans like a motorcycle but has four wheels for stability. We’d love to give you the specs, but information on the Pendolauto is slim and not in English. When asked for press information, company founder Frank Sbarro just laughed.

Pros: The Sbarro Pendolauto looks fast, so we’re going to say it is fast. The variable-tilt wheels provide extra-precise turning abilities, and the top-shelf design is a big plus.

Cons: The high design comes with a price. The Pendolauto has no windshield, so debris could hit you in the face. Furthermore, there's no roof, so weather may be a factor. The Pendolauto's nose looks like it was borrowed from an anteater.

Lumeneo Smera

Paris-based design and engineering start-up Lumeneo is responsible for the all-electric Smera. The vehicle motors on twin 20-horsepower engines that suck energy from lithium-ion batteries. Like the Pendolauto, the Smera is a four-wheeler that can lean into turns. The electric batteries give the Smera a range of 90 miles. It can hit 60 mph in eight seconds.

Pros: The Lumeneo Smera's luxurious cabin means you’ll battle the daily commute in complete comfort. It can be recharged at a standard electrical outlet, so you can kiss gas stations goodbye. And it actually has a decent amount of storage space.

Cons: The Smera's design leaves something to be desired, and it doesn't have as much power as other models.

Peraves MonoTracer

The $75,000 MonoTracer is more motorcycle than car. But appearances can be deceiving, because it has more than two wheels. The MonoTracer can lean up to 50 degrees into turns thanks to mini-wheels that pop out for support and then retract when no longer needed. A 1.1-liter engine gets the MonoTracer to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds and helps it top out at 155 mph.

Pros: The most road-tested and likely the fastest vehicle of the bunch, the Peraves MonoTracer would be perfect for carving up back roads. A high degree of maneuverability is a plus for slicing through traffic.

Cons: The MonoTracer's interior is not particularly luxurious.

Can-Am Spyder Roadster

The Can-Am Spyder Roadster is the tough trike of the bunch, looking like an all-terrain vehicle with a hind-end mutation — it is Y-shaped, with two wheels forward, and one in back. It features a central data system controlling vehicle stability software, power steering, fuel injection, and security. The 700-pound Spyder Roadster moves along smartly, thanks to 106 horsepower produced by a two-cylinder liquid-cooled engine, giving it a zero-to-60 mph time of 4.5 seconds and a max speed of 110 mph.

Pros: The Can-Am Spyder Roadster is the toughest of any vehicle here, with capabilities borrowed from motorcycles and snowmobiles. The three-wheel set-up means the Spyder Roadster will be stable but also maneuverable.

Cons: The Can-Am doesn't corner as well as some of the other more upright vehicles, and its styling isn't quite as futuristic.

Kyburz Classic

Another slim four-wheeler from a Swiss designer, the Kyburz Classic runs solely on electricity. Kyburz has been in the scooter business for 10 years, and the Classic is its partially enclosed-four door. It comes in 6 mph, 12 mph, and 18 mph versions and is meant primarily to help the elderly gain mobility with a dash of style. Designed for around-town travel, its maximum range is 40 miles.

Pros: The Kyburz Classic is electric, so it runs cleanly. With four wheels, stability is not a problem. Its thick-spoked wheels remind us of BMX bike mag wheels from the 1980s.

Cons: The Classic is designed primarily to help the elderly get around, so it's not particularly fast or sharp-handling.