Does anyone out there have a 2020 "R" with a manual shift. What's your opinion. My dealer has one (Miami Blue) in stock and I'm going to look at it tomorrow. I my be able to get a good deal with the 2021's coming out.
I do have one and the same color too. I got mine in August and haven't had any problems with it. I too prefer the manual shift as most of us older guy do that grew up with them.
FWIW: I used the DDM mount the same way as MACAWS showed in a post above on my 2020 model R. I mounted a control head for my Ham radio on the mount and ran the cable through the opening on the bottom of the mount. Of course, I had to cut a small hold where that opening is located in the mount. After I ran the cable through to the engine compartment. I got some black RTV and sealed the opening to keep any water from going through. I have the tall windshield and the DDM mount supports it without any screw. It has a piece of rubber where it meets the windshield and is a tight fit. You can see pics posted where I showed how I did the Amateur Radio installation elsewhere on this site.
It could be in my old man faulty memory. I thought I had 2 ports in my 2015 model but am not sure now. It has been over a year since I had it. I thought one was in the glove box and the other on the dash, but that could be wrong. Sorry if I mislead anyone. When you get old, you will find out that memory fades as the years go by.
The port in the dash works for playing music. On the 2015 model, you couldn't use both at the same time anyhow. However, as I mentioned before, after playing and shutting down, when you start up again, the files on the USB are not at where you left them. They are back at the beginning again, so you can't continue where you left off without scrolling through the files to find the spot where you were before.
Another FYI for 2020 owners: the USB port in the glove box is not for playing music but for charging only as I found out when complaining about it not working to my dealer. That is a step down from the 2015 model I owned that had both USB ports work for playing music.
I don't own an electric car but do own a hybrid and love it. It is a 2018 Honda Civic with all the bells and whistles. I have seen mileage as high as 47 mpg and have no complaints. I like the idea of full electric but feel it is too early to get one yet for the above and other reasons.
This is an attempt to upload a video of my Slingshot. I tried it in the Gallery and it said it was the wrong file extension. If you see it, it worked this time. If you don't, why can't I upload .mp4 files? They are smaller than most.
Now that I hit the UPLOAD button, I see that no video file extensions are listed, yet the Gallery says you can upload video files. That sounds like some of the government crap I used to have to put up with.
Thanks for the tip from the post below. The link is now posted to the Gallery.
FWIW: Here are a couple of observatons.
1. I have the factory Slingshade (roof) and the tallest factory windshield. I noticed that I can now ride with my baseball cap on with it not blowing off. Oh, I do wear it the proper way, not backwards like a lot of people do.
2. As for cleaning my ride, I have found a good cheap cleaner if you are one like me that just uses a rag and spray on cleaner. Look for Simple Green. I get it at Walmart and it is cheap and does a good job, both on the body and windshield.
I did the antenna installation, as shown in my previous post, because I thought it would be the hard part about the whole installation. I was wrong. The rig was designed for installation on a bike with handlebars. The control head was a little difficult to mount because I had to fabricate a piece of plastic pipe and mount it and the control head to the center brace, which I just installed in preparation for the tall windshield that is on back-order. I had made the hole under the brace to run my cable under the dash to the engine compartment. I forgot how big the connectors were on the control head, so I had to enlarge the opening which is a bit harder after the brace is mounted. After the cable and connector was run from the control head on the dash to the engine compartment, I installed the rig (radio for non-Hams) in the engine compartment. It was designed for external mount on a bike, so it can take a lot.
Power for the rig is always important. If you plan on doing it and your skill level is a beginner, I suggest you run your power cable direct to the battery with a fuse inline as close to the battery as possible. I got my power from the fuse box and tapped into the heated seat circuit after the 20 amp fuse and before the relay for the seat circuit. BTW, I do not have the heated and cooled seats. I ran the ground wire to one of the screws that holds down the computer. Because the power is before the relay, it is always there and does not depend on the engine being on, so I have to make sure the rig is turned off when I park and leave for any time. - BTW, I know the control head mount looks a little skewed so I changed it after the pic was taken and it looks much better and is more secure now.
I found a place on the dash for the mike holder and speaker. The rig and speaker are designed for a lot of audio because they were designed for loud bikes and can be heard on the road wearing a helmet. The pics below should give you and idea of how the installation went.
A short lesson on radio waves: The rig I installed operates on the 2 meter band. That means that when I transmit, the radio signal waves are 2 meters long. For an antenna to transmit and receive the signal, the length should be 2 meters long or an even fraction thereof to be efficient. An antenna 2 meters (a little over 6 ft.) long is impractical on a vehicle, so a ½ wave antenna is a little more practical. That’s the antenna shown in my previous post.
Go out and buy yourself a Torx bit set. Torx screws are used throughout the assembly. I had some from a cheap set of bits I used when doing some disassembly and now see how much I need a good set. I have them on order.
I got started today with the antenna. There are very few places to mount it without drilling. I did it atop the roll bar behind the driver's seat. I went to Lowe's and bought 2 Bronze Ground Clamps, 1 1/4 to 2 inch size. They were just a hair too big, so I added some plastic liners around where the clamps grip. This should also help from scratching the roll hoops. I had a piece of metal from my junk drawer (the light color part the antenna base clamps to). I drilled holes to match the screws in the clamps and mounted as shown. The antenna is a one half wave, which is the only thing that will work on a vehicle with no metal ground plane. I ran the coax to the engine compartment where I plan on mounting the rig (pics later when I do it). It is a rig designed for 2 wheeled bikes and is supposed to be water proof. So, below are pics of the antenna install and the rest will come later.
There has to be a few Hams out there. Have any of you installed a rig on your Slingshot? How and where did you mount the antenna? What about power cennections? Place where your rig is mounted?
I know this much: The antenna has to be a 1/2 wave because there is no ground plane, being that the vehicle is fiberglass.
For most of you reading this and are not familiar with Ham radio, you may learn a few things if I can get some other Hams to start a discussion.
WA3UGW
Recent pics of my 2020 model R. I am still waiting on the tall windsheild.
Yes, EJ, I know how the older ones work. I had a 2015 and this is my second Slingshot. That's why I was asking about the strange behavior of the USB. I do not pull it out but it always goes back to the beginning after a shutdown. I hope someone with a 2020 and OEM stereo will confirm or tell me that is not how their's works.
Just another FYI that parts for the 2020s are slow. I got mine in August and finally got the roof and rear fender on last week. I am still waiting on the tall windsheild. It is not supposed to be ready until next month.
Sorry, I can't answer your question since I don't know what an amp trigger wire is. I would like to add a question to this thread because it is about a 2020 R stereo. My 2020 R stereo with the USB plugged in brings up the first on the list of mp3 files I put on it. I can play them a while and then, when I shut down and later start back up, the list is at the beginning again instead of where I stopped when I shut down. Is this just a problem I have or is this the way it works on this stereo?
Also, as a FYI for 2020 model owners with the factory stereo, the USB port in the glove box is not for playing, only charging. Only the USB port under the radio will play your mp3 files.
Congrats! Hope you and the wife enjoy many more. Me and my wife celebrated 51 years in June.
I just completed the first oil change for the 2020 model (300 miles). I watched the video on how to do it, even though I have been changing oil longer than most of you have been around. I found that the hardest part was elevating the vehicle high enough to get under it. I am not a real big guy (200 lbs.), but it was a tight squeeze with the jack at almost the maximum height. I used jack stands to hold it up at 3 points to keep it safe and steady.
I have a metric Allen wrench set, so I had the number 6 size required. It is the first oil plug I have unscrewed that had an Allen socket instead of a bolt head. It seem to take a longer than usual time to drain all the oil. The filter also seem a little different because it had a lot of threads but it unscrewed using a filter wrench to get it loosened.
After getting the underside all buttoned up with a Polaris filter and the vehicle back on the floor, I poured in the 5 quarts as instructed and then ran the engine for a few minutes and checked it after letting it settle. The level was not at the full level as instructed in the video. I had to add another ½ quart to bring it up to the full level. That should do it until I get to 3000 miles.
Recommendations for those that want to do it yourself:
1. Use a pneumatic jack; it should be much easier than the scissors jack I used. Actually, ramps for the front wheels would be better but I found out on my first Slingshot that the front of the vehicle was too low and would not allow the vehicle to drive up the ramps without damaging the front.
2. Buy 6 quarts of oil, in case you need more, like I did. If you don’t use it, you have a quart for when it does go down.
Also, getting the oil takes an extra effort. Stores like Walmart do not carry that weight on the shelves. I had to get mine at an auto parts store. For those that want to use one of those quick change places, remember that you can not drive it the whole way in because of the rear center wheel. Also, they may not have that weight of oil and might not have a filter that matches the Polaris filter yet. Check with them first. For those of you that will have the dealer do it, great for you. For me, a 3 hour drive for an oil change is not worth it.
I was looking at these seats as an option when I was getting ready to buy my R model. Two things made me drop the seats. One was the price. When they quote a price for just one, that shows that they are quite expensive. The second reason is that I probably wouldn't use them that much (as least for that price). I have these kind of seats in my car and only on a very cold day do I start out with the seats heated. Getting in after the car has been sitting in the sun for a while is about the only reason to use the cooled seats. Can you imagine what a load on the electrical system would be if you had two of them and they were both on. You had better have your engine running to keep that 140 amp alternater going or your battery would go dead pretty quick.
Here is a new one that bugs me. The MP3 player starts out the same place every time I start up after a shut down. If I am listening to a bunch of songs and want to continue, it won't stay where it was when I shut down, it starts all over again. Is thiis something new and has anyone else had the same problem? It didn't do this on my 2015 model. Maybe the system doesn't like me using Ubuntu to load my songs on to the USB drive. Anyone else notice this or is it a unique problem for me?
Idle speed? Those of you with the new engine, do you notice what seems like a fast idle? Mine is 1100 rpm. I plan on asking the techs when I take it in to get my options installed, but until then, anyone else notice?
