New! TriFun's For Sale
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Our Trifun!

Check out our Updates and "Mods" section for the latest news!

Jan, 2010 We now have over 25,000 miles on our TriFun!

Our TriFun at Bike Week in Daytona Beach 2009!

Notice the BIGGER rear wheels and tires!

Need Insurance? Michael at Fernet Insurance knows more about our TriFuns than anyone.
www.fernet.com
1-800-391-8144

June 2008

I've been a fan of small vehicles since my first Fiat 850 in the 1970's. I have been looking for a small vehicle with great gas mileage for the past few years. With the latest round of gas price increases, I had increased my search for the perfect vehicle to beat the high cost of driving. Me with an early Trifun Truck

Many of the small vehicles either cost too much or seemed to be too cheaply designed and built.

Then, a few months ago I ran across the Trifun.com website. It looked like they could be on to something. Good looks, sufficient power, great mileage, very low price and a fun sounding name. The www.TriFun.com website said the Vehicle would go over 70MPH and get over 42MPG and cost $9,995. It seemed worth a look..(Note, the 42 MPG is city. At highway speeds the mileage is lower. It actually seems to get the best mileage around town where it will be driven most.)

Driving 3 hours to see one with my ever patient wife seemed like a small task compared to the years of searching for the right vehicle. Note: My wife was dead set against me buying anything unsafe (read motorcycle-like)

We found the location just outside of Fort Lauderdale, Fl with a bright red Trifun Vehicle parked in the parking lot.

Walking up the Vehicle my first impression was Wow, this is a lot BIGGER than I expected. After looking at the Smart car, Pulse car many years ago, Zap and a few others, I was surprised at the size of the Trifun. It looked almost as big as the small pickup trucks on the road.

The doors were unlocked so I jumped in. Another Wow. I was sitting higher than a regular car and the door closed with a solid "thunk". My wife even climbed in (a good sign).

Soon we were joined by Troy and Tighe Estes, the people behind the design of the Trifun. After discussing the features for a few minutes they offered a ride. First me, then my wife would be taken on a short ride. Since this was their prototype and production vehicles would be several months away, I could understand why they wanted to drive.

I quickly hopped in the passenger side while Troy started the engine and released the parking brake. We were off down the side streets while Troy described the factory, history and even more features. I was amazed at the smoothness of the ride and relative quiet of the interior. It's not as quiet as a Cadillac but for a price of under $10,000 it was quieter than I expected.

Around a few more corners and Troy pulled into a parking lot and offered to let me give it a try. He said I looked like a good driver and if I was careful with his prototype I could drive for a while.

Click for larger view

Not having driven a manual transmission car in years, I luckily got it in first gear and took off smoothly. I'm sure I was grinning like a kid the whole time he let me drive the few blocks back to the dealership. The vehicle drives very much like a small car. The single wheel in front does not have power steering but the only time it was noticeable was in the parking lot.

Back at the dealership Troy said I was one of the safest people he had ridden with in a long time. I guess that was why he trusted me to take my wife for a ride (or could it be he's a great salesman?)

With my wife in the passenger seat, we were off down the road. This time we ventured on to the main road with a 50 mph speed limit. We had no trouble at all keeping up with traffic and received lots of stares and waves from curious drivers.

Heading back to the dealership my wife completely changed her position on small, motorcycle-like vehicles and told me it was fine with her if we bought one. To top that, she also announced she would be taking the required motorcycle class to be able to drive it herself. (Florida law requires the class before you can drive any vehicle licensed as a motorcycle.)

Back at the dealership we were all smiles as we wrote out the check for the deposit on our Bright Yellow Trifun Vehicle.

Jim and Theresa

Click the "play" button below, if you have high speed internet, to see the video. Note: you can double click the video or right click it and select full screen

tighe