The Street Legal Guidebook

With fuel prices climbing faster than a monkey on Red Bull, the Strip thinks it might be time for SUV-lovin’ Kansas Citians to consider alternative methods of transportation. There’s just one problem: figuring out what’s street legal means navigating a maze of state and city laws. The fine for operating an unauthorized motor vehicle in Overland Park is 70 smackers. In Kansas City, it’s $38.50, as determined by Ordinance 70-75, which, among other things, stipulates that “No person upon roller skates or riding in or by means of any coaster, sled, toy vehicle, or similar device shall go upon any roadway.”

Mode: 2005 Nissan Xterra SE 4WD
Price: $27,050 (Kelley Blue Book value)
Perception: über-athlete, Johnson County soccer mom
Top Speed: more than 100 mph
Street legal: yes
Fuel efficiency: 16 mpg in city, 21 mpg on highway
Disclaimer: According to the Blue Book, “The Xterra truly is ideally suited for that active adventurer lifestyle highlighted so exhaustively in Xterra commercials over the past six years. But even if you get queasy just pulling off a bandage, the new Xterra doesn’t require many compromises compared to more vanilla SUVs.”

Mode: 2005 Yamaha 660R Raptor
Price: $6,200 at Reno’s Yamaha Aprilia at 136th Street and Holmes

Perception: You might be a redneck if …

Top Speed: 78 mph
Street Legal: no
Fuel Efficiency: 37 mpg
Disclaimer: Brian Malicoat, who provided these stats to us back in 2004, once rigged brake lights, mirrors, a horn and slick tires to his vehicle and claims that police pulled him over 12 times before officials at the Missouri Department of Motor Vehicles realized that the vehicle had been inspected as a motorcycle rather than as an automobile, as required by state statutes — and he was finally ticketed.

Mode: 2004 Rail Buggy
Price: $9,000 at www.dunebuggy.com
Perception: pimp, just like Grand Theft Auto
Top Speed: 75 mph
Street Legal: yes, if modified with lights, blinkers, a seatbelt, etc., to pass inspection as a car
Fuel Efficiency: about 25 mpg

Disclaimer: The vehicle has a Nissan Pathfinder chassis and a Volkswagen engine. Stan Sales Jr., who owns one, says he’s never had trouble with the law. But he’s a police officer. Sales won’t tell us which department he works for, but he lives in Liberty. “I drive it three times a week,” he says. “I take it on errands. I take it to the lake.”

Mode: Cagllari Daytona Pocket Bike
Price: $179 at www.minipocketrockets.com

Perception: none — other drivers can’t see you, dumbass
Top Speed: 40 mph
Street Legal: no
Fuel Efficiency: 60 mpg, but limited by a .25-gallon tank
Disclaimer: Look, kids! Someone made a toy that encourages you to play in the street! In the metro, at least two people have died on the vehicle this year.

Mode: Segway i180
Price: $4,995 at the Segway Experience Store on the Plaza
Perception: Dilbert
Top Speed: 12.5 mph
Street Legal: no
Fuel Efficiency: 15-25 miles per seven-hour charge.
Disclaimer: The i180’s 260-pound weight limit has been increased by as much as 40 pounds from earlier models. That’s good news for heavyset people, who finally have a viable alternative to walking. Considered a motorized vehicle by officers on both sides of the state line, these technically should be barred from sidewalks, too.

Mode: Tomos Sprint Moped
Price: $1,095 at Subsonic Scooters in Lawrence
Perception: indie rocker
Top Speed: 30 mph
Street Legal: yes
Fuel Efficiency: 80-120 mpg
Disclaimer: Riders under 18 are required to wear a helmet in both states. Moped riders must be licensed and insured in Missouri. In Kansas, mopeds fall under the “motorized bicycle” category, meaning they can be ridden while uninsured by kids as young as 14.

Mode: John Deere L100 Lawn Tractor
Price: $1,499 at Home Depot in midtown
Perception: a Darwin Award waiting to happen
Top Speed: 1.5-5 mph forward, 2.3 mph in reverse
Street Legal: no
Fuel Efficiency: “We don’t really have a spec available for that,” says Greg, a service rep at the John Deere Customer Contact Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. “We design them for a short amount of use per week. We don’t design them for long-term travel.” (The vehicle is built to handle about one and a half acres.)
Disclaimer: “There have been people who have gotten DUIs while riding a lawn tractor,” says Officer Johnson. He adds that most have prior arrests for driving while intoxicated and are trying to skirt the law.