scooters

Piaggio Vespa LX125 – Review

Vespa, the iconic Italian brand, the heartthrob of millions across the world for decades makes a dashing come back to India sure to rekindle nostalgic memories as well as to create a classic style statement in our roads. Sporting a fresh, new chic look with oodles of sex appeal yet retaining the vintage charm, Vespa’s unique retro shape, classic design is a sure shot head turner. Vespa has evolved with time and spells refinement and excitement over it and has a premium vintage wine feel about it.

Everything about Vespa is a fashion statement be it the round head lamp, the signature chrome grille, cute looking vespa logo splashed at many places, chrome handle bar ends, chrome mud guard garnish (there is enough chrome all over that gives it a very up-market, jazzy feel yet not over done) or even the pillion grab rails or the tail lights that juts out to match with the overall retro styling and craftsmanship. Everything is so well put together like a piece of art making it a class apart from other scooters in the market.

The vespa is compact in size and is made of a monocoque full steel body frame, a signature Vespa feature since 1946. Don’t let the words ‘steel’ make you think of ‘heaviness’ , trust me its extremely light to handle and this can be felt the moment you take it off the stand. The handle bar is well positioned and easy on you while riding and sports a chrome rim to accentuate the style quotient.

The rear follows the retro styling with clear lights and with a dash of chrome again and the signature vespa logo…

Come to the sides, you cannot miss the cute looking Vespa logo. Seems like one will never get bored of seeing this logo that the scooter proudly splashes all over it …

The form factor has a smooth flow all over it even in the step-in areas. Check out out the compact glove box seamlessly integrated and the  black foot board strips on the floor.

The instrument cluster is clear andd white faced with a chrome boundary line. It’s well laid out and sports a speedometer, odometerm fuel guage and a digital clock along with the turn and light indicators.

If I had one complaint about Vespa it is the quality of plastic used in these controls. It just looks odd and pretty cheap.

A neat looking glove compartment that looks fluently insync with the design. Its functional via the ignition lock.

Down the seat where the body flows to the floor is a small compartment that can be screwed open for you to check on the spark plug.

Again you are treated with bright chrome in exhaust can that in itself  looks good and ‘cute’ (Did anyone count how many times, I used the word ‘cute’ ? Well, sorry I can’t stop myself!)

Yet again a dash of chrome and signature logo and a 3 spoke, alloy combination wheels. The nylogrip tyres comes with a tech specification of 90/100-10 53J if you are interested about the numbers

Pop the seat up and you get an under seat storage good enough to fit in your helmet and may be few odd things.  The fuel in-let is also tucked in here.

Engine, tech specfications and ride quality of Vespa LX 125

The hallow storage box can be removed and it exposes the engine and other stuffs…

What lies hidden is a  4 Stroke, 3 Valve, Single Cylinder, Air Cooled 125 cc engine which pounds out a max power of  10.06 PS @ 7500 RPM and max torque of 10.6 Nm@6000 RPM, making it the fastest scooter on Indian roads in this segment. A 8 liter fuel tank means fill it, shut it and forget it coz of the impressive 60 kmpl mileage the company claims which means expect a range of 400 – 450 kms on a realistic mixed riding conditions. Impressive for a scooter!

Thumb the starter button and the Vespa LX 125 settles into a mild idle buzz, wrench the throttle and it surges forward smoothly without any stress. It feels light and easy over negotiating city traffic and it cruises very well on open stretches. The extra power adds a dash of sportiness and peppiness. The riding position and the posture feels very comfortable and never tired you down. Though the compact nature of the scooter offers a compact pillion seat, so I am not sure how many of those heavy-butted ones might complain about it. This machine performs superbly better than most of the modern looking ones out there.

The front and back coil spring and dual effect shock absorber are decent enough to give you a well balanced ride, comparable with most other scooters. After all no scooters can give you a butter smooth ride on our potholed roads.  Vespa LX 125 has a good turning radius with a decent ground clearance with no problems in negotiating the ‘ups and downs’ of our roads.

Colors of Vespa LX 125

Vespa LX 125 is available in 6 colours to suit your style quotient – Nero Volcano (black), Monte Bianco (white), Rosso Dragon (Red), Giallo Lime (Yellow), Midnight blue, Rosso Chianti (brown). The yellow and red are sure to grab the attention instantly and and along with the white makes my pick out of the six colors.

Pricing of Vespa LX 125

Ok there is a price to pay for all good things in life and coming up with a iconic character, history and a classic style Vespa is a premium scooter.  At around Rs 73,000 in Mumbai and Rs. 80,525 on-road  price, Bangalore , its not a scooter for masses but it would definitely find its own league of proud owners who would be flaunting it and make a style statement. Let the colleges re-open, you will be finding lot many youngsters zipping across and not to forget young working professionals.

And my final verdict…

Ultimately it is a premium lifestyle product in scooter segment. ‘It touched my heart‘ and ‘left a mark‘, ‘Eighteen till I die‘ and then its Vespa that never ages.

Suzuki Swish 125 – Review

No doubt that Suzuki Access 125 is a competent scooter in terms of performance but then a combination of factors like bland designing, poor marketing and a lack of overall buzz around it put brakes on the sales figures. Suzuki aims to go for an image makeover for its scooter portfolio with Swish 125 which looks youthful, trendy and more visually appealing.

On first impression:

It has a very desirable, trendy design.

Since it shares the same engine and almost other tech specifications of its elder sibling, Access performance should not be a worrying factor.

When parked next to each other Swish looks like an young, stylish kid in the block and Access a matured, mid aged. It would definitely appeal to the younger generation.

Swish is wrapped with ABS plastic/ fibre body panels which is not just light weight but also adds to the ‘cool’ quotient. And yes, they also would be a cheaper to replace, if need arises. The flowing lines of Swish along with the V-shaped front silhouette oozes youthfulness with a you-can-love-me-at-first-sight appeal.  Multi-reflector light nested in an arched wide design adds a sporty character to the scooter.

The integrated turn indicators on either side of the front panel with a V-shaped groove in the front adds to the trendiness of the scooter.

The rear of the scooter blends well with the body. The wavy stretched tail gate is nested pretty well and wraps around the rear.

A blue-backlit instrument cluster is practical, easy to read and the blue color adds to the bright auro.

The ignition point also unlocks the under-seat storage. It also sports a cap for the key opening.

The under seat storage is decent enough to hold your helmet and odd things. The fuel lid is also nested over here.

Suzuki Swish colours

Swish is available in 5 colours – Triton blue, flint grey, pearl mirage white,pearl mira red, sparkle black.

Engine, Performance of Suzuki Swish

Under the skin of Swish is  a 124 cc, 4 stroke, single cylinder OHC engine plucked from Access 125. So not surprisingly, it delivers 8.5 bhp @ 7,000 rpm and a max torque of 9.8 Nm @ 5,000 rpm very similar again to Access 125. The CVT auto gearbox is also the same shared by the earlier sibling.  Though it shares the same heart of Access 125, thanks to its slightly lower body weight it is very peppy to ride. It handles well on road and sprightly. It gives a decent 40-42 Kmpl.  Seating is pretty good with upright riding position.

The final word

Swish 125 is stylish, trendy and with a dash of youthful auro around it. Add to it a good performance and handling, Suzuki definitely now has a product to march ahead in the scooter segment but then it all depends now how good they would be at marketing the Swish into the customer’s mindset.  Priced at Rs 46,000 to Rs 50,000 (ex-showroom price) depends on whichever city you live, it is worth giving a test drive if you are planning to buy one.