A second hand review on the smallest scooter(technically) available in the market. TVS has tried to put a scooter into every girls hand, same like hero has been doing with hero honda splendour.
I will categorize and review it. I will proceed as follows, starting with specification, looks, mileage, performance & handling, comfort and ending with conclusion which is from my point of view.
Specification:-
It is 87.8cc, 4-stroke, single cylinder, forced air cooled engine dishing out barely 5bhp @ 6500 rpm with 5.8nm torque @ 5500 rpm. Well the package is completely small but it feels enough for a small person who is 55kg and nothing more than that.
Weighing in at 98kg it is a very light scooter and can be moved across very easily with someone who has very little strength. The fuel tank capacity is barely around 4L. The front side uses telescopic fork. The rear side is single shocker. Both the wheels are 10 inch steel wheels with tubed tyres which bolts on to the drive unit at three points.
The seat is very wide. The console is very basic with speedometer, odometer, fuel gauge, indicator lights and the high beam indicator. There is also a phone charger socket in the front glove box which should only be used while the engine is running.
Looks:-
The vehicle looks very small with each part of the vehicle given small foot print so as to keep the weight and maybe other factors down.
The front head light looks good as there is a black highlight to the borders. The front turn indicator reminds me of the old Honda Dio. The back taillight is huge integrating all the units which includes the rear indicator into one piece.
Petrol tank opening is at the back side of the vehicle, there is no need to open or lift up the seat for refueling as with many other automatic scooters. The under seat cabin is removable after lifting the seat. Their is a front glove box where you can store small things. Overall the complete vehicle looks good n small maybe cute.
Mileage:-
The vehicle don’t return great mileage but still I feel it returns somewhat reasonable 47 to 48km/L. When comparing the cubic capacity to other automatics around one expects more mileage from this vehicle.
In order to get better mileage I feel the speed of this vehicle should be kept below 40km/hr and also aggressive throttling should be avoided and that never happens in bangalore coz of too much traffic and the minimum speed that is required in our traffic. I fill petrol for 200rs when the price of petrol is around 68rs and aim for a 200km range until the fuel gauge reaches E I usually get around 190 to 195km. This figure can vary for different vehicles.
Performance & Handling:-
I feel one can expect nothing big from a 87.8cc gear less scooter but still the vehicle is a good performer. The initial torque is very good infact it is very fast from 0 to 15km/hr and then looses the power, it remains that way how aggressive you open the throttle it does not matter until the speedometer crosses the 40km/hr mark, then it is a different story.
It pulls very fast from 40km/hr to the top speed of 70km/hr in the vehicle speedo and believe me it is fast for such a small scooter.
The handling is not great due to clearance issue and the soft front suspension. One should be careful when you lean the vehicle too much to the left, it can easily scrape the rare stand. With a person of my weight(73kg) one can easily bottom out the front shock absorber so you can imagine how it will be with a pillion.
Then comes the ground clearance issue, since everything is small the ground clearance is also very less. If you go over sharp humps you will definitely hit the underside of the vehicle. Inside city traffic it is very much ride-able. That’s it.
Comfort:-
The scooter is very much comfortable except for long runs. You don’t need to play around with clutch n gears as it is gear-less and its very much practical and ride-able. It also comes with a auto chock so cold morning starts etc are avoided as it just starts with a single press of the starter.
Small undulations and humps are very nicely absorbed by the shocks as the shocks are very soft but if you happen to fall into something which is greater than 4 inches at around 40km/hr mark you will get the feedback direct to your bones as the front shock bottoms out easily with someone around 73kgs on-board.
When spending too much time on-board also there happens to be a small posture problem. The vehicle dips to the front with my weight and it rides like that so the seats are a bit slanted to the front when sat on, so it turns little difficult in long rides inside city as when you apply brakes the vehicle still dips forward owing to its telescopic setup.
Conclusion:-
This vehicle is a good package when considering someone with a low budget. As it is having everything from a under seat storage to a small glove box with phone charger in it. Tough small in every dimension its pretty cheap to own and maintain. After keeping this vehicle for sometime and also using my friends TVS victor, now I can clearly understand why Tamilnadu is very famous for TVS. They never make nonsense bikes or scooter, for them functionality is of utmost importance.