8th February 2021, 21:29
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| My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Prologue: It was in the year 2016 we in our family started to think of having a scooter for our family quick needs and small rides. Until then we managed to get everything in my priced possesion Hyundai i20 Asta(O) in berry red bought in 2009. The need for a small vehicle is clearly evident as the gap has created lot of dependency on me. Also my wife having the scooter riding experience so thought of getting a first scooter of life into our family so that we both can make use of it (say mostly by wifey). Decision making & Finalizing the scooter : I'm a heavy weight person with 6'2" height so all those scooters seemed inadequate to my personality as I have this experience of hitting my knees to the handle bar when taking turns, in almost all scooters which I rode, which is a bad experience I can say. I almost gave up the thought of riding a scooter myself. It was in Aug'16 I came across a thread in this bestowed forum about the Vespa scooter and it's ride & handling experience, pardon me don't remember the name of OP. So we have decided to visit a piaggio Vespa showroom and give a test ride. Visited Pillai Motors dealer at greams road, Chennai which is the only showroom that time in the city. At the first glance, me and my wife liked the glossy red vespa, asked for the test ride, the dealer immediately arranged the test ride. Completed the short test rides seperately and we both are satisfied with the convenience, ride and handling. Variants available & Consideration:
So went ahead and made the booking for Vespa VXL 150, paid a token advance of 5k while booking and returned home. Between SXL and VXL we choose the VXL which has those traditional round shaped headlights unlike the boxy rectangular shaped headlight and mirrors look on SXL with is too much of chrome blend and we straight away rejected the model. There is also this scooter named Aprilia SR160 which is also sharing the same engine which is in display at showroom. Good looking definitely and price is very less compared to the Vespa counterpart. But thumbs down to that all plasticky body which I believed will age soon. Other Considerations: Frankly, no other scooters are considered for checking as I personally have no better image than Vespa at that time. D-Day: Patience testing period started with wait time not more than a week. Got a call from the dealership saying my scooter is ready for delivery. Booked the cab the next day morning and headed straight to the dealership, completed the formalities including the insurance part, took almost an hour or so. I was guided to my scooter, all shining like a star, got no extra accessories fitting as I have no thoughts about it that moment. So much of talk so far, let us look into the pictures of this iconic Italian glamourous, premium and stylish Vespa in both SXL and VXL versions now.   Vespa SXL styled body.  A customary delivery (key handover) picture at the dealership, no bells & whistles though. As a gesture, I bought sweets and given to the staff there. Attachment 2119873 The very first pic with my lady on wheels and we are all out to a temple for customary puja and then headed to home with temporary registration.  Kid is very ecstatic seering the all red color scooter. Christening Ceremony: After almost 15 days post delivery, got a call from dealership stating we are good to go for registration. In the mean time I kept enquiring about the number series that is running every day as I have decided to go with a number of my liking. Went to RTO Sholinganallur with my scooter and the dealership representative is already available there and looking for me. He has completed all formalities there, got my special number registered and headed back home. Looks: Outstanding presence with premium looks every angle. Speedo console (instrument cluster) - Semi digital (Part digital part analog)
 Total kilometers (till date):  Trip A:  Trip B:  This electronic fuel guage is kind of fudging with me always, shows only half tank full on side stand and 2-3 more points in center stand even though on tank full. Took this issue to SA couple of times but they straight away denied saying tank will be angled on side stand so it won't show reading correctly. I don't know how true is that but I didn't take it. Ride & Handling: The ride is an absolute bliss and fun to ride with. It pulls me like I'm feature weight to it  . Felt this lady is actually more powerful than it actually looks.Superb handling & very agile riding - thanks for the monocoque chassis, first of it's kind in scooter to offer monocoque steel body. Ergonomics: Pretty straight forward ergonomics & well designed for tall riders having a seat height of 770mm. Power Figures: As per the official website: Power: 10.06 bhp @6750 rpm Torque: 10.90 Nm @5000 rpm Figures when I bought it home (at least what I heard at dealership): Power: 11.6 hp@7000 rpm Torque: 11.5 nm@5000 rpm, which is a lot of power for a Scooter, one can feel it when they open the throttle. Comfort: This Scooter is more peppier to ride & ready to take on any roads, overtaking is no deal. High speed stability & handling on a different level altogether. Coming to the handling part, my lady shows prowess in handling the corners and bad roads as well. Easy to manoeuvre in the regular city traffic, fun playing the cutting in and out of the traffic. The seat is broad, well positioned, offers excellent comfort with firmness, easy enough to ride a little more than city roads. Most of my ride is limited to attending the near by needs and occasional office visits. Braking: However the brakes are a disappointment, no bite in it. It doesn't feel like the lady is equipped with proper brakes. Have to press hard so many times and the lady literally skidded many a times  I feel Vespa has to look into this part to work on the brakes for quick halts.Suspension: Suspension is stiffer overall but nothing to report on good roads. Single side front suspension, grabs the eye balls in city. Rear Suspension: Dual affect hydraulic shock absorber.   Some more pictures of the lady for eye treat.     Specifications:  Brochure: downloaded direct from Vespa site. Some information may mislead as the brochure here is not the one the moment I met my lady. IN_Vespa_range_Brochure_2019.pdf How Much? Company claimed mileage of 45kpl but I'm getting 30-35 kpl in city rides with back to back 2 rounds of tank full to tank full measurement. This may be due to very low Odo running presently and I'm not sure of, but hoping it will improve in near by future. Bad Experiences: No major accidents but once a pedestrian while attempting to cross the road from right to left (which is a no way in bumper to bumper traffic midway) hit my lady and in the process he damaged the windshield and front brake cluster. This has charged my pocket around 2k and 1 week of my lady time at service center. Wear & Tear: Apart from the unnoticeable parts replacement during the service, the horn switch went kaput, it came out on loose and dropped some where while I'm on ride. Asked to replace this part at service center and they promptly replied that it will take around 1 week to 10 days to procure the part as they don't have the stock with them. Waited for the asked time period and to my disappointed they couldn't get this part and not given any guarantee also. So I went ahead and got the engine start switch fixed for horn slot too. Note that the self start switch is little short compared to the actual horn switch but I need to live with it that way.   Silencer is the only part that is looking ugly now with corrosion and rusting. Will give it a corosion treatment soon.  So here is the summary of my scooter: Likes:
Dislikes:
Picture limit reached. Will continue below. Last edited by ManneAtWheelz : 16th February 2021 at 22:59. |
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16th February 2021, 13:33
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| re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Alloy Wheels: Front:  Rear:  Handles are too thing for my hand so got a pair of handle grips fitted on them.   The rear grab rails dipped in chrome and are sufficient in size, very convenient for center stand parking, rarely can be used to carry some luggage too.   Practical leg room, very much comfortable for tall riders as well, notice the foot board is well roomy.   Headlight assembly got halogen bulbs.   and the turn indicators are well placed and blended into the metal body nicely.   The rear foot pegs are very much protuding in quality even after 4 years of usage. Happy footrests for happy feet!   The fuel tank and storage access is under the seat with a lock immersed into the seat itself.  The seat is firmer and feel skiddy with casual wear, so one has to be careful to place your foot well to support in terms of hard braking.  The luggage rack clip is neatly integrated into the seat front, can be used it when required.   My Vespa Service intervals (though missed some part of information): Attachment 2119882 Lady has got decent storage in front.  Vespa light throw is not so great, lived with it all this time. Time to go for upgrade. Low beam:  High beam:  The VXL150 badging on the rear left side of the scooter.  to be contd.. Last edited by ManneAtWheelz : 16th February 2021 at 23:48. |
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17th February 2021, 00:11
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| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Hyderabad
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| re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review The Vespa badgings on the scooter, found in too many places. Felt like a record breaking of RE badging      Lots of scratches on this side footrest but that can be lived with.    Apart from the silencer, this is one more area which looks ugly and spoilt the looks. Will check for replacement of the cap in next service visit.  Decent and matching half helmet got along with my lady.    Storage compartment, it's space and utility.    Not sure about this protruding angled plastic thing here along side the fuel tank opening.  Petrol badging on the fuel tank cap, not necessary I think for a scooter at least.  This is my overall service history chart so far.  Very recently I have given my lady to service first time after so long gap of Covid, couldn't dare enough in 2020. No compaints with my lady but the service center staff could have taken care to explain the bill in detail, instead they just swiped my card and given the bill in an envelope and told "Sir, your scooter is parked outside". The replaced/old parts:   Bills pertaining to the service.   My lady is all full functional after returning from the beauty parlour (service center). Feel free to comment/ask whatever you feel. Blessed to reply you all. Happy riding! Last edited by Gannu_1 : 18th February 2021 at 10:32. Reason: Spacing between images. |
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17th February 2021, 07:03
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| Team-BHP Support   | Re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the 2-wheeled section. Thanks for sharing! Your red beauty will go to our homepage today  . Ride safe, brother. |
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17th February 2021, 10:53
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Hyderabad
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17th February 2021, 11:33
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17th February 2021, 14:51
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Bombay
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17th February 2021, 16:20
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| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Vijayawada-HYD
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| Re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Congrats on the sweet ride , Suresh bhaiyya ! That is an incredibly detailed review and will clearly act as a guide for anyone who is looking for a Vespa. The review is as good as the official one. Being a hefty person myself, I find most of the scooters cumbersome to ride and often back-breaking, including the ubiquitous Activa and I thought Vespa would definitely look disproportionately small . But good to see you are having fun with the red chick  Wishing you many more happy miles on it... - Manas aka Poised2drive |
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17th February 2021, 17:30
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Bangalore
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17th February 2021, 22:42
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| BHPian  | Re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Nice review Suresh sir. Glad us hyderabadis kept getting sneak peek every now and then before you came out with this review  From the pictures, it looks like your headlight alignment is the problem, since it's throwing too far, the amount of usable light on the road is less since it decreases in brightness as the throw distance increases. Try leveling it as low as possible, it should light up the road very well, and high beam should give you good and BRIGHT throw for a good enough distance to touch 60 occasionally without wondering what's in front of you. Had the same problem with my Red activa, spent a minute leveling it and I'm super happy! Congratulations on your ride! Wish you many more happy kms with it! |
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18th February 2021, 00:50
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18th February 2021, 14:42
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| Re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Quote:
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This is a long term review post, scooter is 4 year old officially. This Scooter is equipped with single channel ABS in the front starting from BS6 on wards. Quote:
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A.S.S is nothing exciting but they do the things promptly which are in their hands. Eg: Vespa has a side stand issue on stock, no proper balance it has and I reported the same at service center. They took the scooter to some unknown place for some welding patch. Post which I'm confident to park the Scooter on side stand at peace. For the replacement parts which are not in stock, they say they'll put an order for them. But then later there is no proper update on the order, I need to follow them promptly and get them. | |||||||
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23rd February 2021, 18:48
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| Re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Quote:
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23rd February 2021, 22:55
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| BHPian Join Date: Apr 2020 Location: Hyderabad
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| Re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Quote:
Filled up the lady's belly full with apple juice (yes I mean it to say as the cost of petrol is dearer and nearer to century now), took in little more than 7 litres. Will check the mileage count and will update you. The actual tank capacity is 7L only but observed little juice over flown from underneath the scooter, not sure why this behavior but later on I confirmed that there is no further leakage anywhere. Coming to the brakes part, yes you are right that the rear brakes are soft but overall I felt there is no bite in the braking functionality so couldn't dare enough to do serious cornering cuts, may be I'm suffering with Parkinson's disease Adios now with my lady in red! Last edited by ManneAtWheelz : 23rd February 2021 at 23:02. | |
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13th March 2021, 07:42
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| Re: My Vespa VXL 150 Glossy Red | Long-term ownership review Piaggio celebrates Vespa's 75th anniversary with special edition models  To mark the 75th anniversary of its Vespa scooter range, Piaggio has unveiled special edition models based on the Vespa GTS and Primavera. The vehicles come with a unique retro-styled yellow paintwork, special finishes, exclusive livery, and a new saddle. They also have a round bag on the rear with a chrome-plated luggage rack. The scooters sport a 'Giallo 75th' paint job  The new Vespa 75th series includes special edition Vespa Primavera 125, GTS Super Tech 125, and GTS Super Tech 300 models. The line-up has an all-steel body covered in a metallic yellow shade called 'Giallo 75th'. It is a contemporary interpretation of the hues prevalent in the 1940s. The front mudguard and side panels sport the number 75 in a slightly darker color. The vehicles have 4.3-inch TFT instrument console  The 75th-anniversary models have chrome-plated parts, a nubuck leather saddle, and gray-colored wheel rims with a diamond finish. The luggage rack on the rear is also chrome plated and houses a round bag, which looks similar to the spare wheel cover found on early Vespa two-wheelers. The scooters also sport a 4.3-inch TFT color display with support for smartphone connectivity. Scooter owners will receive special memorabilia Owners of the 75th anniversary Vespa Primavera 125 and the Vespa GTS Super Tech 125 and 300 scooters will get a silk scarf and a set of eight commemorative postcards detailing Vespa's history. The 75th-anniversary models will become collectors' items in markets like Europe and the US but their availability in India is unclear. Source |
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