The All New Honda Activa - Another reliable machine from Honda

  

Month of purchase: June 2009
On Road Price: 47000/- (including accessories, road tax and insurance)

Dealer: EVM Honda, Kaimanam, Thiruvananthapuram

The decision

Once in the market for a gearless scooter the following were the options considered

1. Kinetic flyte

Has lot of good reviews online and people has been recommending the kinetic flyte in all online forums. A test ride revealed that, eventhough it has a good engine, the vehicle seemed too small, like a scooty and the seats were narrow. There was only one service centre in city and it was not selling in good numbers. Kinetic's past history also helped to decide against it.

2. Hero Honda Passion

A good scooter with the proven honda engine, lower price than honda activa, good wide seats, slightly better mileage than Activa, lesser power than activa. The moment you step into the dealership one will experience the most horrid time ever, with the sales persons least interested and will have an attitude like no questions please, just buy and f*** off. An attitude created by the belief that they are the no 1 two wheeler seller of the country.

3. Suzuki Access

The recently launched suzuki access with 125 cc engine promised a lot, but with the dealership unable to specify a time for delivery and not allowing a test drive, how can a customer buy it. One of the reasons why you don't see many of them on road.

4. Honda Dio

Step into the honda showroom and you will feel a world of difference. Even with the heavy rush inside they are managing their level best to treat each of the customers well and will not get irritated by the questions. Dio has the proven 100cc honda engine and has a stylized shape. Body was fibre and the whole body kit costs something in the range of 2k, which means we can changed the color of vehicle when we want. The slanting foot rest in the front and a feedback on body vibrations by the existing customers put me off buying this one even though this model was readily available.

5. Honda Activa (old generation)

The proven old generation activa was still available. But when anything new has been launched, there is no point in buying an old version, when both of them is having the same price tag and the new one is having more powerful engine without any compromise on mileage.

Booking and Delivery

The All new Honda activa was booked on April 2009. They had specified a delivery date after 90 days. After 90 days when they could not deliver the vehicle, I wrote to their customer care email id, and was promptly attended to by a representative from bangalore, who kept on following up things until I got delivery within the next 10 days. What a way to keep to the customer happy !!! I was impressed. The vehicle was delivered on June 2009.

The vehicle in detail

One look at this vehicle will reveal that the cosmetic changes made is making this one look different from the older generation activa.

  

Looking from the front

The curvature in the front panel has been modified. The number plate can be fixed separately or the number can even be painted on the front panel. There is an option for putting a Honda sticker on the front. But it costs Rs. 500 extra. I prefer the neat clean look without stickers.

  

The headlight assembly with those integrated indicators is the one which is causing the feeling of a drastic change. The design is elegant.

  

The Back

If the front is different, the back side is also different too. Just one quick look at the back and you will know that it is not the old honda activa.

  

Again the major difference is in the back light assembly.

  

In the old generation one there was an option for putting the spare tyre in the back rail. But in all new honda activa the metal grabrail has been changed to a funky aluminium one which adds to the looks

  

The Seats

Wide, comfortable seats has been a trademark of the old activa and it is no different in this one either.

  

The Dashboard

The quality of items used is good. There are no panel gaps. The mirror position is good.

  

The speedo console is simple and elegantly designed.

  

The Locks

As is the precedence in modern scooters, handle lock and ignition are in the same lock.

  

The choke lever

The choke lever is ideally positioned in the front left side. Needed only sparingly especially during a cold start.

  

  

The Engine

What is a point in telling "All new" without a change in the heart. The heart of All new honda activa is 110cc engine. Start the engine and you will know the change from there itself. The engine feels more refined and silent. Eventhough one feels like it is slightly less powerful, the change in power is quite evident in the steep inclines with two heavily built souls on the seats.

  

The kicker lever also can be seen in the above pic. Honda has carried over the bad design of the kicker lever to the new Honda activa too.

One has to stand behind the scooter to operate this. Standing behind means he don't have anywhere to hold when he is kicking this to life. Wonder what is the logic behind such a design.

The silencer compartment has an additional padding as a protection from the heat.

 

Another thing to note down here is that hot air tends to blow out to the left ankle when you are resting your left foot on the ground from the engine compartment. Honda engineers could have slightly diverted its flow such that it don't directly blow into our legs as it will too hot in start stop city conditions and for people who have to put both legs on ground for stopping. When one is wearing pants and shoes it is not a problem though.

Footrest

The footrest, rests neatly under the side panel when not in use.

  

This is quite easy to operate too

  

Storage space.

This is quite amazing. Just see this.

Open the storage space using the key on the left side panel

  

The seat which doubles up as the lid opens up completely

  

Watch the space inside

  

Now see a full face helmed. Will this one go in

  

The helmet is now inside the compartment

  

Close the lid and fits well too.

  

The storage space pretty is pretty amazing one of the reasons why I did not opt for the optional glove box in the front.

Braking

The brakes are effective too. But remember to apply both brakes simultaneously.
The brake locks are a pretty useful when parking in inclines

  

The Tyres

The tyres are puncture resistant, tuff up tubes. The company itself says that it is not 100% puncture resistant, but can resist to a certain extent. The suspension thingy also is good.

  

6 months - 4000 km experience.

The ride has been smooth so far. The service experience is good. No complaints to report.

Not good as a long distance tourer, but a more than effective city commuter, it stands tall among its other competitors. Buy it and forget all woes related to the machine. It will serve you loyally.