Oct 31, 2003 11:46 PM
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(Updated Oct 31, 2003 11:46 PM)
I do not own this bike but I have made a detailed research from my friends and I am here to review the hero honda ambition......
Intro
'Moving up in life', reads the sales blurb of the Hero Honda Ambition.
Here's a motorcycle conceived by the marketing department for the marketing department. And from a purely marketing perspective, the Ambition does represent a master stroke, promising to bridge the gap between power and fuel efficiency and offer what Hero Honda believes the Indian customer wants.
Having achieved the distinction of being the largest individual two-wheeler company in the world, it is but natural that Hero Honda would want to maintain their pre-eminence in the motorcycle segment. To achieve this HHML does need to come up with a new money spinner since the Splendor/Passion duo has stopped setting sales charts afire for quite some time and the CBZ isn't lighting too many fires either. While the Hero Honda bikes continue to take a beating, TVS keeps ramping up production of the Victor, while the Bajaj Pulsar twins continue to set sales records, not to mention the headaches caused by new entrant in the market, and now the presently launched pulsar dtsi's..........
The solution to Hero Honda's problems then is the Ambition, an attempt to bridge the gap in her portfolio between the 97.2cc Splendor/Passion at the lower end and the 156cc CBZ at the upper end of the segment the bike is targeted at Splendor/Passion customers wishing to move further up the ladder, but are turned off by the CBZ's price and fuel efficiency or lack thereof.
Chasis
Under that new set of clothes, the Ambition is in effect the CBZ..The limiting factor in the equation is the smaller 3.0 rear tyre that results in the bike sliding around a little too much at full lean angles and also locking up quite easily under braking
Gear Box:
The five-speed 'box is one of the finest I have come across, precise in actuation, slick in operation and sans any mis-shifts or false neutrals whatsoever. In fact once on the move there is absolutely no need to use the clutch, either for upshifts or down shifts
Fuel efficiency:
Hero Honda claims a fuel efficiency figure of 79kmpl which is way too optimistic when my friend rode it, it gave approx 55kmpl in city circuit and 64 in highways.Again these figures are better than the 150cc and 125cc bikes in the market, and even better than some 110cc bikes. However it can't hold a candle to the TVS Victor and is still well behind the mark set by the Passion.
build:
Build quality has always been top notch with all Hero Honda bikes and the Ambition continues in the same vein. Switchgear is from the top drawer though we miss a day-flasher. More importantly the absence of a tachometer is lamentable, the over-size fuel gauge occupying the space where the tacho should have been.
Well Well Well....With such a stiff competition in the market and Pulsars And fieros reigning and holding the crown it is very difficult for the ambition to stand out......
As an overall package, the Ambition comes across as trying to do too many things and not excelling at any
