I?ve always been customarily crazy about these non-geared vehicles. Although I did know to ride bikes, may be due to our extant vogue of maximal South Indian women possessing scooters/non-geared vehicles (specially with self-start), I always had a craze for gearless vehicles with self-start.
I still remember the periods of immediately reminded of, the one & only ?TVS SCOOTY? when thought of non-geared vehicles with self-start. Although Bajaj had launched quite attractive, comparatively light-weighted vehicles with self-start, like the Bajaj Sunny, Bajaj Spirit, Bajaj Saphire etc., it is an undeniable fact that Scooty had always held the first and the foremost rank as far as the sales aspect of these gearless vehicles was concerned.
Well, for absolutely a few years, really people used to be so crazy about TVS Scooty??. Then, came into the picture our lovely ?Honda Activa?, in beautiful colours, not too heavy, not too light-weighted, attractively designed !!! Although I was not much aware of this vehicle initially as soon as it was actually launched, in my office, we had a get-together party of all employees which had varieties of entertainment programmes as well as interaction with various automobile companies, being part of the educative perspective.
This programme also included selection of four staff members from my corporate office based on a few tests, who were to take part in a propaganda campaign of the newly launched ?Honda Activa?. Since I give so much of information, by this time I am sure that you all would have rightly guessed that I was one of the four!!! Pretty good guess pals!!!
The campaign was very interesting, especially it got me a confidence that I could interact very well with people, and our job profile was to introduce the features of Honda Activa to the public (of course whoever was interested about it). In fact when I came to know about the features of the vehicle, I had really started loving it pals!!! For my friends who are in the verge of deciding on going in for a new vehicle, I hope my review would be of little help to make them arrive at a conclusion about purchase of Honda Activa.
The Scooter ?Honda Activa?, is fundamentally 4-Stroke, with 102CC, gear-less and with self start which generally women prefer & find to be comfortable.
About the other provisions available, it has :
?A Large inner-box
?An inner-box beautifully divided into compartments (but not very spacious)
?Has a saree-step (just like Scooty / Pep to enable ladies sitting in the pillion to keep their feet)
?Stepnee frame - A frame to carry a spare tyre.
To move on to the technical lineaments, the following are some of the features which its manufacturers swagger about:
?The tyres of the Honda Activa have double layered tubes (they call it the tuff-up tubes) with fluid in between.
?Honda Activa has an Aerodynamic (sleek & smooth) Design of body which helps cool the engine through smoother air flow. This also helps to lower the fuel consumption by lowering air resistance.
?It has a powerful and a very stylish Multi-Reflector Head Lamp that increases road visibility to make night driving a safe experience (it?s very true).
?It is easier to lift-up the Honda Activa's body cover, like the bonnet of a car, which makes the practical maintenance much easier & faster.
Honda Activa is available in the following colours :
? Strand-Silver Metallic
? Black
? Strings-Red Metallic
? Precious-Gold Metallic
? Azure Blue Metallic
So, I think I?ve covered most of the aspects of Honda Activa just leaving alone the cost mien. The basic cost works out to around Rs.36,000/- and with insurance and other basic accessories I am sure it touches Rs.40,000/-. So I have now presented everything known to me about this vehicle.
CONCLUSION:
Well, this portion of mine is arrived at, based on the opinions of almost ten friends of mine who are also the users of Honda Activa.
?This vehicle unfortunately gives the poorest mileage of just around 40 Kms initially, which gradually goes down as the kilometers run. It is shocking that it even reaches around 25 subsequently!!!
?The seat height is very high & is worst suited to shorter persons
?The smaller sized seats do not give much of a comfort. I think the newly launched TVS Scooty Pep is much better in this aspect. It gives a riding comfort with spacious seats
?In turnings, especially in right turnings, the vehicle abruptly stops or gets switched off. This is being complained of, almost by all the users
?Starting Problem?? this is problem o? problem!!! I heard this from everyone, when the vehicle needs to be started every morning after having been parked the whole night in the parking lot, mornings invariably there?s a starting problem. The Honda Service Centre is absolutely unable to sort this out.
My personal opinion is that Honda Activa is not at all suitable for persons who are really concerned about the mileage, which is the foremost expectation of any buyer!!
I remember another experience...... On my first riding of the Activa, I quickly found out that riding it on high speeds is a terror, which I think is also another significant issue to be taken care of by HONDA.
So, more than the best features of this vehicle, people keep complaining more about the practical problems of it. So, why to unnecessary go in for a problematic vehicle & welcome difficulties ?
If the Honda Company sorts out the aforesaid problem and redesigns Honda Activa or probably launch another new upgraded vehicle without any of these problems especially with more mileage, may be we could consider going in for it.
Hope you all had liked my review. Do provide me with your feedbacks on the review and I would appreciate if all the MSians who read this review do rate it without fail.
Thanking you all so much for your valuable time,
Mrs. Jayalakshmi Shyam
