Feb 16, 2014 12:08 PM
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I just had the chance to ride a 6 month old Mahindra Centuro with 2400 km on the odo from Thrissur to Kasargod, a distance of almost 350 km. As I always write a review after I ride a a bike for the first time, here goes.
The bike in question belongs to my friend's room mate. Both of them are studying at Kasargod, and neither of them have much experience riding, so his dad asked me if I would be willing to take it to Kasargod, since they were not too sure about sending a new bike via railways, and you never say no to riding a motorcycle at someone else's expense. :)
So if I am correct, this is Mahindra's third bike. The first two, the Stallio and the Pantero, were both flops, and so the guy who bought this only did because it was very low priced and also got it at 44k INR as he was in the initial 10, 000 bookings. He wanted a cheap vehicle with good mileage which he could use during his college years. So it didn't have to be a high quality vehicle like a Honda. Anyway, let me tell you more about the Centuro.
Looks:-
The Centuro comes with bright twin pilot lamps, consisting of 3 LED bulbs each which give it a classy look from the front. The fuel tank, exhaust and alloy wheels have all been taken from the Pantero. I am guessing they just dismantled the unsold Panteros and stuck them on the Centuro with a new paint job. The seats are wide and comfortable and I did not feel any kind of back strain during my long ride. Overall build quality is also very good, bar some minor lack of finishing on some small bits of plastic.The instrument cluster is white back-lit semi digital, with the rpm coming in analog at the center of the display. In my opinion, the only ugly looking thing on the bike are those two golden bars which run under the tank. It looks tacky and completely spoils the look of the bike. It would have been much more acceptable if those bars were painted black. Those golden bars stick out like a sore thumb.
Features:-
This bike has so many features that are mostly found on high end motorcycles, the kind that cost upward of 2 lakhs. On the left side of the display there is a digital fuel gauge with DTE (distance to empty) technology which measures the fuel consumption after every 100ml and calculates the remaining distance your bike can travel. On the right side, you get a clock, odometer, and trip meter. It also comes with a flip key. The engine comes with an engine immobilizer that will prevent the bike from running without the original key.It also has an inbuilt anti theft alarm which is controlled by the flip key. Another excellent feature I found was the "find me system." Pressing a button on the flip key activates the bike's indicators and also sounds the alarm for a sec, helping you find your bike in a crowded parking lot. It also has guide lamps, meaning that the tail lamp and headlamp stay on for 10 seconds even after you remove the key, which will help you find your way in a dark garage or parking lot. The flip key also has a small inbuilt led torch which is also a good addition.The fuel tank is of a decent size, with the capacity to hold almost 12.7 ltrs of fuel.
Engine:-
The bike is powered by a 106 cc, single cylinder 4 stroke engine, which makes 8.5ps at 7.5k RPM. The engine did not feel very powerful, but I guess that is not much of a problem in the 100-125 cc segment. It has 4 speed transmission, which I found a bit tight in 2nd and 3rd gear but overall it felt good. The engine is okay at moderate speeds, but starts to sound loud at high RPMs and feels like it is being pushed to its limits.So for most of the trip, I had to keep my speeds in the 40-50 km range, which resulted in the 350 km journey taking the good part of almost 10 hours to complete.I got a mileage of around 70 kmpl, but the owner has been complaining of getting fluctuating mileage in the range of 60-75 kmpl, so cant be too sure about it. The company claimed mileage is 85kmpl, which I believe is stretching the truth a bit. The Honda Yuga with HET tech is only giving about 80kmpl so I find this claim hard to believe.
Handling:-
I found the Centuro very easy to handle on both the highway and on crowded roads. It weighs only around 120 kg. Overtaking other vehicles on the highway was easy, though the engine sounded as if it was being strained. The rear suspension setup is a bit stiff if your doing single, but with a pillion present, it has excellent damping capabilities.The brakes on the other hand, are not that good, but its okay for speeds upto 40 kmph. The tires also felt grippy enough under braking, but that could be because he hadn't filled air in a couple of weeks and may have caused pressure to drop, thereby increasing grip levels.
Overall I found this bike to be decent value for money, offering a lot of goodies for a price of only around 52k on road. The only negatives I have about it is that service centers are very few and Mahindra bikes have been having major flaws in the past.
If you can look past these two problems, this is a good bike to own. Please post any queries you may have in the in comments section below.
Cheers!
