Oct 26, 2016 08:19 PM
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I was in market for a gearless scooter. Two reasons contributed in making a decision to sell off Honda Trigger, which was serving me good; namely Hyderabad city traffic and a need to cater the grocery and vegetable market runs which were utterly uncomfortable with 1 up on my Trigger.
But it was a brain driven decision, not a heart driven one, hence it took some time to convince the heart. I was very happy with Trigger's performance, there were surely some issues, but the pleasure a bike gives you, nothing can replace it. I test drove Suzuki Access 2016 around March and immediately knew that it was a contender, but with the anticipations of PCX, Zir, SR150 made me wait, wait for something that will be a perfect marriage between practicality of a scooter and performance of a motorcycle. So, the wait eventually ended when Aprilia launched the SR150, and that too at mouthwatering price. I went ahead booked one on paytm, without even seeing it in person! Long story short, when the demo vehicles came down to the showrooms, I test drove it and found the SR150 to be short on space, all around, the seat and under seat storage and finally leg room. The other issue I had with SR150 was the stiff suspension, I know its race set, but for my usage it was not suitable. So had to say goodbye to my booking amount on paytm and forget about the SR150, hard decision, but had no choice. With no announcements from Honda about PCX150 and Hero about Zir, it was all new Suzuki Access 125 then!
On the way from Vespa showroom I went to Suzuki showroom and test drove the Access 125, it was the same little impressive scoot, that I liked few months back. Enquires about the Disc and alloy version and got a positive reaponse. It was good that there was no booking process involved, but I was told there were only two colors available with them in Access disc variant, White and Blue. Having seen both the colors I chose blue. On the D day, I just called the SA in the morning and told him that I will take delivery of the Blue Access 125 Disc brake variant with just three accessories(Ladies foot rest, indicator buzzer and mobile charger provision), he was happy to oblige. Went there in the evening, made the payment and there it was, my Blue bird.
Enough with the buying process, coming to the actual vehicle, it is everything a family scooter should be, first and foremost its a Suzuki and feels like one, the new SEP engine is smooth, linear in acceleration, has good pick up for a scoot better than the market leaders in this aspect, it has good build quality. And then its convenient with its good under seat storage, best in class foot board, comes with two hooks for your grocery and vegetable runs, has a mobile charger socket(optional).
In terms of numbers, the 125 CC engine on all new Access 125 produces 8.7 PS of power and 10.2 Nm of torque, which is good enough for city runs. Although I havent rode the old Access, I have been told that the new Access lost some of its power for better fuel efficiency numbers and this despite losing some weight compared to the older model. I wish Suzuki had not done this, this could have been a hoot to drive. Recently read the BikeWale.com comparison between Access 125 and the SR 150 and surprisingly Access 125 was not far behind SR150 when it comes to power and in some departments Access 125 trumped the SR, now thats a great news for somebody like me who ditched SR150 to buy Access 125.
I have not checked the fuel efficiency numbers yet, but anything around or near 50 KMPL will be good for me. Have been through the first service and it was a pleasant experience. The total cost of service was 270 rupees and the scoot feels little more smooth now.
