CENTRA - XLNT Bike (82 kmpl consistently). Review on TVS Centra

TVS CENTRA - An Average Bike

Mileage

I bought my Centra on 1st Nov 2004 from Shanti Motors, Himayat Nagar, Hyderabad. Till now, I din't had any major problems with the bike. The bike had clocked 7000 Kms in 6 months. I ride 50-60 kms per day as my office is at a distance of 27 kms from my house. My home n office are on opposite ends of the city. But I mostly ride on traffic free roads because of my odd timings(3pm-1am). Mileage: Actually, I went for this bike coz of mileage. I expected a minimum of 75-80 kmpl. But, till now it din't cross 70kmpl. In the starting I used to get 63-65 kmpl. Gradually it improved to 68-70 kmpl after second service. I thought, Itz just an average mileage considering the conditions I ride. I think, as I drive on free roads, I deserve a still better mileage.

But, astonishingly, after 3rd servicing last week, it dropped to a whopping 58 kmpl.

And I feel it's tooooo bad a mileage for the much publicised VT-I engine.

Problems:

One of my friend, who's also having Centra is getting 70 kmpl on heavy city traffic. But I don't know whatz the problem with my bike. One more problem is there is no pickup in the 2nd gear. I din't find any difference between 2nd and 3rd gear. And the pickup is very low when there are two people. I think it is the same case in all 100cc bikes.

Overall, my bike failed in both Mileag and Pickup.

Dealer:

And coming to the dealer, the service and response is very very slow. They take a very long time for the paper work. At that time, TVS was offering 3grams gold coin free with all bikes. But the showroom people has taken 2 months to give me the gold coin and the Invoice also has taken 2 months. I had to visit the dealer many times coz of the paper work. But their service centre head is nice. The service centre head is cool and very experienced and their service also is Ok.

No Starting Troubles:

But, one thing I'm happy is that, I din't get any problems with the bike till now. My bike starts on first kick at 3am in winter also. I never got to use the choke. Speed: My bike has clocked 85kmph with doubles(2 people) even though I din't give 100% throttle. And I'm sure it can clock still higher speed.

An addition here(19/12/05):

Now my bike is consistently giving me 78-82 kmpl average since 4th service in last six months. Now, the bike is more than 1 yr old, still giving 80kmpl consistently.

I'm extremely satisfied now.

Hence i'm updating my review.