Start the engine with Mahindra’s signature flip key and the first thing you notice is that the new 124.57 cc air-cooled four-stroke single cylinder engine is fairly smooth. There aren’t too many vibrations to really break one’s head over. On the go, the scooter doesn’t feel lethargic on inclines like the 110 cc Gusto did. Does that mean that the Gusto 125 is exciting where the Gusto 110 wasn’t? Well, not quite but now you don’t have to work too hard to get the inertia of motion back once you’ve lost it and overtaking others is now easier. In effect, the Gusto 125 has become a better city commuter than the earlier scooter. Delivery of the 8.7 PS of peak power and 10 Nm of maximum torque via the CVT continues to be as linear as before.
On the handling front again, like on the smaller Gusto, the Gusto 125’s behaviour is par for the course. It isn’t particularly flickable either but ride quality is quite well sorted and the scooter handles rough patches with aplomb. The well-padded seat only adds to that comfort.
Once launched, the Mahindra Gusto 125 will go head to head with the aforementioned Honda Activa 125 and the Suzuki Access (the Vespa, I would think is a little too pricey to be direct competition despite the similar engine capacity). Given that the Activa 125 hasn’t the cash registers singing for Honda in spite of being a sorted scooter, the Gusto 125 will have to woo the clientele of the Suzuki Access, which is probably the segment leader in volumes. And for that to happen, Mahindra will have to price their scooter better than Suzuki have priced the Access, which at less than Rs 60,000 (on-road in Pune) sports a pretty competitive pricetag to begin with. All eyes on pricing now.
Leave a Reply