Honda Grazia Review
Bike Tested: Honda Grazia; Road Test No. 881; Test Location: Navi Mumbai
Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 68,700 – 74,100/-
The Grazia is a blend of the Dio and Activa 125, offering the best of both the scooters
The Honda Activa was first introduced to India in the year 2000 and has been one of their highest selling scooters since then. With sales reaching higher than all of its other 2-wheeler products combined. Like me, you probably thought that, does Honda really even need to try? I mean the Honda Activa had barely changed according to 2017 standards and over the course of seventeen years, it has started to seem dated. Even then it managed to create its place in all our lives.
Everyone knows what an Activa is even though it has got not a lot but its simple promise of reliability and ease of ownership, which as you can see ends up favoring a machine a lot more than fancy features. We expected something different from the Activa 125 and we don’t always get what we want but Honda seems to be in a generous mood and has been listening. Giving us the Honda Grazia that they like to call an Urban Scooter. Now the question is, does it live up to our expectations?
Motor Quest: The Honda Grazia uses the same 125cc motor found on its sibling, the Honda Activa 125.
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This scooter has such a bold design
Styling – I remember telling myself the first time I saw this scooter in the flesh “This looks different” and different it does look, starting with the headlamp. This is one beautiful and menacing looking headlight design that instantly catches your attention with or without the lights on and that’s saying something. The headlamps are located at the bottom unlike the Activa’s and are a full LED units with 2 LEDs for the parking, 2 for the high beam and 2 for the low beam. Also during high beam, all 6 lights go on. Now if you ask me, it’s about time that we Indians were offered better lights as standard for our poorly illuminated roads. Kudos to Honda for leading the change. The front is a V-shaped design in matte black with a vent in the centre, with the indicators located on each of its sides. The indicators aren’t LEDs which is a small gripe. The front fender has angular lines making it sharp and edgy with a reflector on each side. The handlebar too has this layered design.
[flickr size=”center” float=”medium”]http://www.flickr.com/photos/motorbeam/38298349332/[/flickr]
The LED tail-light looks good and compliment the sharp rear end
This modern design by Honda shows us a peek into their future design language
As you come to the side, you start seeing the similarity between it and its younger sibling the Dio which isn’t such a bad thing. The chunky 5 spoke 12-inch front wheel grants it a nice stance and helps make the overall front design bulkier. The layered design continues to the sides and all the way to the rear. It gets these fake carbon fibre inserts on the sides which does help make it look more sporty and youthful. The carbon fibre treatment also finds its way to the exhaust which is a slim unit and finished in black. The pillion footpegs can be folded and are finished in aluminium and look quite upmarket. This scooter gets the Grazia badge on each side and is placed right under the beautiful upswept twin grabrails that look quite cool. The tail-light uses LEDs and looks sharp, the only thing that ruins the rear is the extra long mudguard which houses the license plate holder.
[flickr size=”center” float=”medium”]http://www.flickr.com/photos/motorbeam/24459390908/[/flickr]
First in the segment and a real joy to use even on sunny days
Instrument Cluster and Switchgear – The instrument cluster is a fully digital unit with a tachometer which is a first in its segment. It tells you the speed, RPM, fuel reading, one trip meter and has a new feature called the 3 Step ECO mode indicator. It’s basically three bars of light that change based on your riding style to tell you how much efficiency are you extracting out of the engine. Three bars meaning best possible mileage and no bars meaning worst possible mileage. The cluster is pretty bright even in broad daylight as it is quite attractive to look at. The buttons are of good quality and feel good to use except for the parking brake, it ends up feeling very cheap and tedious to use. Another first in the segment is this nifty new button to open the under seat, gone are the days of having to remove your key each time you want to access the under seat storage.
