Suzuki Let’s Review
Bike Tested: 2014 Suzuki Let’s
Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 52,500/-
Suzuki is finally here to take charge of the 110cc scooter space with its well made Let’s.
As we all know Suzuki is on a roll after coming out from a parole. Why parole? We do not know where Suzuki was held captive or why Suzuki was so lazy for the past few years and did pretty much nothing to enhance their market position and increase their share. Suzuki has now realised that it is time to do the needy. The Japanese automaker now has aggressive plans to get a piece of market share after threat of losing market share to Indian Japanese subsidiaries while domestic manufacturers are also stepping up their game. Suzuki has said all existing products will get a major change and new products will come out. We all know what the three new products are. Gixxer, Inazuma and Let’s. What we have today with us is the Suzuki Let’s. The Let’s is an impressive scooter on paper. Peppy performance, compact design and value for money are the core features of this 110cc scooter and these are the demands by our Indian consumers as well. Will it succeed? We find out by taking a short spin of Suzuki’s latest offering.
The Suzuki Let’s looks very compact, small, edgy and slim in every profile. Be it front, rear or side it looks like a skinny Swish if you ask us. This is infact a good thing because the Swish looks very sleek and elegant. The seats are comfortable and the short seat height will make it female friendly. The handlebar is noticeably wider than any other scooter out there or it is just skinny shaped which makes it feel that it has wider than usual handlebars. We will find out later.
A long seat, a wide footboard and a small underseat storage is perfectly done on the Suzuki Let’s, quality is good
All this makes it compete bang on against the Yamaha Ray, TVS Jupiter and Honda Activa-i. Fit-finish is good with good quality materials being used all around. The footboard is wide and large. Every part of the Let’s is chiseled and very edgy right from the mudguard to the rear tail light. The seat is quite large and wide for this small scooter. The underseat storage is not that accommodating.
Suzuki definitely needs a lesson or two when it comes to designing an instrument cluster. It feels like Suzuki probably designs instrument clusters badly on purpose. The one on the Access and Swish are stupendously bland and the Let’s carries the same heritage. The one on the Let’s here, is not that disappointing but it is nowhere near the competition.
10-inch tyres get blunt steel wheels with the dimensions of the tyres being identical to its elder brother, the Swish
Before we get into the performance part of things, let’s discuss the most important criteria of most 2-wheeler buyers in India, mileage. With the Access and Swish siblings, Suzuki wasn’t able to offer as frugal a product as 110cc alternatives in the market. With the Let’s, Suzuki claims a stupendous mileage of 63 km/l, which clearly shows this scooter is very fuel efficient. For starters, the Let’s is a very light scooter, weighing just 98 kgs. The Japanese automaker has given the Let’s a new tech in its engine called Suzuki Eco Performance (SEP), which is similar to what Honda offers on all its scooters (HET aka Honda Eco Technology). SEP boosts mileage and will be offered on all Suzuki 2-wheelers in the near future.
Coming to the very best part of the Suzuki Let’s, which is its performance. Weighing 98 kgs and producing 8.7 BHP of power and 9 Nm of torque from a 112cc engine is a recipe for fun. How does all that translate on the road? The Let’s is very peppy to ride. Off the line acceleration feels like there is a 125cc engine underneath. The scooter is eager from the word go and pulls very strongly till 65 km/hr. To stop the ferocious acceleration, Suzuki has used the same brakes from the Swish. With significantly less weight than the Swish to hustle around, the stopping power is as good as the engine power. This is without doubt the best performing scooter in the segment.
Ride and handling is also very similar to the Swish in terms of feel. The Swish has a softer rear suspension while the Let’s does not. Ride quality is excellent at low speeds and city maneuverability is top class because nimbleness is given top priority. All this is possible as the Let’s uses the same wheel and tyre combo as the Swish. Suzuki did say at the launch that this is an all new scooter ground up and it certainly is because the Let’s does not have small niggling traits of old scooters except the dated design of the instrument cluster.
How is the Suzuki Let’s then and is it a good buy? Like we said in the beginning, the Let’s is extremely promising and comes with all qualities which the consumer needs today. A peppy scooter with good efficiency numbers promised and a value for money price tag is enough to be successful, but the Let’s still has everything you need. Costing the same as the Yamaha Ray, TVS Jupiter and Activa-i, the Suzuki is more value considering it gets better hardware than the Honda, better storage than the Ray and performance which is better than every other scooter in the segment. Suzuki has hit the nail very hard and will make sure it will not rust or come out anytime soon. If you have a Suzuki dealership and service centre near you, then there is no reason why you should ignore the next big thing in the 110cc scooter segment.
What’s Cool
* Peppy Performance
* Maneuverability
What’s Not So Cool
* Underseat storage