[nairrk]

I just wanted to see the scooter personally (also to test drive if possible), but my dealer yet to receive the scooters from TVS. Though, they haven't received the pricing from the company, the dealer already started accepting bookings.

They expect final pricing from TVS in the next couple of days.

Further, have seen festival offers are published in the newspapers, but no any offer/discount on this new model - Jupiter 125. Looks like they are trying to push as much as Ntorq and Jupiter 110 models before the arrival of Jupiter 125

[aargee]

One item that most reviews missed stating is lack of scooter Bluetooth pairing with the mobile phone, which is getting to be a standard with Ray ZR & NTorq. Ofcourse, for a family scooter this is not an absolute necessary feature unless the family scooter is also used by sales & marketing guys & are in dire need to watch for the phone calls pairing to their mobile phones. I'm sure the bluetooth connectivity is not far away especially when there's a mobile charger & pocket provided conveniently below the dash.

[aargee]

Just back from the showroom after seeing the scooter & here're our impressions. The list is short because I'm covering only those items that YT reviewers haven't...

• Overall fit & finish is good, but not per the Japanese stables
• All the Jap scooters have metals only at the front fenner & the front panel (totally 3); but Jupiter has at the rear engine cover as well
• We checked 2 Grey matte colors, one of them had issues closing the seat while other wasn't
• On the other scooter, we couldn't identify if the seat was closed or not, but it was closed. We had to apply a little more pressure than our Activa
• The plastics at the head of the keys are huge, IMHO, it wasn't necessary
• The lock works good, OFF/ON works good, opening seat also works good; with a little bit of effort the fuel tank opens & same effort is required to close; and yes, it flip opens. Nothing to complain
• No kick starter; no kick starter, no kick starter. This means, can't even push start like geared Fi motorcycles. Take care of the battery more than the scooter unless one enjoys walking the scooter instead of pets
• Very easy for ladies to mount/unmount the scooter from main stand, very easy!
• Side stand ON, vehicle OFF works very well
• TVS has told the dealers to expect FE between 60-65 Kmpl, while we keep our expectations between 50-55 Kmpl, just like segment leader Access 125
• Found, rear adjustable shocks to be too difficult to adjust with fingers or may be I'm still learning; need allen keys for sure
• Seat materials are of ok-ok type; I wonder why TVS has provisioned the underneath of seat with grooves to accommodate dual helmets; wish they could've let it plain & simple
• The IntelliGo is commendable; from a biased Japanese perspective, I think Ray ZR is still good. However, we couldn't find any issues with starting, it went like gem
• The vibes were inevitable on the top panel of the scooter, not sure Ray ZR & Access had this much vibes. Again I could be biased & wrong. But for sure lesser vibration than NTorq
• The showroom guys told us that once vehicle is on the move the vibes would come down (yeah, the potholed undulated roads will ensure that)
• We couldn't spot Orange, Blue was good to eyes than reviews. Matte Grey can be preferred for those who don't crave attention, other 2 are eye magnets
• The floor board is good enough (obviously a family scooter) & can accommodate a cabin luggage probably; as good as old Activa; and yes for those poor souls who have to carry water cans & famed gas cylinders, yes, the floor board is flat & should do the job well

Top end model costs nearly 1.02L OTR in Chennai with mandated accessories (side stand & mirrors), RTO, insurance & ex-showroom & the famed "Handling Charges" which includes HSRP

Will be TDing the scooter tomorrow, incase we decide to go with Jupi 125

[nairrk]

No Kick starter ?

What will do in case battery gone dead? (At least for geared bike's I have seen people do the trick by rotating the rear wheel to do a push start, but now scooters having no gear its going to be a problem).

[The_Outsider!]

Originally Posted by aargee

[*] No kick starter

The review/ pre-production units did have a kick-starter, wondering why did they choose to skip it from the final product.



Pic Source

[aargee]

Originally Posted by The_Outsider!

The review/ pre-production units did have a kick-starter, wondering why did they choose to skip it from the final product

Freshly baked...sorry shot from the oven...sorry, showroom just, for you boss

Originally Posted by nairrk

No Kick starter ?
What will do in case battery gone dead?

I'll share what I know from my experience with CBR that has no kicker either. In a decade I had to push start the bike only 4-5 times. I'm running on 3rd battery from OE; always stick to 5A battery as specified by manufacturer (4A in case of Jupi 125). Always use the vehicle, always; after 2-3 years, start the vehicle atleast once a week & idle for like 5-10 minutes for charging & ensuring vehicle works good & avoid unpleasant surprises at the hour of need. I can recall this method should've saved me twice. It's just getting used to that's all; come to think of the scooter like a car...it doesn't have hand crank

[Gansan]

^^ No kick start? And what is that test tube hanging near the chain guard?

[The_Outsider!]

Originally Posted by aargee

Freshly baked...sorry shot from the oven...sorry, showroom just, for you boss

Haha, looks like they might have run into some issues during the last phase of testing, or maybe just a case of cost-cutting. In the end, they decided to plug the hole on the variator cover and call it a day

[nairrk]

Originally Posted by aargee

Always use the vehicle, always; after 2-3 years, start the vehicle atleast once a week & idle for like 5-10 minutes for charging & ensuring vehicle works good & avoid unpleasant surprises at the hour of need. I can recall this method should've saved me twice.

Yes., that's ok, but there is something else can happen.

I had a problem with my Maestro edge - One evening I came from minor shopping and put the scooter on center stand but forgot to take out the key.

My grandchildren were playing inside the compound and one of them simply turned the key which resulted the seat cover opened. Once the seat is opened the small light under the seat switches on which keeps on until the seat lid is closed again.

In this case nobody noticed the seat was open and the next morning the battery was dead. Luckily, there was a kick starter on the scooter and I managed to start the scooter next day.

If something happens like this, on the Jupiter 125 then we had it.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by aargee

Always use the vehicle, always; after 2-3 years, start the vehicle atleast once a week & idle for like 5-10 minutes for charging & ensuring vehicle works good & avoid unpleasant surprises at the hour of need. I can recall this method should've saved me twice. It's just getting used to that's all; come to think of the scooter like a car...it doesn't have hand crank

So this scooter won't be the perfect beater for us. Our Activa has done 10k kms in the past 10 years and remains unused for days together. Without a kick-start, I am afraid I would have to haul the scooter to FNG every few weeks for jump-start.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by nairrk

If something happens like this, on the Jupiter 125 then we had it.

Yes Sir, for sure bound to happen; most of the time it's that little negligence caused big trouble. Personally, I've wired my brain to always wear the keychain in my ring finger & takes a conscious effort to do it otherwise.

Anyway, here's how I would mitigate - use house keys along with vehicle keys. So unless you pull out the vehicle key, you can't get into house. And tell everyone at home not to open the doors for you.

If kicker is absolutely mandated, then there're plethora of choices. I would personally favor Ray ZR as it's more than 90% identical in almost all aspects to Jupi 125.



What you might miss with Ray ZR is ample space, but the OTR price of Ray ZR will also be ~10K for the base 125 FI Hybrid than Jupiter.

Originally Posted by ashis89

So this scooter won't be the perfect beater for us. Our Activa has done 10k kms in the past 10 years and remains unused for days together. Without a kick-start, I am afraid I would have to haul the scooter to FNG every few weeks for jump-start.

Well, in that case, I would say, stick to Activa itself; for 1000 Km a year, you'll save crazy amount of money by not switching for a new one. We're replacing our 16 year old Activa as we're fed up of its mechanicals & not being able to find a competent mechanic for our sparse usage.

[Sebring]

TVS NTORQ has a cold start problem. Sometimes the kicker has to be used. Not sure if the same case with older Jupiter, but this is a terrible miss. Rest of the package is impressive

[aargee]

Originally Posted by aargee

Will be TDing the scooter tomorrow, incase we decide to go with Jupi 125

Due to Son's insistence, we had to complete the TD today & here're our observations; again covering the non YT parts only.

• There're only 2 rear suspension settings, not 3; they're suited for single rider & two-up
  • Turn to right most & it's soft setup for single, turn away to left & it's for two-up
  • Two-up with hard setting is certainly very hard; with soft setting & two up potholes are handled very good
  • The suspension is not as plush as Ray ZR or Access 125 or Burgman the king but for sure way better than NTorq's hardest suspension
  • We feel in a long run, potholes after potholes, the suspension setting could soften a little or we might get used to it
• We couldn't test the ground clearance of 163 mm, but never bottomed out in any of crater sized potholes
• Light throw wasn't adequate, we dismissed the lighting because of 3 reasons...
  • There was blue cellophane wrapper around headlight
  • Rain & white LED are disaster
  • LED upgrade has plenty of after market options
• Could've avoided the pass switch or provided a separate one to be operated with left index finger like the one we get on motorcycles. I'll have to rewire my brain to get to that functionality!!
• Scooter just pulls like hell as expected (high torque per tonne) with 2 up riding (thanks to the near square cylinder of 53.5 X 55.5)
  • When I did T.W.O, Wife got slightly pulled away due to acceleration, but certainly not like Access 125 but better than Ray ZR; we didn't test NTorq with T.W.O
  • Although Burgman also shares the same engine as Access 125, this wasn't an issue. The only reason we could conclude was, Burgman has a slight upward seating position for pillion which makes pillion seated slightly forward (please do not compare with motorcycles here) which could've avoided in this splurge
  • Ray ZR had linear power delivery so that sudden splurge was missing
  • Jupiter 125 has excellent throttle response & I'm in a fix if the throttle response is better than my CBR or not
  • Last but not the least, please do not delude that, with T.W.O pillion will be thrown off when accelerating on Jupiter 125, that would never happen.
• We could not test the top speed, but from the YT videos scooter should be able to do 80 Kmph easily with pillion
• Seating was OK; pillion has to sit slightly in higher position (not to the extent of Burgman/Ray ZR); but please don't consider this point of mine because we're sold to Burgman
• Seats can accommodate 3 adults; so I think it should be comfortable for 2 adults with luggage
• Braking is good & reminded me of Ray ZR, but we didn't try much due to wet roads. May be it's impressive, but we haven't tested it well
• SBT works very well & is adequate although I'm used very much for applying both the brakes
• Our TD vehicle didn't have mirrors, so couldn't check if mirror coverage was adequate. We assume it should be better due to oval shape (Ray ZR had the worst coverage)
• IntelliGo is superb, very very silent start as good as Ray ZR. But we've mixed feeling...
  • Son wasn't happy because when you take the vehicle from switched OFF stage, we have to apply brakes, open throttle & then release for the engine to start (Ray ZR only required to simply twist the throttle)
  • Wife was complaining that the vehicle switches off in 30 sec or so (sorry we didn't measure accuracy with stop watch)
  • I on the other hand was quite happy that brakes had to be applied & released to start from standby, felt more like a safety measure
• In a short stint, observed the Eco mode turns to amber from green when there's a sudden open in throttle. At this point, I don't know if it depends on TPS or speed or both
• Engine wasn't smooth like Access or Ray ZR & the vehicle had it's vibes; I'm unable to confirm if Yamaha & Suzuki also had this vibration or not; however once on the road, vibes are not felt even on fingers. Had there been mirrors, it would've been easier to verify
• For sure Jupiter's 125 engine is not stressed or screams like NTorq

Now to some parts that I feel could've been better

• Flash switch could've been separate or eliminated completely
• Option to add kicker even at extra cost (have to confirm if this can be done with ASC)
• 5A battery instead of 4A
• Better colors, although no complaints on existing colors
• Stupid chrome inserts on the RVMs, instead could've just left it best at black
• May be I need to get used to, but feel the 5 in 1 lock could've been engineered better, no issues with quality though
• The thick plastic head on the keys could've been designed a little better
• Could've had a detachable lid opener in the front for mobile charger; although there's provision for rain water to seep through underneath, I wish to have a detachable lid that can be opened/closed & removed when not required
• The additional shield over the exhaust pipe could've been avoided on account of dead weight; also if the exhaust is rusted, the shield prevents it from easy visibility
• Too many nuts on the floor board, could've provided a rubber mat as factory fit. I'm more than positive those nuts are going to get rusted soon after a monsoon. Hopefully there's a mat available as an accessory

My take to opt for Jupiter 125...

• You need a family scooter/work horse
• Yields good FE (yet to test, but evaluating through experience)
• Lower on maintenance (again, assuming TVS maintenance has lower cost than rivals)
• Comfortable ride without breaking back/riding solo/2-up
• You need more functional scooter with essential technology with no fancy frills
• You're OK with some niggling issues
• Cost of 5 years warranty on the engine packed along with the ex-showroom price

My take to opt out of Jupiter 125...

• You need a stylish looking scooter
• Top speed is most concerned; torque is of least concern
• You're concerned on smooth less vibe engine
• Comfortable plush rides with/without pillion
• Latest gadget support with Bluetooth, taking calls through scooter
• You need fuss free reliable Japanese reliable vehicle
• You're fine to pay additional on extended warranty if required, but not forced

Now to the worst part!!
Ex-showroom - 85500
Life Tax (8% in TN) - 7890
Insurance - (5 year TP & 1 year comprehensive with compulsory PA) - 5956
Mandatory accessories (ladies footrest, mirrors & number plate holder) - 756
Total - 85500 + 7890 + 5956 + 756 = 100102

PLUS (the additional rip offs)
Handling charges - 1250
RTO - 500
Total - 100102 + 1250 + 500 = 101852

Non compulsory accessories - 4500
Total - 101852 + 4500 =

106352

[nairrk]

Originally Posted by aargee

Due to Son's insistence, we had to complete the TD today & here're our observations; again covering the non YT parts only.[list]

Excellent TD report

Now to the worst part!!
Ex-showroom - 85500
Life Tax (8% in TN) - 7890
Insurance - (5 year TP & 1 year comprehensive with compulsory PA) - 5956
Mandatory accessories (ladies footrest, mirrors & number plate holder) - 756
Total - 85500 + 7890 + 5956 + 756 = 100102

PLUS (the additional rip offs)
Handling charges - 1250
RTO - 500
Total - 100102 + 1250 + 500 = 101852

Non compulsory accessories - 4500
Total - 101852 + 4500 =

106352

OTR price Rs.106352 without Full digital console and BT connected features seems almost near the price of Ntorq Race Edition, with Full digital console and BT for which I received a quotation at Rs.107, 538 (including accessories).

Further major drawback on the Jupiter 125 is that No Kick starter.

Access 125 and Ray ZR are definitely going to give a tough fight with Jupiter 125 and seems TVS may not get the sales numbers comparing the Jupiter 110?

[aargee]

Originally Posted by nairrk

OTR price Rs.106352 without Full digital console and BT connected features seems almost near the price of Ntorq Race Edition, with Full digital console and BT for which I received a quotation at Rs.107, 538 (including accessories)

Price differs from city to city sir;

Race edition costs - Rs 89187 in here & OTR I think should work to
RTO - 8185
Insurance - ~6K

OTR should be 103372 against 100102 of Jupiter 125

Originally Posted by nairrk

Further major drawback on the Jupiter 125 is that No Kick starter

I've no comments on this; even I don't like scooter without kicker. I was pretty mad when I got my CBR without kicker, but then I got used to it now. I think I can take it as we move with the changing times. Like I said earlier, we don't expect our cars to have hand crank

Originally Posted by nairrk

Access 125 and Ray ZR are definitely going to give a tough fight with Jupiter 125 and seems TVS may not get the sales numbers comparing the Jupiter 110?

Well, I don't know on that front; but what I do know is, there's not a single family oriented scooter matching the technology of Jupiter 125. Here's how I perceive

• The real rivals are Activa, Destini, Access, Maestro Edge, Vespa which have outdated technology
• The other 110 stables like Edge 110, Dio, Pep+ or even Jupiter 110 cannot be considered for comparison here
• SR125 is more of rival to NTorq than Jupiter lineage
• Ray ZR is more of youth oriented & will not carry...forget gas cylinder, not even water can; so it's not a rivalry
• Out of all the 125 scooters listed above, Jupiter is the most expensive one, but also comes with most features in this category

As long as someone's requirement falls into the above list, then Jupiter 125 can be considered.

Originally Posted by nairrk

Excellent TD report

Thank you Sir; just sharing my experience