Hi Autocar Team, I am planning to buy a new bike for daily use and am confused between the Honda Unicorn, TVS Apache RTR 160 2V, and Honda SP160. My priority is comfort, especially for the pillion rider. Could you please suggest which of these bikes would be the best option?

Autocar India

•3h

Since you've said that your commute has bad roads, replacing your Jawa 42 with a scooter wouldn't be our recommendation. While they are innately more practical than motorcycles, scooters have their smaller wheels and shorter, thinner suspension units. It won't really enhance your comfort, at least not to a great extent. Instead, we would advise you to get a practical 160cc commuter like the Honda Unicorn / SP160, TVS Apache RTR 160 4V or Bajaj Pulsar N160. These are comfortable, fuel-efficient and peppy machines perfectly suited to city use. To make an informed decision before you go ahead with your purchase, ensure to take a test ride of all three to see which one you gel with the best.If, however, you want to go with a scooter as your next purchase, consider the following options. In the family scooter space, the TVS Jupiter 110 / 125 and Suzuki Access would be our top picks. If you want something sportier feeling and looking yet comfortable enough for daily usage, then the TVS Ntorq 125 & 150 are what you should be looking at. Again, a test ride of all of these is imperative before you make your decision. Make sure you intentionally go over bad patches of road and make tight, lock-to-lock U-turns to see if the handlebars foul with your knees, since you are a taller rider.

Autocar India

•2h

All three options you have shortlisted are actually very well-rounded EVs and are frontrunners in the electric scooter market in terms of sales, long-term reliability and brand recall. Therefore, picking between them will boil down to personal preferences toward design, comfort, real-world range and features. The TVS iQube S and Bajaj Chetak 3501 are undoubtedly more VFM here because they come with larger battery packs, thus, longer distances before you need to charge them. You can easily expect a real-world range of over 100km, even when ridden quite aggressively, which the Ather Rizta 2.9 will not be able to match because it has a smaller battery pack. When it comes to boot space, it might seem like all three are evenly matched, but the real-world picture is slightly nuanced. To recap, the iQube S has 32 litres of underseat storage, whereas the Ather Rizta has 34 and the Bajaj Chetak has 35. Now, on paper, it's a negligible difference, but the TVS' boot is much shallower than the Bajaj and Ather scooters. It means you'll have to be smart with how you pack your belongings in it. Plus, an imported ECE-certified helmet will not fit inside the TVS, in case that is a consideration for you. When it comes to after-sales experience, all three are largely good to live with, although it will vary depending on where you're located.Take an exhaustive test ride of all three before you make a decision. All three are straightforward, practical, reliable EVs, so no matter which one you choose, it's likely you'll be happy with it.

Autocar India

•3h

From a strictly technical standpoint, the higher grade 10W40 oil should theoretically help in hotter climates like ours because it will retain its viscosity at higher temperatures better than 10W30. Thereby being better suited to cooling the TVS Ronin's air/oil-cooled motor. However, this will likely void your warranty if it isn't recommended by TVS. We would advise you to stick to whatever the owner's manual and service advisors recommend, especially if your bike is still inside the warranty period. If your manual or service advisor strictly specifies 10W30 only, or you ride mostly in cooler weather, consider switching to a fully synthetic 10W30 oil from a different brand instead to keep cold‑flow performance optimal. But before you do all this, we'd first recommend a trip to the service centre to ensure that idle RPM is set as per the manufacturer's recommendation. Also, make sure to clean the engine’s as well as the oil cooler's fins and airflow path. Then, use the bike for a few weeks as you normally would to see if that has solved your problem.