A couple of days after saying goodbye to the Royal Enfield Meteor 350, my previous long termer, I had the good fortune of being handed the keys to a new long termer.
Actually, I’ve taken over the ownership of the SXR 160 from Soham, who’s busy testing cars for the magazine. This meant he barely had the time to put miles on the scooter. Now, we can’t really let the scooter just sit there and gather dust, right? So, in came yours truly to the rescue. Truth be told, I’ve always wanted to spend some time with Aprilia’s scooters and see how they fare over the course of a year.
In the 200-odd kilometres that I’ve logged since taking over, the scooter has felt special in almost every way. The attractive design makes everyone’s attention gravitate towards it. How’s that for a feel-good factor? In fact, I’m proud of the way the SXR stands out in a sea of plain-looking scooters on our roads. The matte black colour looks fetching as well, but I’m keen to see how it holds up in Mumbai’s dusty weather.
Aesthetics aside, it’s the functional and practical bits that I’ve come to appreciate. The LED headlights work very well to illuminate a dark road. The brakes give me confidence to outbrake the pesky motorcycle-borne boy racers. And the boot helps me carry my essentials, shielded from the onslaught of Mumbai’s irritating rains. That said, the boot isn’t as big as the scooter’s size suggests, so one has to be mindful about space management.
While this long-term report may seem quite positive so far, there are a few worrying issues that cropped up recently. Firstly, there is a loose connection in the ignition key slot. This causes the scooter to shut off completely without warning and is dangerous when on the move. This has happened on two occasions, while I was sitting at 60kph on the highway. With the scooter still coasting down the road, a mild twist of the key got the ignition to fire up again. Those episodes were unnerving, to say the least, and ours is not the only SXR I’ve heard of to have faced this. I’m off to the service centre to sort out the issue.
While at it, I also want them to take a look at the erratic fuel gauge. At present, the bar-type read-out fluctuates randomly after the fuel level drops to half. This makes me keep a close eye on the tripmeter and refuel after crossing 120km. That won’t be conducive for my plans to go on a long-distance trip. I hope Aprilia has a solution for this when I take it to the service station.
More on this and how the SXR 160 tackles the daily grind is what you must look out for in the next report.
Rishaad Mody
Ved Janve
Dinshaw Magol
