The term ‘upgrade’ is something that will get most of us excited and there’s no denying that it’s exactly the way I felt when the good folk at Ather called to tell me they are swapping my Gen 2 450X with the new Gen 3 scooter. Having read Rishaad’s first ride report and all the positive things he had to say about the 450X Gen 3, I wasted no time in exchanging the old scooter for the new unit, and boy, did it feel like a proper upgrade!
Firstly, the battery capacity has gone up from 2.9kWh to 3.7kWh and that translates to a real-world range that's over 100km. It means I don’t have to worry about range, if at all I decide to take a long detour from my usual commute that’s well over 50km, and catch up with friends at the local cafe.
Secondly, I’m all for the fatter tyres that have made the 450X an even better corner carver than it originally was. There’s a notable improvement in the way the scooter sticks to a line and it makes me want to attack the usual set of corners on my daily route with more confidence. As for the ride quality, I’m not really bothered about the firm ride and the best solution to this minor issue, according to me, is to carry more speed over a bumpy road.
Lastly, the new mirrors that sit on redesigned stalks make a world of a difference in giving me a clear picture of the traffic behind me. The previous mirrors, though sharper-looking and nicer in terms of design, compromised functionality to quite an extent. I remember having to keep looking over my shoulder before changing lanes as I couldn’t see vehicles running just behind the scooter. That’s thankfully not the case astride the 450X Gen 3.
So far, the going has been good and the new Ather 450X runs as reliably as the previous scooter did. I can blindly trust its battery range indicator; the time taken to charge the battery is as estimated and everything runs glitch-free. Save for Google Maps that takes a while to load and is laggy at times.
The solution to this is the new Atherstack 5 software update released recently and we plan to get it installed on our scooter soon. Besides improving the Google Maps experience, the update also displays live traffic data. The user interface has also changed and that’s another thing that I’m keen to experience. Moreover, the company has also introduced a new, wider and comfier seat on the updated scooter and that’s an upgrade we are surely going to install in our long-termer.
Ved Janve
Soham Thakur
