Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

Query Approved

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

Hey! Thanks for approving the query Looking forward to get help and information!

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

The problem is, the TVS servicing must be very incompetent in your area. I have never faced any problem with my Jupiter within 27K kms of ownership.
Now coming to your next scooter, please choose the one, whose servicing is better in your area. Both your listed scooters are equally good. Only a descent servicing centre can guarantee your niggle free ownership experience for next 5 years. Talk to people using the brands to get an Idea. And do numerous test rides aswell.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

Thanks for the reply! Traditionally, with all my scooters, I give it to the showroom affiliated service centre for the first year (the free services), but thereafter, I give it to a local service garage who does some pretty top-notch work. This has been the case for both my activa and my wego - but confusingly, which I held the service constant, it was the wego that deteriorated.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125


We have the activa 110 and the swish 125 in our house (used by my wife and dad). Also had the first gen activa earlier, and have rode the activa 125. Reliability wise i would say that Honda's quality has gone down compared to the 1st gen activa and the other utterly reliable bikes from the Hero Honda JV.

The suzuki is as reliable (if not more) as a Honda. Stress free experience in the 47,000 kms owned. The only parts changed were brake pads, spark plugs, air filter and tyres. While riding the activa 125 at around 65-70 kms i felt some amount of vibes. Not so in the suzuki. The suzuki mill might be rougher in the inital revs, but is absolutely stress free. I am getting a mileage of 38-40 kmpl. Service center experience is also better compared to Honda where you will find a million vehicles coming into service, the advisers having little time attending to customers.

The suzuki engine is rougher in the inital rev range, but vibe free in the mid and top range. The Honda engine will certainly feel smoother in the lower revs but is vibey at higher revs.

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Adding to my earlier post, the Jupiter has the same engine as a wego (110cc) and the acceleration is lesser than that of Activa 125/Access 125. AFAIK the Jupiter has a fibre body and the wego, metal body. The engine has been picked from the TVS Victor and is known to be reliable. Perhaps your case was an exception.

Drum brakes would suffice on scooters, and discs are an overkill (unless you want to stunt). CBS on Honda acts when the rear brake is applied, wherein the front brake is activated, to add stability to the vehicle.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

To be very honest, I don't usually ride faster than 50 kmph - fuel efficiency is very important to me. Since you have ridden both the Activas, can you tell me how you feel the reliability has gone down i.e in terms of what parameters? Another priority for me is ride comfort - a softer ride is much better for my back than being jolted around, as I do around 250 kilometers a week. I am frankly more inclined to the Suzuki Access, since the swish seems slightly more delicate. When you say that the suzuki is as reliable as the activa, do you mean gen 1 activa or the newer, less reliable activa?

With regard to the TVSes, I really hope my case was an exception - because the Jupiter looks like a really good scooter.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125


I had made a reference to the speeds only to give you an idea of comparative performance of the vehicles. I do not cross 50 kmph either. Comparing the 1st gen activa and the newer models one area where the newer models score is 'mileage'. The older activa used to return a mileage of around 40 kmpl whereas the newer activa returns around 48-50 kmpl. The areas where i feel the quality has gone down is build quality of the vehicle (ie mettallic and plastic parts), transmission (the transmission is jerky and the clutch needs to be adjusted frequently. No such problems in the older activa. This is a major downer IMO). Of course the vehicle has not left me stranded !

Regarding the ride quality, choose a vehicle with telescopic fork suspension so that it does not provide a bumpy ride. Access would be a better choice than swish since it has a more planted ride. It would return a mileage of 38-42 kms. If you are looking for better mileage you need to chose a vehicle with a 100-110 cc engine (Jupiter, Aviator).

Another aspect would be the service centers. In my city (Bangalore) suzuki has good service centres. Not sure in smaller cities.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

I own 2006 Activa and Dec-2016 Access 125
Why i chose Access 125 over Activa 125 or Jupiter is mentioned in my ownership thread in teambhp. You can search for "Milky Bar" in that forum to find my thread.

1. Better ride and handling
2. Better lights
3. NVH levels way better than Activa : Activa grunted a lot while starting off compared to Access.
4. How many Activa-125 you see on road vis-a-vis Access 125? These numbers show 20 access for every​ activa125 for me in Bangalore.
5. i feel access is designed for 125cc capacity since beginning. Activa is force engineered from 110cc to match125cc.

Post Purchase Ownership Experience
1. Suzuki service center has treated me really well - leagues ahead of honda service center
2. Activa spares will be readily available in any nook and corner of country. But not so for Suzuki.

Suzuki pulled my hearts strings and puts a smile on my face every day i ride it!

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

Thanks a lot ZZR1. I recently had a chance to test ride the Jupiter and the Access 125. The Access seemed very jerky and had a comparatively hard ride. I am still considering the Activa 125 BSIV - which I haven't had a chance to test yet. All the scooters I'm considering have a telescopic suspension - one of the reasons why I ignored the Activa 3G, or the upcoming 4G.

With regard to the service centres, I have traditionally given my scooters to a local garage who does things up very well. However, looking at the responses, I noticed that this is not something everyone does. Is it something I should avoid with my new vehicle (Once the free services are over ofcourse).

Thanks again and sorry for the late reply!

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Hey, thanks for that! I looked around for your thread but I couldn't find it despite looking everywhere! Can you help me with the link? One of the overwhelming reasons I am inclined to the Access is its long and flat seat. I'm not too tall, but I like to sit a fair bit behind on the seat - allowing my legs to stretch. The problem I have faced with the Jupiter/Wego/Activa is that they now have a step up seat, which makes that position very very uncomfortable

I test rode the access, and I found the ride to be a little too firm - almost reactive to the tiniest bumps on the road. Is this something you have experienced as well?

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125


Link is here (My Milky Bar: All-New Suzuki Access 125 Special Edition - Team-BHP).

Ride quality is such that it is sure footed even at 70KMPH. For that to be supported, the suspension cannot be wobbly. If it is so, then you will not have confidence of doing such speed.
Somewhere in my review I've mentioned that the scooter suspension behaves like "air suspension" over 50KMPH.

My dear friend - I suggest you to take extended test ride- with and without pillion. Nothing clarifies better than a proper test ride.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

Oohh your that guy with the milky bar 😀 my mind was pretty much fixed when I saw your review, unfortunately my registration request couldn't be approved there for some reason.
I have also posted my review of the Suzuki access 125 over here in owner ship thread do check it out.
I clocked just 62km till now on my access and I can say that I Happy very happy. Handling is superb, acceleration is on par with any 125cc bikes or commuter 150cc bikes and regarding mileage I can guess it's surely giving more than 55 as I have clocked 62km and still have all 5 bars if I assume 1 bar equals to 1 liter of petrol which is more as compared to any other 125 or 110cc scooter.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

IMHO servicing your vehicle has to be a top priority job when it comes to hassle free ownership experience. Simple things like changing your engine oil every 3 to 4k kms or 6 months depending on your usage, Getting the spark plugs and air filter changed every year or at 10 to 12k kms and also refueling at the same/trusted petrol stations will help you in the long run. I owned a 2012 Wego rode it for 56k kms without any major issues. I followed the above steps and it served me well. TVS is not the best when it comes to smoothness and comfort but overall maintanence of the vehicle was relatively cheaper than Honda. I can vouch for this because I own an Activa 3G now. I was lucky that I had a friendly TVS dealership near my place. Coming from wego, activa is light years ahead in terms of smoothness and refinement. What I suggest is that visit dealerships personally and get to know their service advisors. There will always be one guy there who will be friendly and enthusiastic. Talk to the owners ask them how the service centres are treating them. Buying a scooter is a one time deal owning and maintaining it needs a lot more effort thanks to our half qualified technicians at the service centres. Wishing you a happy purchase experience. Ride safe.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

First off, thanks a lot daretodream, for the brilliant brilliant review of the Suzuki Access. I've spent so much time reading and re-reading it and it makes me really happy to know that there are people like you out there who are willing to infuse such good knowledge into the biking community.

This is the first time I'm buying a scooter. All the recon done on the scooters before were done so by my parents. Having managed to save some money recently, I wanted to buy my own since having only one scooter between is a little difficult. When I went to the Suzuki showroom, they gave me a 600 meter testdrive - nothing more than that. How did you go about requesting (or should I say demanding) an extended test drive. And what would you typically do on such a test ride?

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Thanks a lot for that top tip mate! In fact, I have barely been using showroom service centres. Both the Honda and the TVS showrooms nearby seem to resemble a fish market - absolutely chaotic and by the look of it, not working very smoothly. For the past 6 years, I have been giving my scooters to a very trustworthy mechanic from a local garage who has infact done a tonne of work very well. I feel my wego had a lot of issues from the get go - and a year at the TVS service centre hasn't helped much.

Just out of curiosity, can I ask why you chose an Activa 3G over the 125?
Cheers

----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Hey hardik - i just went over your review - and first off, congratulations on the new bike . Just wanted to know what you felt about the ride of the vehicle? My rather short test ride have me thinking that it was a bit too hard, but surely, 600 meters doesn't let you gauge the bike well. Also, when I think of it, I should have checked tyre pressures.

Re: Suzuki Access 125 or Honda Activa 125

Thanks buddy..!
Rear suspension is perfect and the pillion would be very very comfortable but the front suspension is a little tough I feel. You feel every Minor change in the road on your hands, may be that's because they wanted high speed stability as the rear is a little soft I guess. It really makes you feel connected to the road plus the seat is also comfortable soo you don't feel anything on the rear 😁. If the suspension is the decider then you can insist the delearship for a longer test ride as I got almost 3-4km long test drive although I had booked the access already 😂