What makes the PCX so special?

[RobV]

The "benchmark" talked about at the National Scooter Rally (Oz) was the new Kymco 150, but it's fuel consumption is 10km/L worse that the PCX. Service intervals are 3000km (2000km if you want the extra warranty) Vs 8000km for the PCX. I rode a borrowed Lambretta (new one) with a fuel injected 161cc engine and I was getting about 33 km/L (that was cruising on mountain roads below 80kph. I'm getting over 42 on the PCX. I don't know any other auto scooter that gets close to the PCX's economy.

[gn2]

Vespa Primavera
Yamaha Nmax

[Yorkie150]

my 2018/19 125cc pcx is recording 115/119 mies per UK gallon of fuel.....with the idle stop activated

[fish]

You can buy a lot of gas with the savings from Kymco vs PCX purchase price ......plus you get 2 wheel ABS and full LED lighting with the new Kymco LIKE150i.
PCX is a great scooter (and hard to DIY service) - but, for that price, needs to adopt adjustable shocks, twin discs and ABS.
Fish

[Mel46]

I think one of the main reasons for it being so popular is that it is a Honda, which means reliability. Also, most of the other scooter manufacturers use it as their objective to match or beat. This includes gas mileage, dependability, engine size, service, and other factors.

If there had been a Kymco dealer near by with a network of Service Centers in the region, I might have considered one, especially since the styling on some of theirs is good. Their Downtown styling reminds me of my Burgman, and an upsized PCX. However, unless I knew a lot about them, I would really be concerned about no service centers.

[Yorkie150]

having owned a 1300 Pan European and ridden for over 120,000 miles without any breakdowns or failures and the only cost was servicing was the reason I went an purchased a pcx ....its a HONDA....

[Old Grinner]

If there had been a Kymco dealer near by with a network of Service Centers in the region, I might have considered one, especially since the styling on some of theirs is good.

A few years ago the Kymco Scooters were more common in my area at dealerships (other marques dealerships . . . not Kymco dealerships).

The Kymco and Genuine brands have continuously "piggy backed" off other brands dealerships and in plain English just don't have as much skin in the game.

Now . . . not so many Kymcos out and about on dealer showrooms anymore in this area. It could be for several reasons. But that said they weren't closing down any Kymco dealerships . . . just not so many of their products showing up at "the other guy's" store.

As we know, not so many scooters are currently sold here in general. But the broad array of products offered by the Japanese "Big 4" keeps consumers interested and keeps them marching in the dealer doors like flies to a picnic (well maybe not during Winter ).

The Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha dealerships continue to reign and parts and service are widely available. For the DIY types there are great online part sources. That goes a long way in customer confidence. Sadly Kawasaki doesn't bring their scooters to market here. The J125 and J300 look cool to me . . ..

https://www.seastarsuperbikes.co.uk/kaw ... ls/scooter

When I bought my XMax the salesman thanked me because, as he put it, "not too many people are into scooters here". And he's right. It's a shame. But for those who see the value in what scooters offer it surely must be a sign of intelligence.

It's 40 F. and there's some sun in the sky. Time to grin and spin the wheels.

[WhiteNoise]

PCX 2015 and years forward HAVE FULL LED lighting.
For a few hundred $$ more there's optional Up front (only) ABS.
For more info about newer '19 and '20 models you can visit Honda here and download an owners manual.
Scroll to bottom of this page, find downloads --> click: owners manual
https://powersports.honda.com/street/scooter/pcx150

Also Adding an article from Motor Scooter guide: http://www.motorscooterguide.net/Honda/PCX/PCX.html

Other:
Several years back, a good friend of mine bought a Kymco Like. Rode it 3 months, had an oil issue, took it back to dealership, said they fixed it. They didn't. Leaked still. SURPRISE! That bike continued along the same path, just a headache. So it was traded in for a Downtown. That bike was fine until it quickly developed a scary vibration at high speed. Bike was taken back to shop more than once, and Never fixed correctly by (that same) dealer. Bike was sold. No more Kymco in buddy's stable - no more dealings with That store!
It was the dealer, he sucked, they were totally at fault. Just a Bike Store selling Kymco among others brands. Having Bad experiences? Walk the other way.

Too bad, because both those Kymco's were very nice bikes.

Go test ride the New PCX then tell us what you, RobV think (whilst smiling)

[Old Grinner]

Speaking of ABS on the PCX here is a review done by Mr. Fish about the 2019 125 model in the U.K..

At about 3:20 into the vid he brakes hard on the PCX and confirms that it does well for being on the front wheel only.

Overall great review. I may have posted this here sometime before but here it is again just in case . . ..

[RobV]

in Oz the PCX cost is comparable to the Kymco. Also with 2K km service intervals the (capped) cost of servicing alone - for the warranty period only, amounts to 80% of the cost of the scooter. Fuelly.com figures for the Nmax are 31-41km/l (only 3 submissions) Nmax has vvti - giving it more potential, I'm guessing if you throttled back you'd get better fuel consumption. The primavera (1 submission) 125 was only getting 25 km/l. On paper the PCX engine is quite conservative - two valve. I think being liquid cooled helps and perhaps skinnier wheels means less rolling resistance(?)

[riding@100mpg]

I still feel the honda name nets you better reliability along with better resale. buying a kymco limits you to fewer dealers(at least in my area). I don't like that feeling. ran into that problem with a bmw motorcycle, no competition and no one else will even touch it for repairs. i'll stick by the honda for now, good enough for me and my 2013 nets 100 mpg on and on.

[gn2]

The Primavera has had at least two different engines, maybe three.
The current one is very fuel efficient.
There's more than one listing on fuelly for Primavera.
Also worth looking on spritmonitor.de
In monetary terms the difference between 120mpg and 90mpg is quite small.
My PCX averaged around 90mpg commuting on fast A roads.
My current Xmax300 does around the same, but at much faster speeds.

[jrewillis]

This might help too if people need an updated 2018 onwards review

https://youtu.be/GhdAhugDZRw

[RobV]

I guess my question is: How come the PCX is SO much more fuel efficient than other similar size scooters? It's in the order of 30% more economical than the (new) Lambretta I borrowed for our national scooter rally. That's a significant difference.

[gn2]

The Lambretta has a very basic engine.
The PCX isn't significantly better than other similar spec scooters.

[iceman]

My UK '14 reg (5+ year old) LED PCX meter is still showing 132 average mpg through December and now in January (ok, it's always been a few mpg out but has always been dam near accurate compared to actual fuel in and trip miles). It will be much better come warmer weather. I was getting 127+ real mpg in winter before a belt and air filter change, went up slightly after that but I had been getting 130 mpg+ consistently from new (figures on Fuelly).

I am not keen on ABS now as I believe CBS is fine if you drive carefully and manually operate both brake levers properly - even for emergency stop. More to go wrong and harder to service (and £100's each time it does go wrong).

The shocks are bad for London's pothole and bumpy roads, and the plastics are too large and cumbersome and made to make servicing difficult (or so it seems as small panels with service hatches would make everyone's life easier). Different shocks with more travel, easier to remove plastics and perhaps adjustable mirrors (width adjustment) would be great.

[gn2]

https://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview ... owerunit=2

https://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview ... owerunit=2

[Yorkie150]

I have a very low mileage PCX 125cc......Not ridden very much but am getting between 116 to 130 MPG ( Uk gallons ) and thats with the Idle stop activated.

[RobV]

The Lambretta has a very basic engine.
The PCX isn't significantly better than other similar spec scooters.

I believe the Lambretta's engine is a two valve fuel injected engine designed by Honda built by SYM. (same as in the SYM LeGrande) so not that different to the PCX. PCX is liquid cooled though.

[vito]

Maybe its just me but the PCX150 gets great mpg, in my opinion, even when I push it pretty hard. I've only put about 1,500 miles on my 2019 scooter, and for the first few hundred miles I was getting about 100 mpg. But once it was past the 500 mile mark, I felt free to push it harder, often pinning the throttle the whole ride, and my mpg would drop to about 83 or 85. But that is still astronomical compared to my Goldwing which gets about 38 on average, so even at the lower mpg it is still amazing to me. FWIW, I didn't take gas mileage into account when I bought this scooter. I wanted a smallish scooter to use for running around town on errands, trips that I might not want to wheel the Goldwing out of the garage. I test rode a Vespa (very nice and with a powerful 300cc engine, but I did not like the "floating" feeling I got from the front end, nor did I like the somewhat high seat). I tried a Yamaha (I think it was called an S-Max) and while it seemed OK, the ride on the PCX just seemed much more comfortable and confidence building to me. Plus, over the last 35 years I have had Hondas, Triumphs, Kawasakis and without a doubt the Hondas were the most reliable.