IT’S NEW BUT IS IT WORTH IT? THE ORIGINAL… AND THE BEST
New Vespa GTS 300 75th shows how a scooter can offer style and utter luxury
‘There’s velvety performance, a refined ride, and Italian style’
There are many cheap and cheerful new scooters out there that’ll get you where you need to be perfectly well. Chinese scoots in particular don’t cost the earth and most are reliable, economical, practical and some even manage to look pretty cool, too. So, what’s the point of spending big money on a little run-about, like the £6690 Vespa GTS 300 75th?
Feel the quality
Well let’s put it like this: remember when Rubik’s cubes were all the rage? If you bought the real thing the coloured layers would glide smoothly around with the silent, effortless precision of a Swiss watch. But if you bought any number of imitation rip-offs, they’d feel cheap and flimsy at best, doing little to help you crack the coloured puzzle of doom in under three minutes.
It’s the same with two wheels. The cheap stuff can perform perfectly well, but you can’t beat the real thing and after travelling just a few metres on this new 75th anniversary celebration Vespa it’s staggering just how smooth the ride is. There’s no crashing and banging through the suspension or wondering if you’re going to stop when you pull on the brake levers. Best of all its 23bhp, 278cc single cylinder engine is so unruffled, refined and quiet you’d swear it was electric.
That feeling of quality and solidity comes not from cheap and flimsy plastics, but from steel bodywork, finished in deep ‘Giallo 75th’ metallic yellow paint with plenty of chrome and wonderful attention to detail. There’s a well thought-out, Bluetooth-enabled 4.3in TFT colour dash, LED lighting all round, Michelin City Grip rubber and neat, recessed flip-out pillion pegs and attractive Vespa logos embedded into the handlebar grips.
The Vespa also comes with ABS, traction control and, of course, a distinctive design that has embodied Italian style since 1946. Since the first patent registration was lodged 75 years ago, Piaggio say almost 19 million Vespas have been sold around the world, including 1.8 million in the last decade alone. This special may well help the brand shift a few more.
More useful than a 125
The new GTS 300 is as handy around town as a 125, but its extra oomph and capacity allow it to cover longer distances at useful, more real-world speeds. You’ll need a full (A2) licence to ride it, of course, but in return you get a speed-limited top whack of 81mph and rapid, almost electric bike-like thrust away from the lights. And while it can hardly be described as cheap compared to rival 300cc scooters, it does only cost £540 more than the GTS 125 75th and does 65mpg, so that’s 121 miles from just over £11’s worth of unleaded.
A special edition
The 75th anniversary special costs £790 more than the standard GTS 300 Touring (the base GTS 300 is just £5190) and for that you get special paint finishes, 75th logos, a nubuck leather saddle, a round leather bag (designed to look you’re carrying a spare wheel around) and a welcome kit, including a fancy silk scarf, owner’s book and eight collector’s postcards, detailing the eight decades of the Vespa’s history.
Trinkets aside, the machine is just incredibly easy to get on with. It’s a twist-and-go, handles confidently, despite sitting on tiny 12in wheels, has decent ground clearance and strong brakes.
It’s also reasonably comfortable and in true Vespa style there’s a lot of bodywork to keep the lower half of the rider sheltered from the elements.
The grip from the Michelins is fine in the dry and at low speed in the wet, but things get vague in the rain when you decide to push on in a bid to get home to dry off.
There’s very little not to like... unless you’re on the back and have short legs. It’s a surprisngly long stretch once perched on the back to get your feet placed properly on the pillion rests, which is odd as you could easily see this Vespa being used to whizz around with a mate or partner to a flash restaurant or wine bar. It’s not cheap, either and costs more than premium rivals such as the sporty £5700 Yamaha XMAX 300, £5499 Honda Forza 350 or Honda’s SH350i £5049 city workhorse. So while there are definitely cheaper and better value commuter offerings out there, that it is slightly missing the point of this anniversary special. You’re paying extra for the Vespa’s style and badge
(as well as those postcards and fancy scarf…), of course, but you’re also getting a quality scooter that rides really well with a big dollop of the dolce vita thrown in for good measure.