Fashionable and easy on the pocket

After spending many years ignoring the segment, Yamaha has created an entire gearless scooter lineup within the span of the last one year. The Fascino, the fourth of its kind and easily the most premium offering, features an elegant design that could easily see it emerge as a challenger to Piaggio's Vespa for style conscious customers. The fact that it costs far less won't hurt its cause either.

The Fascino's styling is its biggest selling point. The triangular headlamp is remniscient of classic Italian scooters like the Vespa and the elongated rear section features some lovely curves. The scooter's tasteful use of chrome for the name plates and on the front grill also serves to accentuate its upmarket positioning. And despite the fact that all the panels are plastic, the Fascino manages to exude class thanks to its superior fit and finish.

Yamaha also offers some excellent colour options- the matte red and blue in particular are guaranteed to make an impression even from afar. And the dark shade of plastic used on the visible parts of the undercarriage draws attention away from the nuts and bolts and towards the polished panels.

The one part of the bike where Yamaha seems to have dropped the ball is the instrument panel, which is decidedly tacky and belies the premium feel of the rest of the scooter. Thankfully, the switch gear does not suffer from the same negligence.

The Fascino is powered by the same 113cc Yamaha engine that is found on the rest of its scooter lineup. Tuned to produce 7.1 bhp of power and 8.1 Nm of torque, this scooter is no speed demon, but the continuously variable transmission (CVT) provides enough zip to slip through gridlocked roads. The majority of the Fascino’s power is concentrated in the region between 30 and 60 kmph, after which it starts to show its limitations.

The scooter feels very nimble and is also slimmer than the Activa, meaning it is easier to push into tiny crevices in traffic. The fastest you will be able to push a Fascino- outside of an airport runaway or a track- is 80 kmph. The scooter feels pretty stable at this speed but decelerating quickly from up there is a challenge considering it only comes with drum brakes.

Yamaha claims the Blue Core engine on the Fascino is capable of delivering a mileage of 66 kmpl, which we were unable to replicate on our test unit. Our readings were closer to 40 kmpl, but religiously sticking within the indicated economy speed range- which we didn’t do- might take you closer to Yamaha’s figure.

Along with great handling, Yamaha has also taken care to thrown in a few everyday conveniences which often end up swinging scooter purchasing decisions. Under seat storage space is large at 21 liters and leg room is abundant. The cubby hole below the steering column is very thoughtful- we used it to store a cell phone with GPS navigation on and found that it was deep enough to prevent the phone from getting knocked out when going over bumps. The long rear section means that the seat is very comfortable for two.

The marketing around the Fascino indicates that Yamaha is targeting the female consumer with this scooter, which is a sizable market. The Vespa, however, has proven that a scooter with a chic design has universal appeal.

The Fascino may not have the craftsmanship or the bells and whistles that make the Vespa special, but that also means its pricetag at ₹52,500, is much easier to deal with. For those who like their ride to make a statement- and there are plenty of men in that category- the Fascino will check all the boxes on a budget without compromising on handling and ride quality. That’s a hard proposition to say no to.

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