Suzuki Let's: Scooter Review

Growth leads to urbanisation, which in turn leads to busy streets and bustling traffic. And growing India needs to reach places – quickly and without much fuss. This is where gearless scooters come in – the undisputed King of hassle-free commuting in our country. Once considered to be a dying breed, scooters have made a strong comeback. In fact, the humble scooters have even managed to outsell motorcycles lately.

No surprise that everyone is plunging in to the burgeoning gearless scooter pool. Good news being that, this has led to a wave of fresh breed of well engineered scooters flooding our markets. The latest being Suzuki Let’s. The scooter was first showed to the privileged media earlier this year, and even displayed at the 2014 Auto Expo soon after.

The Suzuki Let’s is a good looking scooter – compact, with sharp styling and minimum body bulk. There are traces of Suzuki’s family design on the new scooter. It has a distinct face, with the unique shaped clear-lens headlight, vertical design of the indicators and the black groves underneath them. It looks perfect when viewed from the side. I particularly like the simple but effective body lines and the rising rear panel design. Just that the narrow panel design exposes the large air-filter box, which is a bit of an eye sore. Thankfully, this Suzuki scooter gets a sleek exhaust, which is also slightly raised-up to merge with the overall design.

The rear-end design is equally attractive and resembles a shark’s snout with the indicators acting like its eyes. The Suzuki Let’s is a well finished scooter, with all the panel gaps neatly aligned to each other. Attention to detail is also great. Take the large and flat floorboard for instance, which has been neatly carved on the side, so that the rider’s legs reach the ground comfortably. Even the sole, large bag hook is located conveniently in front, near the ignition key, so that it is easy to reach. 

There’s just one slot for the key on the scooter, which works the ignition and even unlocks the seat to give access to the storage space below. The under-seat cavity is on par to competition, and can accommodate a regular open-face helmet. Overall, it’s a compact and aerodynamic design, which comes together quite well.

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The switchgear fit and finish is good and works well, as expected from the Japanese manufacturer. The rear view mirrors are stylish and also offer good visibility. The only thing that does not gel well on this modern scooter is the old-school analogue instrument cluster, which offers basic information like speedo, odo and a fuel guage. The clocks, however, are well laid out and are easy to read. The palm-grips and levers resonate quality. The rear brake level also comes with a lock, which is very useful feature to have on an automatic scooter.

Once astride, the Suzuki Let’s proportions feels even more compact. It has clear traits of a commuter, with an upright riding position, thank to the combination of a large and flat seat and a raised handlebar position. I was surprised when I turned the handlebar, it touched the knees of an average built Indian like me. Guess taller riders would have to sit further behind on the seat to avoid the contact. The seat is reassuringly firm, and will be comfortable for the rider and passenger even on long rides. There is ample knee and legroom for the rider and the floorboard is flat and spacious. Suzuki is also offering optional front luggage-box for about Rs 900 extra.

With the Suzuki Let’s, the company has introduced a new 112.8cc, four-stroke, single-cylinder and air-cooled engine. Like its siblings the Suzuki Let’s transfers power to the rear wheel via a CVT transmission. Suzuki has managed to match the power output figure to the bigger 125cc Suzuki Access and Swish scooter, but at higher revs. The Let’s produces 8.7PS of power at 7,500rpm and 9Nm of torque at 6,500rpm, which are respectable numbers in the Indian automatic scooter segment.

The new motor comes equipped with Suzuki Eco Performance technology (SEP) which promises to deliver class leading 63kmpl under test conditions, which in reality would translate to about 45-50kmpl. It is an extremely refined staying true to Suzuki’s reputation of producing well engineered and dependable motors. The initial throttle response is good and surges ahead enthusiastically till about 30-35kmph, but then the power flow plateaus, exposing its weak mid-range. It does manage to picks up pace post 60kmph but unlike its bigger 125cc siblings, the Let’s feels rather strained cruising at 80kmph.

Since most of its body panels are comprised of light-weight fibre parts, the scooter weighs just 98kg, it’s very easily maneuverable. With its compact size and ‘feather’ weight the Let’s feels extremely manageable. Hoisting it on the main-stand or pushing the scooter in to your garage is no Herculean task. This makes the Suzuki Let’s a great option for ladies and lean men, alike. The telescopic front forks and monoshock rear shocks are tuned on the firmer side, without being uncomfortable. The ride quality is on par to competition, as the Suzuki soaks in road undulation without bottoming out. Our test scooter ran on 90/100 x 10 inch tubeless Eurogrip tyres which offered decent grip throughout the day long ride.

In terms of handling, the Suzuki Let’s felt pretty neutral, and maintained the desired angle throughout the turn without protest. Its light weight was an added advantage, and aided the scooter’s agility and flickability. The scooter comes with drum brake option only, where the front has a progressive feel at the brake levers but rear brake lacks strong bite. So, you end up depending more on the front brakes.

Suzuki has made a grand entry in the 110cc scooter segment with the pretty sorted product, with good looks, compact size and frugal engine. The Suzuki Let’s is priced at Rs 45,100 (ex-showroom, Pune), which makes it a couple of grand cheaper than segment leader Honda Activa, and a direct competition to the recently updated TVS Wego and the smart looking Yamaha Ray-Z. In the current trend for light, nimble and fuel efficient scooters the Suzuki Lets makes quite a strong statement.