Honda Activa

The Honda Activa has been the most famous name in India’s scooter industry. In fact, most families refer to scooters in general as an Activa, instead of referring to the Activa as a scooter. And that’s because of some very obvious reasons. Back when it was launched in 2001, the Honda Activa set benchmarks with its quality levels, engine smoothness and overall reliability. Almost 25 years later, though, these 3 things are the norm, not the exception. There are a bunch of fantastic scooters in the market and they make the Activa feel old.

In fact, I myself was looking to buy a new family scooter. So read on till the end to see if the Activa made the cut or if I went for some other scooter.

The Honda Activa has looked pretty much the same since the 2nd generation, hasn’t it? It has, what I like to call, the smiling face. The headlight looks like the mouth and it’s flanked by the indicators, which look like the ends of someone’s lips which are drawn upwards when the person smiles hard. It’s a safe, harmless design which will not draw unnecessary attention and that sort of familiarity is exactly what draws a lot of Indian families to it, families that are looking to make a ‘safe’ decision. 

Honda Activa Colours

The colours offered on the Honda Activa are exactly what you’d expect from it: safe. In fact, Honda itself calls the blue colour ‘Decent Blue Metallic’. It’s not excellent or mind blowing, mind you. It’s decent. Jokes aside, the other colours are Mat Axis Grey Metallic, Pearl Igneous Black, Pearl Precious White, Pearl Siren Blue, and Rebel Red Metallic. If I had to pick one, it’d probably be the red colour since it’s the brightest, most youthful one. 

Honda Activa Build Quality

In terms of quality, the Activa feels sturdy. Its metal body is something Indians love since we associate it with reliability. That said, it’s not something that stands out like it did back in 2001 because its rivals like the TVS Jupiter 110 match the Activa, if not better it, in terms of quality and finish levels.

Honda Activa Safety Features

The Honda Actva is equipped with CBS (Combined Braking System) and that is pretty much the end of its safety features’ list. There’s no ABS, disc brakes or traction control to talk about. Yes, one might say that the Activa doesn’t need all of that since it’s a very easy scooter to ride, but things like a front disc brake are always good things to have on our unpredictable roads. 

Honda Activa Convenience Features

Thanks to its latest update, the Honda Activa’s top variant now gets a 4.2-inch TFT console. After pairing with it through the Honda RoadSync app, you get nifty features like call and message alerts along with turn-by-turn navigation. The other two variants, though, still make do with the dated-looking analogue console. Other little convenience features include the switch next to the key slot. Through it, you can open the external fuel filler cap and I was glad to no longer have to open the boot to fill fuel. The scooter now also has a USB C type port right above the front cubby hole.

Honda Activa Storage Options

The Honda Activa, being a family scooter, could’ve been a lot better in terms of its storage options. There’s the 18-litre underseat boot but given that a lot of scooters in this segment have nearly double the capacity, the Activa’s boot sounds tiny and it is. The day you’re carrying a couple of backpacks or returning from a big grocery trip, the Activa 6G just cannot swallow up luggage the way some of its rivals can. The boot should’ve at least had an underseat light to make it easier when going through stuff in the dark. 

Yes, the scooter has a little cubby hole at the front along with a USB C port above it, but the cubby hole isn’t fully covered. So I didn’t really put any of my belongings in there, for it made me too anxious about something or the other popping out and falling down while going through some of our infamous potholes. On the whole, the Activa could do with more storage options.

Honda Activa Rider Comfort

The Activa’s overall comfort levels are good. Its seat is soft and it feels nice and comfortable on short city rides. One thing worth mentioning though, is that if you’re on the heavier side (say more than 80kg) and have a long commute (say more than an hour and a half), you might start sinking into the seat and could be left with a slightly sore backside at the end of the commute. Now, of course I’m nitpicking here by talking about a very specific case but it is worth mentioning. If that’s the case though, the solution is easy for you could just go to a seat guy and ask him to stiffen the foam in the seat. 

Honda Activa Pillion Comfort

As I said, the Activa’s soft seat makes for good rider and pillion comfort. But with the family scooters moving to larger seats, the Activa’s seat seems like it’s been left behind. For perspective, the Activa’s seat length is 692mm, while its direct rival, the TVS Jupiter 110, has a seat that’s 756mm long. It’s not that the Activa can’t accommodate a rider and a pillion comfortably, but the day you have a pillion and some luggage, you’ll see that the Activa just doesn’t have the space that something like the Jupiter does. While riding with a 5’10 colleague, I remember that my knees were already pretty close to the apron. Just having one extra backpack would’ve made things really tight for us.

The Honda Activa’s 109.5cc engine makes 8PS at 8,000rpm and 9.05Nm at 5,500rpm. While the 6th generation of the scooter made a bit less power than before, the scooter still did 0-60kmph in 10.31 seconds in our tests. That’s 0.24 seconds quicker than the Activa 5G. 

Honda Activa City Performance

And as has been the story with other aspects about the Activa, its engine too, is just fine. It’s not the quickest in its class, but neither is it too lethargic. Open the throttle and the Activa goes ahead in a gentle and peaceful manner and that makes it quite easy for everyone in the family to ride. The scooter feels light, making direction changes easy and the Activa can squeeze through little gaps in the traffic comfortably. That said, as I mentioned, the engine isn’t the peppiest in its class so you will have to plan your overtakes accordingly. 

Honda Activa 6G Highway Performance

Out on the highway, once again, the Activa will not set any performance benchmarks, neither will it disappoint. Holding a steady 65-70kmph feels comfortable with just a slight tingle in the floorboard. Anything above 70kmph and you will realise that the engine is quite stressed, but that’s understandable for a 110cc scooter. Direction changes also feel quite easy to execute and if you have little highway detours on your everyday commute, the Activa will be competent out there. 

Honda Activa Mileage

The Honda Activa returned a mileage of 55.9kmpl out on the highway and 59.5kmpl in the city. The figures are pretty good for a scooter and I had no complaints with respect to the Activa’s mileage. For perspective, the Activa’s direct rival, the Jupiter 110, returned similar mileage figures in our tests.

Honda Activa Underpinnings

The Honda Activa uses an underbone frame with a telescopic fork at the front and a monoshock at the rear. While there is a 12-inch wheel at the front, Honda for some reason, decided to give the Activa a 10-inch rear wheel. These are shod with a 90/90 front and a 90/100 rear tyre. The biggest miss though, in terms of underpinnings, are the steel wheels. The Activa still doesn’t get alloy wheels as standard and the base variant has to make do with steel wheels, while the other two variants get alloys. 

Honda Activa City Handling

A kerb weight of 106kg means the Activa is quite light and it feels that way too. It’s easy to flick around the Activa in traffic and the overall handling is neutral, something that even the newest of riders can get used to. 

Honda Activa Highway Handling

Out on the highway as well, the Activa’s handling is competent, not mind blowing. If you take it easy and plan your lane changes, the Activa will handle with a sense of stability and won’t feel very out of place on the highway too. 

Honda Activa Braking

The Activa still labours on with drum brakes at both ends. I would’ve liked there to be a disc brake at least in the top variant. While the drum brakes work fine, our roads are extremely unpredictable and given how many people swerve in your way when you ride, I would’ve liked a disc brake at the front at least in the higher variants, for better stopping power. Because the day a rickshaw driver just stops right in front of you (which happens often), the drum brakes just cannot stop the scooter the way discs do. 

Honda Activa Ride Quality

Like the Activa’s seat, its suspension is set on the softer side too, so the scooter takes care of most bumps and potholes with ease. That said, the suspension is quite soft, meaning I had to slow down a fair bit on the substantially large potholes, or else the scooter would just bounce around. If you’re on the heavier side (more than about 75kg), you’ll have to slow down even more. But on the whole, the scooter ticks off all the basics and it’s a comfortable, easy-to-ride scooter. 

As I mentioned earlier, the first generation of the Honda Activa amazed us with its quality levels, refinement and reliability. Even today, the Activa ticks those 3 boxes and it’s still an appealing scooter for the masses. But while the scooter has been around for almost 25 years, the evolution from the 1st generation to the 6th generation hasn’t been worth 25 years. The issue is that the competition has not only caught up, but it has overtaken the Activa.

The TVS Jupiter 110 is a fantastic scooter that offers a better engine, more features, better hardware, more modern looks and more, all at a similar price. Then there’s the Hero Destini 125 (which is priced on par with the Activa) and the Suzuki Access 125, both of which are better than the Activa in most ways. In fact, from a purely economical point of view, the TVS iQube has proven to be a wonderfully reliable electric scooter and while its base variant may cost a bit more than the Activa, you could easily save that much money in 2-3 years by not having to pay for petrol at all.

To sum things up, the Activa might still feel like a safe purchase, there are a lot of options in the market which are pretty much just as safe, while offering a lot more. In an era of T-20 cricket, the Honda Activa feels like that test cricketer who refuses to accept that his techniques are dated and need to be changed. 

So no, when my family was looking for a family scooter, I did not get the Honda Activa. We got our hands on the TVS Jupiter 110, which feels like a superior product in almost every way. 

Honda Activa Variants

The Activa is on sale in 3 variants: Standard, DLX and Smart; priced at Rs 75,182, Rs 84,835 and Rs 88,507 respectively (ex-showroom). The biggest difference, as the name suggests, is that the Smart variant gets a 4.2-inch TFT console which has all the features that I mentioned above. Other differences include a halogen headlight on the base variant (other two get LED headlights) and that the Smart variant weighs 105kg (other two have a 106kg kerb weight). 

Honda Activa 6G vs TVS Jupiter 110

The TVS Jupiter 110 is hands down the better scooter in most ways. Price, features, looks, finish levels and the sheer fun factor, it thoroughly beats the Activa. One aspect, where the Activa might be slightly better is in terms of comfort but even there, the Activa is just ever so slightly better. On the whole, I can’t help but think of the Jupiter as a much better deal. 

Honda Activa 6G vs Hero Xoom 110

The Hero Xoom 110 comes across as the more modern and youthful of the two without compromising on the mileage side of things. And with its prices starting from Rs 72,351 (ex-showroom), it does come across as the more value-for-money scooter, especially for the younger crowd. The Activa’s biggest selling point over the Xoom, as has been, is that it’s a more well-established brand name and the elders in the house might like that a bit more.