THIS 200cc Bike Offers The Best Value For Money

Our approach to VFM using the metric of price per PS

We’ve already told you about the 250cc bike that gives you the best bang for your buck (find out here) and also the best value for money 150cc-160cc bike (find out here). Now we’re going to hit that sweet spot in the middle and see which 200cc bike offers the best price per PS. This segment has everything from the cutting-edge KTM 200 Duke to the ancient-on-the-day-of-its-launch Hero Xtreme 200R, spanning a price window of almost Rs 85,000! And here’s how they stack up: 

The Duke is comfortably the most powerful bike here but it’s also by far and away the most expensive. In fact, it’s over Rs 48,000 more expensive than the next most expensive bike here, the Pulsar NS200, which only produces 1.3PS less. As a result of this, each PS on the Austrian bike costs you a mammoth Rs 6,854, making it the most expensive here.

The RTR 200 4V makes less power than the Bajaj and the KTM - in fact, it’s closer in output to the Hero Xtreme. In addition to this, it received a substantial Rs 9,450 price hike at the time of its BS6 update, followed by another Rs 2,500 hike more recently. As a result, the Apache is only slightly better off than the KTM, with each PS setting you back by Rs 6,220.

Bajaj has been the king of these comparisons so far, completing a clean sweep with 2 wins out of 2. The NS200 performs well here too. It uses the same basic engine architecture as the Duke, allowing it to produce a similar power figure, but the bike costs a whole lot less. Thanks to this, the price per PS is an attractive Rs 5,246, almost Rs 1,000 less than the Apache’s.

The Pulsar may be good value but when big dog Hero is in the house, nobody else stands a chance. The Xtreme 200R’s power output is a modest 18.4PS but when it’s powering a bike that costs just Rs 91,900 (in BS4 form), the price per PS figure is a spectacular Rs 4,995 per PS. Once it receives its BS6 update, though, prices are likely to go up by Rs 6,000 to 8,000 meaning that it could be usurped by the NS200 as king of this segment when it comes to value for money. Only time will tell.....