Honda Navi: Quick Review, Specs, Launch

Honda launched its first-in-segment Navi at the 2016 Auto Expo, stirring and disturbing the well set two-wheeler scooter market in India.

The company took many of the scooter manufacturers by surprise in launching the new bike or should we say scooter. That's left to every person's imagination as this two-wheeler looks to offer it to the urban youths who need a spiked or spruced up scooter.

Let's take a quick review of the Navi.

Design

A funky looking two-wheeler looks more like a bike than a scooter, the boomerang fairing on the bike looks cool and probably inspired by the V of the Navi.

The front sports a telescopic suspension like a bike and the rear is kicked up and has a mono suspension.

The rounded off rectangular headlamp without any fairing looks cool and the butterfly handlebar shows off the essence of a motorbike.

The wheels are small and a small storage is provided in the front which is open or could be fitted with a box.

Performance

The Honda Navi has taken the Activa engine which is an air-cooled, 4-stroke 110cc in capacity and punches 8bhp @7,500rpm with a torque of 9Nm @5,500rpm. It will be mated to an automatic gearbox, the Honda calls it V-matic with a top speed up to 82 km/h.

Honda has fitted the Navi with Combi-brake like its sibling, Activa, to bring the two-wheeler to a standstill.

Ride & Handling

Honda has reworked the chassis probably to give it better center of gravity to justify the handling of a motorcycle. The bike will be more or less the height of its scooter range and will assist persons with any stature.

The butterfly handlebar gives it an upright feel to throw the bike during cornering a turn, only the small wheel needs to be seen if it will indeed ride like a motorbike.

Features

Honda has not revealed much of the finer details of the Navi, it will come with three variants - the NAVi Street, the NAVi adventure, and the NAVi off-road.

The Street will be the base variant and will come with colours options - Patriot Red, Green, Shasta White, Sparky Orange and Black.

The instrument cluster looks very simple and switches looks like it was taken from one of Honda's motorcycles. The fuel cap will be external and this will make it easier to fill petrol.

Verdict

The Honda Navi will compete with scooters as there are no other two-wheelers with this design or approach. Honda says they developed the Navi based on the feedback and surveys from their dealerships. Time will tell if this will be accepted by the Indian customers.

Prices starts Rs. 39,500 ex-showroom (Delhi) and owners can book it through an Android application and deliveries will start from April 2016.