Aprilia may not be the biggest player in the Indian scooter market but it is certainly one of the most radical. It was the first to give us a taste of a true-blue affordable performance scooter with the SR 150 in 2015 and in 2020 the company then upped the ante and introduced India to a premium, yet attainable maxi-style scooter with the SXR 160.
However, six years is a long time and in this interim, the niche that Aprilia was the sole occupant of has now been infringed upon by TVS, Hero, Yamaha and more recently, even Honda! To counter, Aprilia has now taken the next step in the SXR’s evolution and has introduced two models with new engines (125cc and 175cc), more features and a GT suffix. We were given a chance to sample the larger 175cc version and here are our initial impressions.
Aprilia SXR GT 175 Design and features –
At this juncture, you’re probably wondering aside from the new colours and graphics, how different is the SXR GT 175 to the erstwhile SXR 160 it replaces? The answer to that question is, not very much. Aside from larger 14-in wheels, the SXR GTs look identical to the models they replace and you can certainly feel like it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect more from the company. However, what you can’t deny is that the scooters still look handsome and striking without going over the top, despite looking nearly the same as they did 6 years ago – that’s Italian design brilliance for you! There are three new colours on offer – the vibrant blue you see here accompanied by a stealthy black and a camo army green scheme.
However, once you get astride, you’ll realise that there are a fair few changes going on. For starters, the SXR GT 175 uses the same bright and well laid-out colour TFT display as the SR 175 and this dash is replete with Bluetooth functionality which brings in call/notification alerts & navigation prompts. Like that scooter, the overall user interface is a bit complicated and you will need to learn some of the secret handshakes necessary to fully utilise it. Another gripe I have with this dash is that while it has a lot of tech, you have to make do with a single trip meter, which seems like a small but unnecessary omission.
Another small omission is the absence of a multi-function ignition key slot, which means you need to remove the key and put it in its dedicated slot to open the seat and access the boot – something most smaller and cheaper scooters have long moved past. The underseat storage space here isn’t anything to write home about either. However, Aprilia will sell you a pretty spacious 32 litre accessory top box to alleviate that issue, although we don’t have a price for that yet.
What is a nifty storage solution that comes as standard – carried over from the SXR 160 – are the fully enclosed cubbies on the front apron, and one of them even has a USB-A charging port. While this is surely a safe and practical storage area for your knick-knacks, it’s not the most convenient solution to access when on the move. That’s because you first need to come to a stop, then twist the key to its off position and press it inwards to unlock the cubby.
Aprilia SXR GT 175 Ergonomic –
Of course, the new feature that is visible most prominently on the SXR GT is its new 14-inch wheel setup, which has its set of pros and cons. On the plus side, the proportions of the scooter are now better than ever before and its ground clearance has also now risen to 170mm – always a good thing on our unpredictable roads. However, because of the larger wheels, the SXR’s seat height has now risen to 800mm, which makes it the tallest seat height on any made-in-India petrol scooter.
Credit where it’s due, this number may seem big on paper but in the real world its not an unapproachable machine. Our photographer Omkar (who’s 5’2) could move the scooter around at our shoot location while seated without too much trouble. However, for someone that wants a friendly and approachable machine, the 132kg SXR is not where you should be looking.
Aside from that, the SXR’s ergonomics haven’t changed and it retains the neutral and upright riding position from before. The seat’s padding is on the stiffer side, which will be especially noticeable on shorter trips but it works well for longer durations and for a person like myself that’s on the heavier side of the scale (80kg without gear). What, however, doesn’t work for a taller person like me (5’11) is that the handlebar is placed a tad low and fouls my knees when making lock-to-lock u-turns.
Aprilia SXR GT 175 Performance –
While practicality and convenience are one half of the story when it comes to a scooter like this, what plays an equally important role is how the scooter rides and handles. It will probably not come as any surprise to you when I say that this is surely a fun scooter.
From the moment you thumb the starter and the motor settles into its gruff idle, the 174.4cc, 3-valve motor makes its intentions quite clear – it wants to be ridden quickly. While the vibrations do subside once you get going, the engine clearly rewards energetic riding because the faster you go, the smoother it seems to get! Not just 80kph, even at a speedo-indicated 100kph, it remains absolutely smooth at all the touch points with no signs of protest. For all you top speed nuts, we were able to see an indicated 110kph on the display before the rev limiter kicked in.
While the SXR is a quick scooter, from what I remember, it doesn’t feel as quick as the lighter and sportier SR. The 0-50kph dash is quite energetic but after that, acceleration becomes more measured. Nevertheless, this level of performance is more than acceptable for our environs and you’ll rarely wish for more power.
Aprilia SXR GT 175 Ride and Handling –
Equally as enticing as its performance is the SXR GT 175’s handling. The new and bigger 14 inch wheels lend it a newfound sense of stability around corners and at higher speeds. To ride, this feels like a proper maxi scooter experience rather than just a styling exercise. However, the tradeoff is noticeably heavier steering at slower speeds which demands quite a bit more effort. If you’re going to spend a lot of time in dense stop and go traffic that you constantly need to manoeuvre around, the SXR GT is not the ideal machine for that task.
To account for these larger wheels, Aprilia has also tuned the SXR’s suspension differently to before. The damping and shock absorption are really quite composed at the rear but the fork feels stiff and jarring over rough roads and does bottom out over larger, sharper-edged bumps. Since Mumbai’s roads are dominated by these conditions, we’re not sure how comfortable the SXR GT will be there, but hope to find out soon.
Aprilia SXR GT 175 Verdict (Overall Rating) –
In the scooter segment, Aprilia operates in its own niche where people that really value style and performance continue to choose its offerings over mainstream options. We don’t see that changing with the SXR GT because even though it is more well-rounded than its sporty SR sibling, it still has some hurdles to overcome both on the product’s as well as the after-sales side and fresh styling would have helped increase the appeal after all these years. Nevertheless, the company assures us it is working on the after sales front and it aims to have 250 showrooms in India before the year ends, up from the current 230. Still, that’s vastly lower than the sales reach of Aprilia’s rivals.
To sum up, this latest iteration hasn’t really diverged from what has been the cornerstone of the Aprilia SXR formula – to give you a decently-priced, good-looking scooter with both functional practicality and zippy performance. Speaking of price, the SXR GT 175 is priced at Rs 1.30 lakh (introductory, ex-showroom, Maharashtra) which is a pretty decent price considering what it brings to the table. If you must have a stylish and fun scooter that stands out of the crowd without breaking the bank, the Aprilia SXR GT should be on your radar.
