Suzuki Avenis 125 lands in Australia and we blag a ride

Suzuki Avenis 125

While we were recently getting an ‘advanced screening’ of the great little Suzuki V-Strom 250 SX, we also had a chance to look at a second small zook that we think a few folks will also be interested in, the Avenis 125 scooter.

Quite the stylish little unit, it adds to the existing scooter line-up for Suzuki, sitting next to the Address 110. Thrust is provided by a well proven 9 hp air-cooled single-cylinder engine. I say well proven as they’ve already built five million of those engines.. Reckon they’ll just about have it sorted 🙂 Its fuel injected, meets Euro 5 emissions and of course is mated to a CVT transmission. No cog swapping needed here, just twist and go.

Suzuki Avenis 125 Specifications — Single-cylinder, air-cooled, SOHC

And while that nine horsepower might not sound like a lot to some, it’s on par or better than pretty much anything else on the market in the 125 cc space for power and / or acceleration. It’s not going to set any land speed records, but my short zip around Melbourne showed it had ample off the line grunt to hold its own in the traffic light grand prix of regular commuting.

It’s certainly roomy and comfortable enough, has two front storage compartments, one with a USB charge point, and of course the obligatory under seat storage area. In this case that under seat volume is quoted at 21 litres and looked plenty big enough. It will fit a half face helmet in there comfortably but I reckon as with any scooter, you’d want to test a full face one to be sure.

That seat height is both comfy as well as nice and low, I was easily able to get both my feet on the ground which makes it all the more user friendly. Easily maneuvered around for the press shots.

Wheels are stylish alloy units and come with linked brakes which worked very nicely and overall felt certainly nimble enough to be a fun thing around town. I didn’t get to stretch its legs much but I’m not sure you’d be wanting to do much work on this above 80 km/hr. It’s definitely an urban prospect.

It comes with a 5.2 litre tank which again doesn’t sound like much but it promises to be very frugal on the go juice with Suzuki throwing quite a bit of tech at it in the name (and by the name) of ‘Eco Performance’. So I’m guessing a ~150 km-ish range wouldn’t be out of the question.

Up front you’ve got a nice stacked LED headlight setup and I quite liked the LCD dash which included current and average fuel consumption. There was also a handy eco light that came on if I was being sensible and frugal on the juice.

Lots of accessories available already including hand guards and accessory bars so you can individualise your Avenis to suit your needs. All in all I think it’d be quite the option for someone who lives in town. Commuting would cost next to nothing on it.

And the best part? The price. You’ll get yourself on board one of these for $4900 on road. Less than five grand out the door! Astonishing value. They should be arriving in numbers later this month (January) and Suzuki are offering a free bike cover and hand guards for those who place an order ahead of their arrival.