Which do I want for money savings, a Vespa S 150, or a Yamaha Zuma 125?

Question

I'm looking at a Yamaha Zuma 125 and a Vespa S 150. They're both very fuel efficent, but why is the price difference so huge between them? Is it that the Vespa is in general a better built scooter, or is it just over-priced? I want something fuel efficent that won't cost be too much money, but I don't want something that's junk. The specs don't seem to explain the huge price gap unless I'm missing something.

Answer 1

The Vespa is kind of a "cult", if you will, type of scooter.  You are buy a lot of mistique.  I believe there are better bargains available that will give you better reliability.

Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki are the big players.  More dealers, documented reliability, and good resale in a market that gas sells for $4.00+ per gallon.  

Stay with the bigger names if you don't buy into the Vespa mistique.

Answer 2

i have no idea about licences in Oz and Nz,,,but experience tells me with bikes even a low cc(125cc) or 150cc,,,

these are driven at a certain speed and use a certain amount of fuel,,

a bike with a higher cc  does use less petrol as it doesnt need as much throttle to climb a hill for example,,

in the UK learners are restricted to a max of 250cc,

it doesnt follow that a lower cc uses less fuel as you have to "drive"it harder,

better use the more powerful at the bottom of its capacity than the less powerful at the top of its capacity

Answer 3

Yamaha's product will out last the same model size Vespa to Zuma, the shop seems to get more Vespas in for maintennance then any of our Yamaha & Honda scooters

Answer 4

The Vespa is a great brand of scooter.  They are very well built and have a tight fit everywhere.  They are, however, a little more expensive than most scooters.  If you are looking at saving as much money as possible, then you should go with the Zuma 125.  You might also look at the yamaha Vino 125.  They are both reliable scooters and there are a lot more dealers for yamaha than vespa, so if anything ever did go wrong, you could easily find a place to have it serviced.  I think both of those scooters get near 100MPG or possibly even more.