Suzuki Swish 125 facelift

Ah. The memories. This vehicle was bought for me when I was a 12th grader. 2015. I had just turned 18 and I needed a vehicle to commute to school, coaching classes and tuition classes every day. Scooters were much cheaper then than they are now. We had a budget of inr 60000 on-road and our options were: honda activa 3g, tvs jupiter (it was a new launch back then), suzuki access 125 (se), honda dio, yamaha ray-z and mahindra gusto. Of all these, I had a soft spot for the swish 125 already, because i had seen this scooter on the road and I always found it a good-looking machine. I took a test drive of everything else. The honda activa did not feel planted and confident inspiring over 60 km/h on the highway. And it was a similar story with every other honda scooter. The yamaha ray-z was a better handler but it felt a bit underpowered to me. And at the time it was pricier as well. The tvs jupiter made a strong case for itself. In fact, we were about to finalize this machine, but then I took a test drive of access 125 and i was now swayed. Being a 125cc, i did feel the slight improvement in the acceleration and this scooter felt so good on the highway. It never felt like it was going to do something funny at any time, i was in total control of it all the time. And the story was just the same with the swish 125, except the facelifted swish had received a small digital screen which showed time, 2 trip meters, fuel gauge and the odometer. Digital screens are common now but back in 2015, they were only seen on high-end scooters like vespa lx125 which was a full inr 20k costlier and the activa 125 which was priced over inr 70k. The suzuki swish blew the competition out of the water because we got ours for inr 58000. We also got the accessories free by the dealership, on the occasion of a new suzuki dealership was getting operational in the same month. The acceleration of the swish was amazing in its time. I tested my vehicle against a vespa lx125 in a suitable area and controlled environment and the vespa never took the lead at any point. It was neck on neck. For 90% of the time, i drove my scooter with half throttle/ slightly over half throttle and i always got around 45 km/l (tank-to-tank). I have also extracted approximately 60 km/l on the highway from this machine. Combine this stability and engine with a lovely handling and you're in for a treat. The suspension is very good and nicely tuned for a balance between planted handling and comfort, so it is neither very soft nor too stiff. The stock mrf nylogrip zappers were a let down, so after they wore out, i got mrf mogrip modo-d tires installed on the scooter and these improved the handling dramatically. They let the awesome suspension shine. Also, i love the meaty engine soundtrack of old suzuki scooters. So, why is this scooter so unique? because it is a combination of all the right bits. For its time, it had the features, it was a simple but good-looking design, it had a brilliant engine that sounded amazing, it handled well, it felt planted, it returned a good fuel economy and it was literally a steal at this price point and easy to maintain. I never understood why people did not buy it. The negatives? well typical with almost every suzuki, the electronics and the switches were a bit flimsy and in some places, the service centers were not good. And because it is discontinued now, replacement parts do take some time to arrive at the service center even if you are in a big city like delhi. Overall, i am happy with my vehicle, i do not intend to sell it and it still makes me smile when i ride it and look at it.

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