Yamaha Aerox 155 Long Term Review: The Good And Bad

The Good

Road presence. There’s nothing like the Aerox on the road. And therefore, it draws glances from men and women, children and seniors alike. It’s not just a conversation starter but also elevates your social standing. You become the Ntorq rider’s envy and a middle-aged man's hero when you roll in on this Yamaha.

Seating ergos. Most scooters choose low seat height and flat seating to boost practicality and accessibility. But it affects the seating ergos as a result. The Aerox is different. And therefore, it's upright seating, stepped seat, and largish seat-floorboard height difference make for comfortable seating egos. Now whether you are spending an hour commuting or a couple of hours on an intercity run, it won’t leave you with aching limbs or bottom.

Performance. A 155cc, liquid-cooled engine. Output figures of almost 15bhp and 14Nm. So, performance is sort of a given. But, if you have been used to traditional scooters, even the quicker ones like the Ntorq, riding the Aerox feels sensational. And even after six months of riding it, it still feels quick and exciting every time I open the throttle with intent.

Fuel efficiency. A fuel efficiency figure of around 40kmpl isn’t great when one considers traditional scooters. But 40 is still a good number when you bring Aerox’s performance into the mix. For us, giving up 10kmpl for many folds increase in riding fun is a fair trade.

Underseat storage. A full-face modular helmet. Or your riding gear, complete with boots. Or just your office bag with the laptop, coffee tumbler, and an elaborate lunch box. Throw what you will at the underseat storage, and it gobbles it up. You can’t, of course, throw a microwave or copier machine at it, but you get the picture. As a result, it makes for a wonderfully convenient city runabout.

The Not So Good

Floorboard storage. Unlike the underseat storage, the Aerox’s floorboard is useless for carrying anything. That’s thanks to the raised spine in the middle of the floorboard, which holds the fuel tank of the scooter. We do, however, use the Viaterra Claw Mini saddlebag from time to time to compensate for this. What’s more, the scooter’s storage on the apron is useless too. It’s poorly shaped, and it can only hold very specific items; items that easily fit into your pockets in any case.

Rear suspension. The other big issue with the scooter is its rear suspension. It’s an extremely basic unit with no preload adjustment either. It uses stiff springs with poorly judged damping. As a result, when riding solo over rippled, broken, or hastily patched roads, the rear never settles down. The rider literally has to stay on his or her toes through bad patches to avoid the scooter’s rear hammering his or her back.

Pillion mounting. Sometimes a good design feature can have a downside. The Aerox is a lovely-looking scooter, and one of the design bits that make it sporty is its raised rear end and a stepped seat. This design also allows for cavernous underseat storage. The downside is that it makes getting on and off the scooter’s pillion seat - even for an average-sized adult - a task.

To Buy or Not To Buy

For those not in the know, the Aerox you see here is, in fact, mine. So, I did buy one. But that doesn’t mean it makes this Yamaha scooter a default buy for everyone. I bought it because I wanted a properly modern and fun scooter to ride. Which the Aerox is. And the other positives just came as a bonus to me.

However, if you want a more well-rounded, practical, and traditionally-sound scooter, the Aerox is full of compromises. It’s not as comfortable to ride or park. It’s not as easy to carry kids to school on; your eight-year-old will have a hard time getting on to the pillion seat. And if you need to carry something bulky or odd in shape or size and not necessarily heavy, the Aerox’s underseat storage is useless.

The Aerox then isn’t a very practical scooter. What it is, is a brilliantly practical motorcycle!