Modern Vespa

Jess

The things that money can't buy...

Anyone else seeing the similarities with the italiajet?

http://scoot.net/faq/images/6/6f/Velo50big.jpg

It's small. It's underpowered. It's expensive. It's unavailable. It's a Vespa. So, what is your problem?

Maybe it will be possible to fix by installing aftermarket exhaust without catalytic converter and, of course by other tuning. We'll see.

From what I read, it's far from underpowered with that new 3v engine.

And if it weighs -- say -- 210 lbs (not unreasonable for that design), it should be quite zippy... at least up to the speeds where aerodynamic drag is the major inhibitor of performance.

Has anyone seen an actual spec for the weight?

Nothing that a 2 1/2 year conversation and an ordered part can't fix.



SDG

However you are confirming the rest to be true, right Alex?



We will all just have to wait and see.

Best,
SDG

I assume you've heard nothing official yet then David?

That is correct. I am excited for this new product and will accept as many as Piaggio will provide me on their terms without hesitation.

I want one.....

Best,
SDG

So do I, but I couldn't justify the cost.

I have no doubt you'll be able to find more than enough customers for them though.

But we actually don't know what they will cost yet.....

Maybe we are in for a pleasant surprise.



SDG

I like your optimism

I don't understand what you are talking about...

I think it will be priced between $7k and $8k.

I'm thinking $5990.......

But what the heck do I know?

Best,
SDG

If it's anything less than my GTV was out the door after all the crap I added to it, people will buy it.

Please Piaggio!
for the new LX..
946 150 engine, larger glove box, full helmet sized underseat.
Keep the wheels how they are..

Ah, if you enlarge the glove box and put a full helmet sized compartment under the seat, the bike wouldn't look anything like the 946 prototype. This is exactly why I am interested to see what actually comes out the other end of the pipeline.

Yes, a sexy looking bike with no storage. But to replace the lx it needs some utility. . This is not a vespa to bring shopping home, but a cool toy for those with a car or two.

I doubt seriously that the 946 will replace the LX (I am personally eagerly awaiting the LX 3V )

BMG in Fulham (London) are advertising the 946 as built to order for £7,200.00.

As Mr. Bannatyne would say. 'I'm out!'.

Ouch! Direct conversion is $11,623 (and yes, I realize that doesn't work) but that is one heck of a price. Good luck Vespa and the rich who shall ride it.

The consensus estimate for US pricing is $6000 at the low end and $8000 at the high end.

I'd be amazed if it's less than $10000 and my calculations came out even higher on the previous page. That was based on the relative costs of other Vespas on both sides of the Atlantic and the UK 946 price.

I know prices vary from country to country, but when it's the same as a GTS plus an LX in the UK, I can't see it being less than a GTS in the US.

Sherman Oaks?
Let me know when/if you've got 'em in 150. I'll be your first customer.

Yeah, Vespas aren't cheap over here.

a new GTS300 would be about $7000USD out the door where I live.

(MSRP $5999+dealer prep, tax, title, license)

It's ugly



It's impractical


It's £7200


Failing to see any pluspoints on this one


Once again

It's ugly......

I think it's lovely. But it's not £7,200.00 worth of lovely. I'm finding it hard enough to think how I'm going to afford a GTS300. I wouldn't pay £4k for a 125 let alone seven!

Ok folks...

If you want one.... get your deposits now...

The bike will be built in LIMITED numbers and built to ORDER ONLY!!!
That's the official unofficial word from Piaggio America.

Thousand people- thousand opinions:) For one is ugly for another is gorgeous. If you look at her as a transportation then it is not very practical however if it is your hobby and not the only Vespa in your garage she would have her niche.

That's not ugly. If you want to know what "ugly" looks like, see the Pontiac Aztec. Now that's ugly.

You know what else? Pontiac sold several orders of magnitude more Aztecs than all the 946s in the world. Just goes to show that there's a seat for every ass, and an ass for every seat.

perspective .........




is it at £7200 prettier or more desirable than say a mint re conditioned ready to ride vintage GS160 or VB ? (insert your particular flavour of vintage) or a nice old lambretta...


what we are really talking about is kudos...modern vespa'a are a compromise between kudos and practicality...but at that price it just says about the rider "more money than sense".............


wouldn't be seen dead on one, it may in become a classic only time will tell but i can buy more fun performance and credibility at half the price...


shallow that may be

but not half as shallow as someone that would spend seven grand on that!


the prosecution rests.......

AFAIK, cost isn't usually an aesthetic quality. There are some beautiful things in the world that I can't afford. That doesn't make them not beautiful.

Agreed.
Many women for example.

jess,


fair point but...


price does open it up to comparison, so although it will be beautiful to some people is it comparatively more so than the very thing it is retrospectively copying? I.M.O clearly not, also as well as "art" it is being sold as a functional piece of transportation so has to compete in that market and be value for money in that respect etc etc.....

for me as art it fails not just based on price but on how it looks...


as a form of transportation that is practical and value for money in the market in which it must compete it also fails...

compared to ironically vespa's own trusty and attractive GTS/GTV/LXV/LX models which are all aesthetically pleasing practical and value for money....

i thought about comparing it to those super cars, ariel atom , lamborghini murcielago etc etc but they all justify the price tag with performance, this does not.

so once again im struggling to see its point other than piaggio making a few quid out of those gullible enough to buy it...

[/i]

So what you're saying is that because you yourself don't like it, nobody else should like it either. Is that a fair assessment?

i think my argument was far more eloquent than " i don't like it"


though i admit i don't

but further to not liking the look of it i question the point of it...


unlike the bugatti veyron for example which was an exercise in engineering and about pushing the envelope

this has no point other than shameless profiteering by piaggio though i admit if it was for me a thing of beauty that would be function enough in itself...i love my gaggia it looks beautiful but it also makes a mean espresso....but not more so than other coffee machines that are not so pretty.

so we will agree to disagree....


like all these things beauty is in the eye and all that malarky.

I'm not sure this will be profitable, even at £7200.

The R&D costs are going to be substantial and if they are only selling them in small quantities it's going to be hard to cover that.

No point, other than that some people actually like it. You're making some rash assumptions about what "point" an object has to have in order to be allowed to exist. These statements are, in fact, provably false.