Today on PowerDrift we have India's best scooter, wait wait wait wait, they updated it.
Is it still the best? Subscribe, like, share, ring a bell, pleased to kindly be doing the needful.
Now, Indian scooters are kind of strange,
when you add the word race to the name, the wheels turn red, try it on yours,
no really, it happened to the Aprilia SR as well. This of course is the brand new TVS Ntorq Race XP.
I think I should just be thankful it's not the Race XP 125 3V, right? The engine update is a
little bit of a Nancy Drew mystery because TVS won't fully talk about what they did, but clearly
the XP's engine is running very, very well because it's got almost a whole extra bhp and in my book,
more power is always awesome. Now pre-BS6, the Ntorq was actually pretty intense to ride,
post BS6 it was very good but a little bit slower, and now the XP feels properly fast again. TVS says
the real top-speed is 98 kilometres an hour and I think, seeing the dash of your scooter
get past a 100 kmph easily, it's very, very satisfying. In race mode, there is some vibration,
just enough to let you know that things are serious and this is not a complaint.
Things are notably smoother in street mode and it does feel more relaxed
even under acceleration in street mode, with roughly 1bhp and 1Nm less on tap. The biggest
difference between the two modes is progressed past 50-55 kilometres an hour, which in street
mode is placid and race mode really shines past that in comparison, running much harder.
As usual, TVS's tune for the engine and the transmission is very slick
and the XP is sporty in feel and performance and in that sense, the riding modes do work,
but, how much can a riding mode do when your range of ability itself is relatively small
and in that sense, on scooters like this, I think it's more of a gimmick than ultra useful
and let me explain. Let's say you have a riding mode that makes 10% difference in horsepower,
on a 160bhp motorcycle that's 16bhp, it's quite a bit of power, but 10% of 10bhp is just 1bhp,
kudos to TVS there, because the two riding modes do feel different from each other, but will they
make a big difference to how you live with the scooter and I think they won't make a big one, but
what do you think? Leave us a comment. The scooter has lost two kilos and that does help performance,
but I'm happy to report that the ride and handling experience remains just as impressive as before.
The Ntorq feels stiffly damped, but will handle everything with great composure and the faster you go
the better it feels. Corners are dispatched with enthusiasm and it really is a special scooter this,
brakes similarly, are superb, although as usual, I'd want ABS and I can't have it.
The new TVS connectivity feature set is pretty good too. The app now receives voice commands and you can
activate this using the start switch which now has three functions. Navigating is also harder than it
has to be, the problem is our reference point is Google Maps, which is very, very fluid and TVS's
navigation partner, MapmyIndia, their function set is just not that well developed. You can switch
modes, demand navigation help, get riding stats read back and lots more, 21 commands, in fact,
but the app, especially navigation, is slow, the interface takes a moment or two to figure out and
the strangest thing is that the scooter switches modes with two entirely different buttons,
depending on whether you're stopped or moving and of course, you will need a Bluetooth unit to
be able to use the voice operated functions, which is an additional expense. The TVS Connect app idea
and feature set is solid, some parts work well enough, but there is a lot of work remaining here
TVS, but you know what, all of these connectivity shenanigans, they're not important, because I
would buy that for how it goes and I don't care if it's not the best listener in the world.
The Ntorq is a fast, sporty scooter that knows how to handle bumps and corners and honestly,
the app experience does not spoil that for me at all. I do agree that a fluid,
great app experience would totally add XP to the Ntorq's score, but what I can't really wait for
is for TVS to take that engine and give it to the currently deaf Ntorqs, that's Rs. 8000 less
for the base this model and Rs. 5000 less for the Race non-XP, and now next, tell us what we should
be comparing this to and you should be thinking about why I'm asking you this question.
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