Take a tip from the third world: $4 gas is scooter time
Filed under: Transportation, Travel
For under $2,000, you can buy a brand-new vehicle that will get 100 mpg, and can be parked almost anywhere. With gas at $4 and heading up, perhaps it's time we took another look at the world's answer to cheap transportation, the scooter.
I'm not suggesting the old-style two-stroke, high polluting pieces of crap, but modern, high-quality machines from manufacturers such as Honda.
For example, check out the--
Honda Metropolitan, $1,899. Honda matches classic scooter styling with a 49 cc. four stroke liquid-cooled engine for a ride capable of carrying you 100 miles or so on a gallon of petrol. Talk about cutting down the cost of transportation.
Yamaha Vino, $1,949. This scoot features a comparable engine to the Honda, and gets around 110 mpg. It too has classic European styling and Yamaha quality.
Vespa still has plenty of dogs in this hunt, including the Piaggio Fly50, a 50 cc. four-stroke selling for $1,849. It also captures the scooter cache with handsome styling.
Of course, scooters have limitations, primarily weather. Riding them in traffic takes some practice and skill, and taking a motorcycle training course from the Motorcycle Safety Institute would greatly improve your skills. But with gas going nowhere but up, a little two-wheeled fun might help keep your budget from running out of gas.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-06-2008 @ 11:13PM
Some guy with a scooter said...
A two stroke has a lot more power to get up and go, still getting around 90 MPG. It might be worse for the planet than a four stroke, but you could litter everywhere you ride and still be better for the environment than what most Americans are driving. Also, choosing a scooter over a car saves enough money to justify skipping work on days when the weather is bad. Instead of paying 30,000 for a car and insurance, you could spend 2,000 on a scooter and take 534 more days off of work.(I calculated this with minimum wage and 8 hour days, but it is a lot of fun to do the math for your own situation and see how much you really are saving.) In Colorado, there is no legal requisite to insure a 49cc scooter, or even to obtain a motorcycle license. That might be true in other states too. The savings in gas can pay for a scooter; if you were getting 25 MPG and started getting 100 MPG, it would feel like that $4 per gallon gas just turned into $1 per gallon gas instantly. That's ninety dollars back in your pocket for every 100 miles you ride instead of driving. If you ride 1000 miles per month, your scooter is paid for in two years.
So, there it is: You save lots of money, you do less harm to the planet, you look really cool, and you have way more fun getting where you are going.
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5-07-2008 @ 8:53AM
Erwos said...
You might not be legally required to get insurance for a scooter, but you're kind of dumb if you don't. There is tremendous potential on the downside if you get hit by a car or something.
5-08-2008 @ 8:33AM
Shirley said...
These would be terrific. I remember when the first Vesper came out, but I think three wheels would be a bit safer than two especially for the elder generation. I would certainly buy one then
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