Moped Insurance Review of Honda Vision 50 (just released in the UK)
December 9, 2011, the official launch date of the new Honda Vision 50 moped, Honda’s first new 50cc machine in 10 years, was a landmark day for Honda. Our tester from moped insurance was one of the first to check it out.
At £1650, the Vision 50 not only replaces the Today 50 which has been Honda’s mainstay moped for the last decade, it is also a little brother to the Vision 110 which preceded it in August. Honda is making sure that today’s social media savvy generation is aware of the advent of the Vision 50, by creating an Urban Explorer game for Facebook which features the moped in a virtual tour of European cities.
This is clever marketing by Honda, as it is the younger generation which is most internet-friendly and also the most likely to jump on a moped to get to university or the local cafe in today’s increasingly congested European cities. Moped insurance costs for the Honda Vision are also low, which will be good news for young drivers.
Honda puts the little Vision’s light weight and its fuel-injected 49cc engine to good use, wringing 146.9 mpg out of the 100kg moped. According to Honda, this means that the 5.5 litre fuel tank gives the Vision 50 a range of 177 miles, such is the efficiency of this moped’s 3.35 hp 4 stroke engine. This kind of fuel economy gives Honda’s little 50 a decided advantage over its competitors, many of which use 2 stroke engines.
While a 2 stroke power plant is lightweight, cheap to manufacture and generates more horsepower per engine revolution than a four stroke, it also uses more fuel and has a sooty exhaust, so Honda has made a point of sticking almost exclusively to 4 stroke engines for its mopeds ever since the introduction of the Super Cub C50 in 1958. As an exception to this rule, Honda made the NC50 Express and NQ50 Nifty, cheap and cheerful 2 stroke mopeds of the 1980’s. Honda saw fit to reintroduce the 4 stroke when they introduced the Today 50 in the 90’s, perhaps because the incursion of cheaper Chinese mopeds into the scooter market forced Honda to move upmarket and emphasise quality and value for money again, to the benefit of Honda customers who had become accustomed to marked quality improvements in Honda’s cars and expected no less from their motorcycles.
Whatever the reason for the turnabout in engine technology, the Honda Vision 50 in other ways is without doubt the best moped Honda has ever made, and that’s saying a lot as the Honda Super Cub, the world’s highest selling vehicle, was the best made moped of its era. However, the 1950’s technologies of drum brakes, carburettor, wire spoked wheels and a clunky 4 speed semi-automatic gearbox has long since made way for disc brakes, PGM-FI fuel injection, aluminium alloy wheels and a CVT belt drive transmission in the Honda Vision, and so a 21st century Honda moped owner is getting a highly advanced yet inexpensive commuter bike for their money.
Anyone looking for a quality entry-level moped would do well to consider the new Honda Vision 50. It may not be the cheapest in its class, but is arguably the best moped, and certainly the best value for money.
If you are thinking about getting your hands on one of the new Hondas and you’d like a moped insurance quote, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
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