Honda PCX 125 Scooter Review: The Perfect Transition from Car to Single Track

We will start the 2023 motorcycle test season at Garáži.cz with a scooter. It is a widely used means of transport, and for many of its owners, the season only ends when it gets really cold. However, there are also accessories to make driving in low temperatures more pleasant. You can enjoy riding a scooter, go on a trip, but it is primarily a utility vehicle. A means of transport for the journey to work, school and today also for express delivery of various shipments. The scooter boom started after the Second World War, when people didn’t have a car. Today, everyone has a car, so there is often nowhere to go or park for the cars themselves. The scooter wins again, although this time for completely different reasons.

Tests of motor vehicles are usually full of technical data, but only someone is interested in their full extent. However, the person in question is usually skilled enough to manage a few clicks to get them. So I won’t bother you with a table of technical data converted into sentences. For modern vehicles, I will only focus on what really caught my eye. On the other hand, I apologize to those for whom modern technology has long been common, that I will stop at something that is no longer new. However, I know that many older motorists who do not know all the current conveniences are considering buying a modern scooter today, and I would also highly recommend purchasing a scooter for them. Don’t worry, you won’t have to clean the carburetor, it’s a thing of the past.

But in order not to neglect something important, in the company description of the Honda PCX scooter, among a lot of information, “X level of personal comfort (hence PCX) is mentioned, which is determined by the position with the feet inside the machine”.

What to choose from it… Oh, it’s clear to me – a full automatic, controlled only by hands on the handlebars, allows the rider to even cross his legs, after all, nothing is controlled by them, they just ride. But enough fun, let’s get to the actual Honda PCX scooter I picked up in the changeable spring weather. In such weather, there is actually a higher level of personal comfort on a scooter than on a motorcycle. Even in the rain, feet are dry at the destination.

When I saw that the Czech representation chose a scooter in a very decent color design for press testing, I remembered many trips to Bern, Switzerland, where in the nineties I was amazed that even government officials came to the office on scooters. In our country, even then, cars of higher class German brands were necessary for people in higher positions, but even a Swiss man in a suit and tie does not need to present himself by the car he gets out of, and even a scooter does not reduce his dignity.

I may be forgiven for mocking some modern conveniences, but imagine that the Honda PCX also has an automatic engine shutdown function that kicks in after three seconds of idling when the scooter is stationary and the brake is applied. Then just after turning the throttle handle, the engine starts immediately.

What wouldn’t we do for the environment, right? I am surprised that the scooter is not generally offered in frog green color for this love. A modern engine with a cubic capacity of one-tenth of the smallest car probably does not produce many emissions, but luckily the “eco-miracle” can be turned off. After all, a person has a scooter to avoid standing in queues like cars. I then need to enter the intersection a fraction of a second earlier than the car I stood next to. Therefore, I immediately thought that the convenience would put me in the position of a difficult one-legged insect that needs to be squashed.

But wow, it only works with an incredibly small delay! As soon as you move the throttle, the computer that controls everything is instructed to start and accelerate accordingly. All of this happens instantly, so whether the engine is running or off, the difference is really minimal when starting.

And speaking of acceleration – it’s not bad at one hundred and twenty, it’s certainly enough in normal traffic, but I felt that the engine could do more. Thanks to the variator setting, it works at relatively low speeds. Even when you go full throttle, the start is so soft, something is missing for an old biker. But it is necessary to realize that one hundred and twenty scooters are produced primarily for those who do not have experience with fast motorcycles. And for them, the variator and the electronic brain that controls the engine are ideally set.

Another reason for the moderate setting is two related parameters: emissions and consumption. In the technical data, there is something about two liters of gasoline per hundred kilometers, and believe it or not, that’s how it works out in our test as well. Since there is no longer a cable leading from the gas handle to the carburetor, with which you could properly splash gasoline into the engine, everything is different. An electrical signal tells the computer how much you’ve turned the handle, and the electronically controlled injection sends an optimized amount of fuel to the engine so nothing goes to waste. So you can add gas quite randomly, you will not force the Honda PCX to increase consumption.

I mainly rode around Prague, I’m used to significantly more powerful engines, so when starting at intersections I demanded the highest acceleration of the scooter that it was capable of. So I was certainly not lounging around, and yet the on-board computer evaluated the consumption at 2.2 liters.

Today’s conveniences include an electronic traction control system, which I would not expect from a scooter of this category. Of course, it is not designed to eliminate acceleration skidding when starting, the twelve-horsepower engine certainly does not have that. On the other hand, it can help a less experienced rider who takes off the gas in a slippery corner.

However, I will not forgive myself for the poisonous remark and again for the data in the manual that if the rear wheel anti-slip system works, the indicator light with the “T” symbol will start flashing on the instrument panel. Sure, it’s a regulation, a light has to be on everything these days, but this light will probably never be seen by anyone flashing. Imagine a rider looking at the dashboard instead of the road in a critical situation! He will probably say with relief that he almost threw up in that corner, but when he saw that his light was flashing, he was relieved…

But I’m going to change the switch. It is hard to find fault with the Honda PCX scooter, the electronic gadgets are there also because in the range of Honda PCX models, everything else is still fine-tuned to perfection over the previous years, and so it is invented and invented. Compared to the previous model, this year’s Honda PCX has a revised chassis and engine, and by increasing the bore at the expense of the lift and increasing the compression, the power has increased to 9.2 kW.

This is more than enough for city driving, and even on suburban roads you are not constantly overtaken and therefore threatened by those who make full use of the permitted higher speed limit.

The test scooter had not yet been properly driven, so I did not allow myself to test the maximum speed. I was surprised, however, that for driving on a flat road at 80, I added the gas barely perceptibly, just a short distance from idling, so there is no reason not to believe that the Honda PCX can squeeze over 100, and therefore it will not hurt even driving at a constant speed between 80 and 90 .

The scooter is relatively low (rider seat 764 mm), therefore it is also suitable for shorter riders. I, with my one hundred and eighty centimeters, probably wouldn’t want to spend the whole day on it, but even so, it had a very pleasant effect on me. After all, it is a vehicle for short trips, not for hundreds of kilometers in one go. That’s why even a taller person can put themselves on such a scooter and appreciate how light and easy the machine is, basically intuitive to control. You sit down and drive, you don’t have to learn anything.

The handlebars are pleasant not only ergonomically, but also visually. No casting or plastic covering, but the admittedly classic chrome tube. The safety of the passenger’s feelings is ensured by folding footrests and pleasant grip handles.

The instrument panel, which is amazingly clear, deserves great praise. As is usual today, it will offer you a lot of information, but the main thing is that you don’t have to look for anything on it from the most important ones. Nowadays, radar is everywhere, so you will appreciate the huge digits of the digital speedometer, readable in the blink of an eye. A scooter driver accustomed to a car often forgets to turn off the blinkers. The Honda PCX lets you know about a forgotten blinker with a large flashing yellow stick on the side of the main display. The fuel level in the tank is also very clearly displayed graphically.

The front brake is the kind we are used to on modern machines – a disc brake with precise hydraulic control, supplemented by an anti-lock ABS system. The rear brake is a drum brake with mechanical control, and it remains to be noted here that its control has a kind of rubbery feel. No wonder, the long bowden from the left lever on the handlebars makes itself known. But this does not significantly affect the brake for the rear wheel of the scooter, and the reason for the simpler design of the brake is certainly to keep the scooter at a very favorable price level.

The Honda PCX model has become such a hit that in the last two years these scooters have been hopelessly sold out in our country, which speaks for itself about its quality and popularity, or rather about the ratio of what it offers and its purchase price, even in comparison with the competition. The new model is improved again, so the conclusion is quite clear. If you are considering a scooter in this volume category, the Honda PCX can be clearly recommended.

According to the official price list, you can buy a Honda PCX for CZK 81,900. We drove 236 kilometers with the scooter in the test.