Mahindra Rodeo Road Test Review: Grunty, Nippy and Compact

Traffic and road rage can make people kill each other. Can traffic piss off a dyed-in-the-wool Bulleteer enough, for him to dump his Bullet for a zany looking power scooter? Read on to find out.

Friend: Dude, I’m looking for a zippy auto scooter to scoot around town?
Me: Are you nuts.? Sissy stuff man. I like an engine between my legs than one buzzing under my backside.
Friend: But bikes are a pain to hustle in the terrible Bangalore traffic.
Me: Alright, but still, scooters are for oldies or fatties who can’t raise their legs more than a foot above the earth.
Friend: Duh, I’m buying a scooter. Just gimme a name that’s peppy and fun.
Me: Wait for a week, I’m about to road test one.

Bouncing off this conversation, right into a terrible traffic jam on last Friday evening enroute to a terrace party with old buddies, left me wondering whether my friend was right after all. Here I was, bang in the middle of a frustrating traffic jam leading to the IT hub of Electronics City with my thighs roasting away as the big single I was on, struggled to dissipate excess heat in the barely moving traffic. Alright, time to give auto scooters a serious thought.

Fast forward to Monday morning, I have a spanking new Mahindra Rodeo Power Scooter parked in my garage for an exhaustive road test. The brief from the good folks Mahindra Two Wheelers was simple. Ride it the way you want and let us know what you think of it. Ride it I did, for over 140 Kilometers in a single day, over varied terrain ranging from smooth blacktop to twisties, to potholes that can make the moonscape look mild to traffic that can cause preachers to mouth profanities.

Looks: 4.2/5

On first glance, the Mahindra Rodeo looks compact, and smaller than the Honda Activa or the Suzuki Access 125. While people nudging the 6 foot mark may look clowny on the Rodeo, how many Indians actually nudge the six foot mark? So, lets move on to the Rodeo’s styling, shall we? While this is something very subjective, for me the Rodeo looks fresh enough for the teen chick next door to ride to college, as well as pleasing enough for her dad to be seen riding one shopping for vegetables. This simply isn’t the case with both the Honda Activa and the Suzuki Access 125 which simply look staid and boring for the youth of India to really bother wanting one. So, there, Mahindra Two Wheelers have simply got the styling spot on to appeal to a wide range of audiences and thus the Rodeo is one of the best looking scooters around, save for say the sharpish looking Honda Dio.

Feature List: 5/5

Walking around the Rodeo, I spotted plenty of useful bits all around. Right from the two hooks in front of and under the seat that can be used to hold baskets and assorted stuff to the mobile charging point which is soon becoming a de facto piece of kit, especially on scooters. One feature that had me floored was the front fueling cap that turned with the twist of the ignition key. What this simply means is that you don’t need to get off the seat and show the bloke at the petrol pump what you’re making for dinner every time you refuel. Ah, this brings us to the all important factor of under seat storage. The under seat storage is pretty cavernous if you belong to the species of homosapiens whose heads are smaller than, say a football. Yeah, because full face helmets bigger than a football simply won’t fit into the space under the seat.

The other smaller cavity is good for say, three cucumbers, one capsicum and two potatoes. Yes, seriously. But, I’d have liked some more space considering the fact that the fuel sits at the front. Later, I realize that the battery eats into some storage space. So, you can’t always have your cake and eat it too holds good here. Another thoughtful bit that most of you will love as you open your seat is the presence of an LED lamp that lights up. Nice touch, I say. Talking about nice touches, here is another one. The key hole comes with a safety slide that actually slides across the key hole thus covering it completely. While this won’t deter the hard core thieves who actually will cart your scooter into their mini trucks, the small time ones will be put off by such a deterring feature. So, that’s indeed a nifty little feature to have. Plus you get a side stand indicator with a beeper.

So, time to swing, er, slide my leg across and put the 2010 Rodeo through it’s paces. the paces seemed tempting enough, the spanking red Rodeo that was delivered to Team ICB had less than 50 clicks on the zany looking multifunction digital odo. Talking of which you have a digital tacho that swings all the way to 7500 rpm, a digital fuel gauge, a digital odo read out with a tripmeter function, read outs for acceleration and time taken to cover 50 meters and a clock. Information overdose? No, I found it pretty useful though the novelty factor might wear off in due time but then again, all this information is nice to have, literally at one’s finger tips. Wait till you hear about this. The display can actually whopping 9 colors. Moodlogic anyone?

Performance and refinement: 4.5/5

Heading into the business end of the spectrum, I thumbed the ergonomically placed electric starter button and the Rodeo immediately settled into a highish 2000 rpm idle. The motor certainly didn’t sound or feel as smooth as say the benchmark Honda Activa, but then there was less than 50 Kms on the odo. Thus, it was too early to take a call. Riding the Rodeo right into peak hour traffic, I immediately perceived the sheer advantage of the compact design. Cutting in and out and out of the narrowest gaps in traffic was a real breeze and the Rodeo’s great balance ensured that low speed antics that left bus drivers fuming too were predictable and safe. The city was soon a blur and the highway beckoned. While the Rodeo isn’t a machine that should be doing highway duty, riding down to picnic spots with their girlfriends in tow is exactly what 18 year olds will be doing on the Rodeo

I headed to the steep Nandi hills, unfortunately with no babe on the backseat and along the way, I gave the barely run in Rodeo the stick. Hammer fisting the Rodeo brought out something that I am yet to see on an Indian scooter. After 70 Kph on the digital speedo, the Rodeo felt like an electric scooter. Absolutely no vibes through the handlebars, nor through the foot well and not even a hint on the seat. Honestly I was stunned by the motors performance at the top end. Creamy is one word and not even the Honda Activa feels so creamy at the top. Acceleration was brisk and the grunty motor showed plenty of poke at the bottom end. This said, the refinement at the low end wasn’t as good as say the Activa or the Access 125. This could be due to the fact that the running in wasn’t done yet and this theory seems to be pretty plausible as the Rodeo’s low end and mid range got smoother as I racked up the miles. Power Scooter: Yes, it certainly is.

Bike Ride and Handling: 4.5/5

Ascending and descending the steep Nandi hills offered me a perfect test of the suspension set up and handling of the Rodeo as I got a mix of low speed cork screws to moderate/high speed sweepers. The new Rodeo held it’s line well and felt well weighted across all the corners with the engine never huffing or puffing to make the steep ascent. But going up the hill two up is something that wasn’t tested and hence, I’ll reserve my comment on that. Coming down the Nandi hills, I took plenty of backroads or should I call it no roads. I was literally praying as I did 60 plus on the speedo across a few huge speed breakers and potholes.

My initial trepidation gave way to confidence as I soon found myself flying across bumps and potholes with nary an issue and the Rodeo went perfectly where I aimed it to go. No bottoming out, no scraping the underside and no thunks and clangs on bad roads. This hints at a great weight distribution and a neutral chassis balance. Thumbs up. I also braked from relatively, for a scooter, high speeds. when I jammed the brakes at 50, the Mahindra Rodeo locked up it’s rear but managed to stop in a straight line. At 60 though, the rear fishtailed. While these are pretty much the ballpark figures of braking, a disc brake at the front could do wonders.

Rodeo Build Quality: 3/5

Here is where Mahindra seems to have lost the plot and seems to be carrying on the erstwhile Kinetic tradition of poor build in a few areas. The build quality was iffy to say the least, especially in the switchgear and the plastics. They simply didn’t exude the high quality feel one has come to expect of auto scooters, especially after getting used to the Hondas and Suzukis of the scooter world. Point 1: The headlamp switch was loose and moving about. Point 2: Massive panel gap at the bottom of the front apron storage compartment. Point 3: Loose headlamp panel which started to vibrate at a particular rpm due to resonance.

I had a word with the higher ups at Mahindra Two Wheelers about the build quality. While they promised to get working with the production folks and do something about the panel gaps, I was told that the flimsy headlamp switch could be a one off example as other Rodeos were perfectly fine. About the resonance, loose mounting screws are the cause and this could be attributed to the heavy abuse I doled out when I went flat out during the course of the bad roads/no roads test. While this is plausible, I am still of the view that the plastics need to hold up better, especially if Mahindra intends to project a built-to-last image of the Rodeo.

Fuel Economy / Mileage: 3.5/5

Hammer fisting it all the time, the Mahindra Rodeo managed to return about  an average of 38.5 Kmpl. Riding it sedately, I managed to muster about 46 Kmpl. Those are decent mileage figures considering the pep it offers. Now, if you start comparing it to a certain Honda, you can go buy the boring Honda.

Performance Figures:

0-50 Kmph: 7.4 Seconds

Bike Top Speed: Indicated 95 while true GPS Read Out was 87

M&M Rodeo Review Rating / Verdict: 4/5

The Mahindra Rodeo is packed with plenty of gadgetry that will do a NASA spaceship proud. The engine, though not the smoothest one around, is a rorty performer at the low end and mid range while turning into a creamy dream at the top end. It handles strongly and holds up well on the worst roads. Built to last feel: No sir, not really. Would I buy one? I would as a city slicker as it is so much fun to hustle around town. But, I would also expect Mahindra Two Wheelers to do something about the build and do it quickly. At a price of about INR 48,000 in Bangalore, the Mahindra Rodeo isn’t exactly cheap, but if you want good looks, grunt, a huge feature list and a zippy, comfortable package, you should go buy one. Me? I would keep my Bullet for the highway jaunts and zip around the city on a Rodeo. Seriously.

2010 Mahindra Rodeo Scooter Road Test Review: Photo Gallery

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