Review of Mahindra Centuro bike

Hello friends,

Buying a bike was not an easy decision for me.  In the past also, I wrote review of few of the product I used. I always believe that instead of going through the review of so called sites (often they give biased view as few of such publications are paid reviews), one should refer to the real user experience. This is another reason I write review of the important products. My review is based on my own experience about the product as an end user/ consumer.

What was in my mind while deciding for bike?

Well,  I had following things in my mind

1.       Bike should be above 100 CC

2.       Should have good, descent look- neither too sporty not too simple.

3.       Should have very good mileage

4.       Should have good suspension

5.       Preferably digital meter over analogue

6.       Should have good features

It took me almost 2 months to decide on it and finally I shortlisted following bikes

1.       Baja j Discover 125 ST- 125 CC

2.       Bajaj Discover 125 T

3.       Hero Glamour- 125 CC

4.       Mahindra Centuro 110 CC

I try to see value addition from each money spent so did lot of research including speaking to existing bike users and finally fixed Mahindra Centuro.

Why I decided on Mahindra Centuro

This is a big and a vital question. We do not see many Mahindra Centuro bikes on road. I purchased it almost 4 and half months back and then I am writing a review on this. I choose due to following reason:

1.       It’s a 110 CC bike and I did not want to buy a 100 CC bike (Don’t ask me technical reason, I chose because I wanted more power).

2.       Its feature mainly anti theft key and alarm

3.       The Brand Mahindra

4.       To try something unique, a new product in the market

5.       Mileage

So, what is the result now?

Look

Look and design wise, I am very much happy and satisfied with the Mahindra Centuro.  I choose a black colour one, elegant in looks, its alloy wheels as well as whole muscular body looks good and fully satisfy my need.

I never liked the bike seat as it is in Avenger, Stunner, Discover and Pulsar. I wanted a descent looking neither too formal nor too sporty. So from the seat to overall body including wheel, it is something what I expected.

I give 9/10 for its design.

Seat comforts

The seats are comfortable enough, more comfortable on pillion side. I drove it for 50+ KMS continuously even on the bad not completely motorable roads but I did not feel exhausted or pain.  However, the seats need more improvement specially for the rider.

My rate is 7/10 for its seats and comfort.

Speed:

The bike comes with a maximum speed of 105 KMS and I could take it to maximum 83 KMPH. The bike does not vibrate upto 70 KMPH but as you moves higher and cross 75+ KMPH it starts vibrate. On highway, it was absolutely perfect, no vibration and no impact even when a fully speed truck passes.

I give rating 7/10 for it.

Look of the metre and the console

The look of the metre is good however it is one of the biggest flaws of the bike:

1.       Distance to Empty (DTE): This is one of the bikes most hyped function and technology. It should basically tell you that when you are bike’s fuel is near to empty, it should be able to tell you upto how KMs the bike can run. It is one of the biggest disappointments and does not function well. Ideally, it should start indicating when Bike’s fuel tank goes on reserve. I have tried it twice. First, much before of bike going on reserve, the indicator started. Bike ran almost 110 KMS before going to reserve. In the manual. Nowhere it is told about the reserve tank capacity. The customer care executive informed me that it is 1.6 Litre. Ideally, in that much fuel, bike should run at least 75 KMs.  My one way trip towards office to Railway station is 15 KMs and imagines on 5^th trip, the fuel was empty and I was almost 2 KMs away and that’s too at around 11 PM in the night. DTE is not reliable so the reserve tanks too. This is a technological flaw in the bike.

2.       Service reminder:  This also does not work well. Once, it did not give reminder at all and now, much ahead (500 KM) ahead of 3^rd service, it is giving reminder.

Rest functions are fine and work well.

Mileage:

While buying this bike, mileage was my biggest concern. Mahindra Centuro claims mileage of 85 KMPL under ARAI conditions.

First of all the ARAI condition is the biggest bullshit.

It is:

1.       You must check the air pressure on both front and rear tyre every day. It must have the specified tyre pressure, neither low nor high. First of all, nobody can do it every day. Once can do it only once or twice in a week.

2.       The speed of the bike should be between 40 KMPH to 50 KMPH. In Indian roads, you can never do that and if I need to run bike at this speed, why the hell I should buy a bike, rather I should use public transport, even auto will be cheaper.

3.       You should fill petrol only in the morning or in the night so it will have greater density and can spread during the day time. (How it ensures better fuel efficiency).

4.       You should not apply brakes regularly. (What a shit!) We have so many law abiding citizen, pedestrian, no speed breaker on roads, roads are without potholes, dedicated bike lanes that we do not need to apply brakes. Nobody can follow the conditions.

5.       You should ensure proper lubrication, low dusty roads, chains are proper etc. etc.

6.       The total weight should not be more than specified (for Centuro, it is 150 kgs)

So this bullshit has to stop. As a consumer we must demand minimum guaranteed mileage.

I checked with a real user. He told me that he is getting 65 in the city (Thane) and 70 on highway and he often travels to Pune. However, I am disappointed.

I got average of 60 during first fill of the petrol, 52 during second fill, 56 during third fill and 43 during last month which is highly disappointing. (I follow most of the conditions mentioned above including washing bike at least once in a week, prefer highway and better roads and maintain maximum speed of 50-60 KMPH, fills from a specific petrol pump only. I travel with my brother in law/ sister and our collective weights are 120 Kgs to 160 Kgs.  I complained about it and the mechanic tried to convince me with 100 ml test. I could fetch mileage of 63 KMPL and he could 68 KMPL and no solution. This time, I am taking it for 3^rd service and let’s see what happens.

Rating: 4/10 for mileage

Power and Comfort

I am pretty satisfied with this. Bike is smooth. I used it on Yeoor which is a hilly area and has upward still, the bike was smooth on riding, comfortable and could go well.

Rating: 7/10

Suspension:

The suspension is good. It is hydraulic coiled suspension which is ergonomics ally good to support body. I feel the ride comfortable.

Other drawbacks:

1.       Noise : Suddenly my bike has started to give noise. I could not figure out but I suspect it is in engine area. Another user has also complained about it. I checked engine oil level, it was adequate, still for safer side, I changed it. However, there is no solution. However due to excellent customer service, they resolved it and now, I do not face that problem.

2.       The remote key does not work: The remote key for find me lamp does not work. The service centre says that it need to be reprogrammed. However, one should not worry about this useless feature. It is of no use in the city at least.Till now, only one key work.

3.       Less network: Hero and Bajaj are in the markets for a very long time hence they have good service network and parts are easily available. However being  a new into two wheeler segment as well as lack of full trust of people, it has poor dealership and service network. I think with time, this problem will resolve.

4.       Clutch/ gear related problem: I rode my friends Bajaj Discover 100T and found that the bike is better as it does not get stop when you lower the speed however Centuro had the problem. Further, sometime when I move it to second and third gear, instead it goes to first gear (it has happened around 4 times)

Other positive factors

1.       Good customer care: It has a very good customer support. I got prompt response from its twitter handler, from mail and also from area sales manager. They continuously follow up. Mohsin, the area sales manager for Thane regularly calls me up whenever I complain on their twitter handler.

2.       Good support from service centre: The service centre is also good. During my second service I exceeded the prescribed KMs by some 100 KMS but still they accepted and carried out free service. TVS in other hand refused to do so for my other bikes (and no surprise due to this attitude only their share and market value is decreasing).

3.       Anti theft engine: As per the claim of the company, the engine lock if somebody attempts to start it with the duplicate key. This is essentially good as bike are more prone of the theft cases.

4.       Brand Mahindra: Mahindra and Mahindra is known for its reputation, its ethics in business and I am admirer of its ethical practices. You can be sure that they do not compromise in the quality.

Conclusion: The entire feedback is here. If you are buying it for mileage, its not bad but do not expect very good. Any bike claiming average 85 KMPL will not give you more than 60 KMPL and following ARAI condition is not possible. You may choose this bike for other feature. It is the initial state and trial and error period. Further, they are coming with improved model and corrections. So you can expect better performance. They are supposed to come with stop start technology for better fuel efficiency for Mahindra Centuro. You can at least give try.

Overall rating: 7/10

Recommended for purchase: Yes, prefer over any 100 CC bikes.

Govind

Mumbai

March 20, 2014

Post this post:
Dear all, as I mentioned to my reader about the customer support of Mahinda, they have proven their excellence once again. After my this post, they immediately called me even a regional customer support manager and asked feedback. The noise problem has completely gone now and the vehicle seems to be smoother now.

Regards
Govind
March 27, 2014

Current status:
It is almost after the rain started and I must say that I am not regretting on my decision. It has good control even in rain, no problem at all. I keep my bike in open parking, still never faced the issue. However, before rain, its digital fuel indicator stopped working and malfunctioned. Even after repairing, it has not resolved.