Happy Friday! Today, on our end-of-the-week special, we’re actually staying within the price cap, but cutting the total number of wheels in half, and looking at a pair of scooters. But before we get there, we need to finish up with our little red trucks from yesterday:
Yep, that’s what I expected. And yeah, I wanted that Dodge, too, even though I already have a perfectly good truck.
All right, it’s time for me to step waaaay outside my comfort zone. I am not a motorcycle guy by any means, but I’ve always thought scooters were cool. Granted, the only things I know about them I leanred from Roman Holiday and Third Eye Blind videos, so don’t expect any deep insightful commentary; I’m still learning. But we can learn together, and then our resident two-wheels enthusiast Mercedes Streeter can tell me everything I got wrong or left out. Sound like fun? Here we go.
1987 Honda Elite 150 – $2,000
Engine/drivetrain: 152cc water-cooled OHC 1-cylinder, CVT
Location: San Francisco, CA
Odometer reading: 6,700 miles
Runs/drives? Yep!
Honda knows a thing or two about two-wheeled vehicles. They got their start with motorized bicycles just after World War II, and haven’t stopped making bikes since. From tiny 49cc scooters all the way up to the six-cylinder Gold Wing, Honda motorcycles are as renowned for reliability as their cars are.
The Elite scooter first came out in 1984, in 80cc and 125cc sizes. The original Elite is the only cycle I can think of with a pop-up headlight, and there’s no reason for it to be there other than to look cool. This restyled 1987 Elite lost the pop-up light, but gained an extra 25cc of displacement. Its tiny engine is water-cooled, which sounds overly complicated for a scooter, but it’s Honda, so of course it works perfectly.
This Elite has covered only 6,700 miles since the ’80s, and is reported to be in excellent condition. It’s located in San Francisco, which apart from the hills, sounds like good territory for a scooter; there’s no point in having this thing in farm country, but in the city it makes perfect sense.
It’s not as cool as the earlier Elite, but this looks like a good user-friendly way to get into a classic scooter for not much money.
2008 Piaggio Vespa LX 150 – $2,500
Engine/drivetrain: 151cc air-cooled OHC 1-cylinder, CVT
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Odometer reading: 9,100 miles
Runs/drives? Sure does!
Vespa, of course, is the first thing most people think of when you mention motor scooters. Italian for “wasp,” Vespas got their name from the buzzy, whiny two-stroke engines that manufacturer Piaggio first employed. The original Vespa put the entire country of Italy on wheels after World War II, and scenes of throngs of Vespas buzzing along cobblestone streets became instantly iconic, proving that Italians can make anything cool.
This Vespa LX, from 2008, is no longer a two-stroke, instead employing an overhead-cam four-stroke single, powering the rear wheel through a continuously-variable transmission with an automatic centrifugal clutch. It has both an electric and a kick starter, and electronic fuel injection.
Most importantly, it retains the Vespa’s best attribute: that effortless cool. Look at this thing! If it doesn’t make you want to hop on, pull Audrey Hepburn on behind you, and go buzz around a fountain, see your doctor immediately; there’s something very wrong with you.
This Vespa has traveled 9,114 miles and is said to run well, with only a little wear and tear. From the photos it looks great, and I love the yellow paint/tan seat combo. I’m not a scooter guy, but this thing might be able to convert me.
There you have it: your choices for this Friday. Feel free to school me some more on these things in the comments; as I said, I don’t know much about them. And don’t forget to vote. Have a good weekend, everyone!
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
Both are great scooters, even with the mileage. The Vespa has the edge as you can buy a kit to make them an EV. That and it has better styling.
Without any real scooter knowledge, I voted Honda because Vespas are cliche and I come from a Honda (car) family. I like the spaceship styling, too.
Those are both way too expensive.
New little Hondas aren’t that much more and are way safer.
These need their price divided by 4 at least to even be worth considering.
Finding a $500-$800 motorcycle or scooter this clean hasn’t been a thing since 2007.
Depends on the bike. You can still get a 1980s Honda Gold Wing for under $1,000, but that’s because nobody wants them. I miss how my 1980 rode, but don’t miss working on it!
I don’t get the Gold Wing thing, maybe they were just too reliable, they all survived, and supply exceeds demand? But I have recently become interested in scooters. Apparently not the only one, as it seems like scooters are priced higher than some low end bikes (bringing us full circle back to the Goldwing). Honda CX500s, cheap for the same reason? Or am I way off base? I defer to your much greater two wheeled acumen.
Maybe so, but if you’re going to spend this kind of money, spend just a tiny bit more and get something with ABS and fuel injection.
It will lose the contest, but I vote for the Honda, it is just better at being a bike and will run forever.
The Vespa is cool and has a classic image, but I would not want the reality of the evil handling slug.
I did the same. Honda for me.
I’d take the Vespa because it looks cooler.
Pet peeve: This is a car website. If I wanted to read about scooters, or airplanes, or submarines I would go somewhere else. Of course I recognize that it is not my car website, so my opinion is just that.
“This is a car website.”
I should note that this isn’t strictly true. We’ve been writing about more than just cars basically from the start. Many readers are interested in more than just cars, so we deliver a little something for everyone interested in all sorts of things that go.
Like I said, it’s my opinion, but I have a basis for my opinion. “The Autopian is the ultimate car-culture website run by obsessive car nerds who want nothing more than to make people laugh while teaching them about geeky car minutiae.” Of course, I don’t have to read stories that don’t interest me, and I don’t.
You don’t need to whine about content that doesn’t cater to your interpretation of what belongs here, either.
When a brand new 2022 Honda PCX retails for $4,400, I can’t see spending $2K on a 35 year-old scooter.
The Vespa will run away with this. However, on purely sentimental grounds, I voted Honda. My grandpa was still tooling around on his ’06 Honda Helix until his death last year at 89(!), and my family has owned several Honda scooters/motorcycles over the years. The funny thing is, the Elite could pass for a much later model, as Honda didn’t change styling much on scooters. That ’06 Helix looked darn-near identical to an ’86 model year.
What are we waiting for? Can’t anybody help us?
Fair is fair!
Honda
Now that, my friend, is an obscure reference. My hat’s off to you. Bravo!
100% in for the Vespa. It just appears to be better overall.
I don’t know scooters at all, but I’m a sucker this era’s blade runner look (shared with stuff like the original Kawasaki jetski) and Japanese engineering – Honda for me. White even looks good on it.
The Honda’s probably the better scooter but the Vespa looks good. No idea if either of them are good deals. I’ll take the Vespa.
If you are going to buy something as un-cool as a scooter, you have to buy the only one that is even remotely cool. The Vespa.
Counter-point: You’re not going to be cool. Might as well embrace it and buy the better scooter. Get the Honda.
Well said, and thanks
Look at all the cool travel ads. They have great looking people all…with Vespas. Just sayin. If you’re going up have the scooter the one that is cool. Compared to the Honda reliability sure it’s questionable but at the same time it’s still easy to fix and maintain with parts availability. It’s not like it’s rare.
Mark, you can add this film to your Scooter knowledge base
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pas40WYoLKs
Oh yeah, forgot about that one…
that vespa is priced about double the current retail value, it is also the last year of a carburetor. While I would much rather have a 2009 with Fuel injection for around 1500 bucks, this 2008 is just not a great deal. the Honda is also overpriced, it should be no more than 900 bucks and it better be pristine for those dollars, but I suspect california has a lot to do with these inflated prices. at any rate I could use the Elite motor for my daughters Chinese side by side and it would probably last much longer regardless of age and miles. so I suppose if someone gave me the money and said I had to choose, then Honda it is.
I have to go with the classic Hepburn in Rome versus Grace Jones breaking a baby’s rattle. Seriously, WTF, Grace?!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSBjN9I_H3M
I choose the Elite, but only because it has a pedal to operate the rear brake. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been fascinated by scooters that have a brake pedal. Is that weird?
I would not want either at these prices but chose Japanese over Italian because I don’t like breaking down.
They are both good choices, the Vespa calls out to me.
If I had a RV, I would get both for around the park/short in town runs.
The Honda Elite had a 150cc engine during the pop-up headlight era, too!
I took one on a Gambler 500. It topped out at about 67 mph with me (220 lb) and a 5-gallon gas can strapped to the back. Survived almost the whole thing, crossing flooded roads, off-roading through forests, a mud pit, and more.
It only died because the water pump, carb, and cooling fan were worn out from years of abuse, and I never bothered to refresh them. But to the Honda’s credit, it went well over 50 miles with the temp gauge way past the top of the H mark. I gave it to a grandfather who wanted a project with his grandkid. They got it running again after giving the carb a clean. The engine apparently survived getting cooked.
This one is a tough one. If the Vespa were a two stroke with a manual, I’d take it in a heartbeat. But those Hondas basically never give up. I’ll take the Honda.
Reminds me of a VT500 Ascot I know of. Someone took it on a road trip, but a ways in, the engine slowed down and then stopped and wouldn’t turn over. After a while, it started again and they continued for quite a ways before the engine once again slowed and stopped. Went through this a couple more times before they got to their destination that night.
Turned out the radiator was bone-dry and the engine had been seizing. But it’s a Honda, so after it cooled off IT JUST KEPT GOING.
I dropped off another engine for it a few years ago.
Having owned both, along with many other scooters, you want the Honda if you’re actually going to ride it above city speeds. I still own the Vespa. While it is technically my wife’s and ours is an ’09, I’ve put a lot more miles on it than she has. My wife loves it for tooling around the neighborhood. And indeed that is all the Vespa is good for. It’s almost as slow as a 50cc scooter off the line, and while the ride quality is sublime, over 40mph the thing wants to kill you. It’s super skittish and unstable, and frankly not fun at all. If you want speed and the style of a Vespa, you have to step up to their GT line of bigger scooters. The LX just ain’t got it. My wife has never seen the high side of 35mph on it though, so she ain’t care, and that’s why its still in my fleet. Otherwise I would have ditched that turkey long ago.
The Honda, on the other hand. You can ride that thing at top speed ALL. DAY. LONG. It will never miss a beat. The only downside to it, is it’s a little homely looking, and it doesn’t have great storage of a modern scooter. Still, between these two, I’ll take the Honda all day, and twice on Sunday.
TLDR: If you just want to ride slowly and be stylish, enjoy your Vespa. If you actually want to ride, take the Honda. I wanna ride, so gimme the Honda.
Thanks for the quick primer! I like Vespas just because of the look & pop culture tie-in, so you may have saved me from someday getting the small one
You’re welcome!
If you want to get where you’re going and not smell like two stroke when you do get a four stroke scooter.
These are both 4-stroke.
Shows what I know
That’s a valuable perspective, but if I want to ride a 35-year-old Honda all day I’ll buy an old Nighthawk to haul my fat butt around the mountains. For all forseeable scootering purposes cute wins (and the high-viz yellow doesn’t hurt).
I’m going with the rad Honda, though I wish it were red.
I’m solidly in the minority here, and I understand all the legitimate reasons why, but I’ll take the clean look of the Honda over the too many stickers/checkers on the Vespa.
The word salad at the end of the Honda ad was the deciding factor for me. Vespa wins.
The Vespa is yellow. Yellow beats white. Vespa wins.
That’s me too.
Even if you disregard the classic looks, the Vespa is 2 decades newer for not much more money, so the Vespa it is.
Newer doesn’t mean better, an xj cherokee is 10x more reliable than anything jeep makes these days.