Striking Italian design, comfortable rides, stable 14-inch wheels
Limited wind protection, mid-range lacks urgency
There’s no denying that the Aprilia SXR GT 175 has presence. Finished in Matte Green, the scooter looks properly handsome, with its long bodywork, chunky proportions and that rather distinctive Tripod LED headlamp up front. The windscreen adds to the whole grand-tourer act, too. Aprilia has right proper managed to make a scooter look like it has somewhere important to be.
When we first laid eyes on the SXR GT 175 at Aprilia’s Baramati plant, the first thing that struck us was just how different it looks from your everyday scooter. It has the sort of styling that makes you imagine long highway runs, weekend getaways and the occasional detour simply because the road looks interesting. The question is whether the riding experience lives up to those looks.
Because here's the thing about touring scooters: looking the part is only half the job. You need a comfortable seat, decent wind protection, suspension that can handle India's less-than-perfect roads and an engine that doesn't leave you wishing for more every time you want to overtake. The SXR GT gets some of these things right. Others need a little work.
Let's start with what Aprilia has nailed. The styling. The SXR GT 175 has a sharp, angular design, and the Matte Green finish, which fell in our kitty during the media ride, suits it rather well. The Tripod LED headlamp is easily the highlight of the front end, giving the scooter a distinctive face without making it look unnecessarily busy. The large apron, sculpted bodywork and 14-inch wheels add to its substantial stance. It doesn't look like a regular scooter with a few touring accessories bolted on; the entire design has been built around that maxi-scooter silhouette.
And then there's the windscreen. It looks good, no doubt, but its actual contribution to the riding experience is less impressive. At highway speeds, we found that it didn't offer the kind of wind protection you'd expect from something designed with touring in mind. There's only so much you can do with a relatively short screen, and the SXR GT could certainly use a taller one.
Thankfully, Aprilia offers a taller windscreen as an optional accessory. If you're genuinely planning to spend a fair amount of time on the highway, we'd seriously consider getting it. The standard unit looks the business, but the taller screen seems better suited to the job the scooter is supposed to do. It's a small but telling detail. The SXR GT looks ready to eat up the miles, but you might need to spend a little extra to make it more comfortable doing so.
The good news is that the basics are largely sorted. The seat is nicely padded, and the riding position is relaxed enough for everyday commutes as well as longer rides. There's a generous seat for the rider and pillion, while the flat footboard makes it easy to move your feet around rather than being locked into one position.
That said, comfort depends on who's sitting on it. At six-foot-three, Sohil found the cruiser-style riding position a little cramped. The overall posture is comfortable, but taller riders may wish there were a little more room to stretch out. It's not something that would put us off the scooter altogether, but if you're on the taller side, do yourself a favour and spend some time on one before making the purchase.
The suspension is another area where the SXR GT deserves credit, with a small asterisk. The front telescopic fork does a brilliant job of soaking up bumps and undulations on highways. Over most of the roads we encountered around Baramati, the scooter felt composed, and the 14-inch wheels helped it maintain a planted, stable feel.
Hit a particularly rough patch, though, and the front suspension can feel a little too stiff. It's not uncomfortable all the time, but we would have liked it to be more forgiving when the road surface deteriorates. The rear suspension gets five-step adjustability, which is useful if you want to tweak the setup according to your weight, riding preferences or whether you're carrying a pillion.
For a scooter that wants to be taken beyond the city, this balance matters. A comfortable seat is one thing; making sure the rest of the scooter doesn't leave you feeling battered after a long ride is quite another. The SXR GT gets much of that equation right, even if the suspension could do with a little more compliance on really bad roads.
Powering the SXR GT 175 is a 174.7cc, air-cooled, single-cylinder engine paired with a CVT automatic transmission. It produces a claimed 13.3hp at 7,200rpm and 14.14Nm of torque at 6,000rpm. On paper, those figures make it a reasonably capable premium scooter. Out on the road, though, the way that power is delivered is what really matters.
Around town, the engine has good low-end torque. Pull away from a signal, and there's enough response to get moving without fuss, and the CVT makes stop-start traffic relatively painless. For the daily commute, the SXR GT feels perfectly at home.
The mid-range, however, is a different story. We found it a little underwhelming, almost as if the engine runs out of enthusiasm just when you want it to pick up the pace. Overtaking slower traffic on an open stretch requires a bit more planning than we'd like. Twist the throttle expecting a quick burst of acceleration, and the response doesn't always arrive with the urgency you're looking for.
Atharva felt particularly strongly about this. The low-end performance is good, but a stronger mid-range would make the scooter considerably more satisfying on the highway. After all, touring isn't just about cruising along at a steady speed. It's also about being able to make an overtake without having to think too hard about it.
We put this to Giuseppe Molinari, Executive Vice President and Head of Two-Wheeler Business and Product Marketing at Piaggio India, when we spoke to him about the SXR GT and Aprilia's approach to the Indian market.
Molinari explained that there's a balance to be struck between performance and fuel efficiency. Customers want their scooters to feel responsive, but they also expect reasonable running costs. The engine therefore has to work for a wide range of everyday riding conditions, rather than being tuned exclusively for outright performance.
It's a fair point. Most scooters spend more time in traffic than they do on empty highways, and a lively low-end response is genuinely useful in the real world. But we'd still have liked a little more punch in the middle of the rev range. The SXR GT doesn't need to become a performance scooter, but given its touring-inspired design, stronger roll-on acceleration would make it a better long-distance companion.
The SXR GT 175 isn't short on equipment. It gets a five-inch TFT instrument display with Bluetooth connectivity, music and call management, and turn-by-turn navigation. There's also single-channel ABS, which works with the 220mm front disc brake, while the rear gets a drum brake.
The TFT display is a welcome addition, particularly if you intend to use the scooter for longer rides. Having navigation available on the instrument panel is more convenient than constantly checking your phone, while Bluetooth connectivity adds some everyday usability. All the Bluetooth-assisted features are tied to the VIN, which is why we weren’t able to test them on the media units provided to us by Aprilia.
The 14-inch wheels deserve another mention. They give the scooter a stable, planted feel, which is reassuring when you're travelling at higher speeds. Underseat storage and front storage make it practical enough for everyday use, while the flat footboard is handy when you're carrying a bag or simply want to shift your feet around, which Molinari highlighted as a hugely demanded feature in India.
These aren't particularly exciting things to talk about, but they're important. A touring scooter needs to work just as well when you're heading to the office as it does when you're leaving town for the weekend. Otherwise, you're essentially buying a very large scooter for the occasional long ride. And that brings us to the SXR GT's biggest challenge: figuring out exactly who it's for.
We can see the appeal. The Aprilia SXR GT 175 has the looks, a comfortable seat, a relaxed riding position and enough low-end grunt to make everyday riding easy. The suspension works well on highways, the 14-inch wheels contribute to its stability, and the equipment list gives it a useful dose of modernity.
But the details matter when you're actually covering distance. The standard windscreen doesn't offer enough protection for our liking, the mid-range performance could be stronger, and taller riders may find the riding position a little restrictive. None of these shortcomings makes the SXR GT a bad scooter. They simply mean that its touring credentials aren't quite as convincing as its styling.
During our conversation, Molinari spoke about Aprilia's desire to offer something distinctive rather than chase the same volumes as India's mass-market scooter brands. The company wants buyers to think of Aprilia when they're looking for a sporty, characterful two-wheeler. The SXR GT certainly has that individuality, and it doesn't feel like an attempt to make another generic commuter.
At around ₹1.3 lakh, the SXR 175 offers fairly good touring capabilities for someone who wants a premium scooter that can handle the daily commute and the occasional out-of-town ride. But we'd approach it as a comfortable urban scooter with touring potential, rather than a dedicated long-distance machine.
Would we take it out for a weekend ride from Mumbai to Lonavala, Jawahar, or even up to Nashik, for that matter? Absolutely. Would we choose it for a long highway expedition without fitting the taller windscreen and spending some time getting the setup right? Probably not.
The SXR GT 175 is a good-looking, comfortable scooter with a distinct personality. It just needs a little more highway ability to match the grand-touring image it wears so confidently.
