Vespa GTS 300 hpe 2019 test

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Vespa GTS 300 hpe (2019) in the driving report

Most powerful Vespa ever

Five years after the last update, the mother of all scooters comes in a revised version: With increased performance, a smaller tank, extended maintenance intervals and only subtle visual changes. How does the new Vespa GTS 300 hpe fare on the first exit?

The numbers speak for themselves: the new Vespa GTS 300 hpe has twelve percent more power and 18 percent more torque – that results in 24 hp, 26 Nm and a top speed of 120 km / h and the most powerful Vespa all the time. Despite the increases, the developers by no means practiced revolution, but rather subtle evolution. The Italians would be pretty stupid if they suddenly turned the most famous scooter in the world upside down, especially since its dirty success is unbroken: In Germany alone, 5,772 of the previous 300s were sold. That means second place in the hit list, right behind the BMW GS – and a strong customer vote in favor of leaving everything more or less as it is.

New engine improves driving experience

Visually, the new model therefore remains largely true to its predecessor, only small design changes can be made out, for example on the seat bench, on the panel below the headlight or on the covers of the engine housing and silencer. Under the traditional sheet steel body, on the other hand, a lot of precision work on all engine components ensures muscle growth. This is primarily due to a new cylinder head, which is also supposed to ensure quiet sounds and less exhaust gas with lower consumption at the same time. "High Performance Engine" is the name of the revised engine, which is included in the model name as the abbreviation "hpe".

Vespa

The tank capacity of the new GTS 300 shrank from 8.5 to 7 liters.

In the saddle, the work of the developers is particularly noticeable through the improved acceleration, be it in the traffic light sprint in city traffic, be it when swinging a curve on the country road. Driving fun increases especially on steep passages – at least uphill, because downhill the brakes, which are still rather blunt, show the cult scooter certain limits. But what you can forgive the eternally young Italian, after all, she was not created for drifting, but as an elegant city scooter. Thanks to the fine-tuning of the mechanical components, the engine now turns more easily, and because the variator has also been revised, the vibrations have been reduced. Another positive side effect of the efforts of the Vespa engineers: The maintenance intervals for the engine have been increased from 5,000 to 10,000 kilometers.

Sitting position still flawless

Nothing has changed in terms of the good driving behavior, the flawless seating position and the clear instruments ensure a lot of control and clarity. The standard traction control only intervenes late and then only defensively. The Vespa cushions bumps and potholes properly, even more comfort cannot be extracted from the Vespa concept in view of the small twelve-inch wheels and the resulting limited space for suspension travel.

Vespa

The prices for the new Vespa GTS 300 hpe start at 6,290 euros

The new Vespa comes to dealers in five versions, which differ primarily in the colors of the body and rims: the basic model GTS 300 hpe for 6,290 euros in gray, dark blue and mint green; “Super” model for 6,290 euros in black, red, white, yellow with black rims; “Supersport” model for 6390 euros in gray and bright blue with red damper spring and red applications; The “Touring” model also costs 6,390 euros in dark green and dark red with a small windshield and rear luggage rack. Later in the spring, the “SuperTech” will be launched, the only one in the model range to have a modern TFT display and to establish a connection to the smartphone via the “Vespa MIA” app. Their price has not yet been announced.

A detailed driving report of the new Vespa GTS 300 hpe appears in MOTORRAD 7/2019.

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