BMW C600 Sport test ride

[MrGrumpy]

I have a test ride on the C600 booked for tomorrow!!!

[MjW]

I have a test ride on the C600 booked for tomorrow!!!

Sweet. I'm jealous. And it sucks that my chances of trying one are next to none.

Anyway have fun and take a pic or two for us hungry people.


TA-pa-TA-pa-taPAtalk

[MrGrumpy]

I have a test ride on the C600 booked for tomorrow!!!

Anyway have fun and take a pic or two for us hungry people.

I've only got a low rent smartphone, so the photos from it aren't that good. BMW have lots of scooter-porn photos on their website!!

[DougL]

I have a test ride on the C600 booked for tomorrow!!!

Excellent. I hope that you don't get over excited and do what I did Blue is the best colour, silver is cool, black is too anonymous....

[barryG]

I spoke to 3X a few weeks back, they said its doubtful they will be bringing anything Pug over 125cc to the UK for the forseeable.

[MrGrumpy]

Yes, test rode the C600 this morning. I never find Test rides easy as you have a limited time to get used to the scoot on unfamiliar routes and try to compare to a scoot you know intimately, but it was an interesting experience.

Anyway. First impressions not great - How high is this seat??? Higher than the Tmax's! Where's the bumstop? Oh there is something to put your bum against, but then I'm too far back... How vibey is this engine?!!??! I initally go down a motorway and I seem to be being blown around a lot more than on the Tmax, a lot more wind buffetting and its not that quiet, even with the screen fully up. However, I eventually get to some country lanes, where the suspension feels really good - a nice taut firm but not harsh feeling. Decent ride quality as well. Didn't really explore the handling much though - but maybe interesting that it didn't seem to encourage me to do so. And whilst the engine vibes are apparent at slow speeds, you can't actually feel them when you are on the move. As I ride more I unsurprisingly start to use the performance more - and the engine makes an utterly wonderful noise when working hard. Kind of like a V8 muscle car's raw smoothness (or smoothed rawness, one of the two). However, whilst it performs well, its not immediatly offering me a helluva lot more than the TMax.

Back in the showroom, I give the plastic bits a cursory glance - they seem fine to my supeficial examination. However, the blue paint (assuming they actually paint panels) looks very thin, or maybe its meant to be some sort of metallic effect. Not impressed with the luggage compartment. Two helmets may go in using the flexi-case system, but I can't see a helmet and bike jacket going in there together, and I can't see a huge amount of space for a bag or something when riding. It comes with some sort of trip computer, but I didn't try to use it, as it was the instrument panel seemed utterly incomprehensible to the casual glance.

When I get home, I thought it would be interesting to jump straight on my (malossified) TMax mk3. Quite interesting - I'd have hoped that BMW's brand new £10k superscoot would be signifcantly better than my 4.5 year old TMax but it wasn't. It was different, but not necessarily better. The Tmax has a greater sense of fluidity, both in its handling and performance (latter partially down to the Malossi variator). Maybe I didn't ride the BMW that hard, but it didn't seem to offer than much extra performance. I guess the difference is that whilst both the TMax are at the boundary between bikes and scooters, the TMax is more scooter like, but the BMW more bike like. To me, the Tmax has that special X factor, which the BMW lacks. I know that not everyone gets the TMax but there is something about it that makes people who do get them, really like them.

So, is the BMW good? Yes. Is it great? Not really. It certainly didn't get my pulse racing. IWould I buy one? Probably not - my inclination is to see what a Mk4 Tmax is like

[Deeping]

Nice report, it’s difficult to give a lot of input on a short test ride, do you think it might have scored better if you could have had it for longer or will the first impressions stick in your mind?

[StephenC]

I spoke to 3X a few weeks back, they said its doubtful they will be bringing anything Pug over 125cc to the UK for the forseeable.

Bye bye Peugeot. Now, who wants my money?

[MrGrumpy]

Nice report, it’s difficult to give a lot of input on a short test ride, do you think it might have scored better if you could have had it for longer or will the first impressions stick in your mind?

Tricky...if I had it for longer, I'd have almost certainly started exploring its handling rather more than I did. The suspension felt really good, and it feels like it ought to handle very well. But maybe I wasn't getting a lot of feel from the tyres, so I was reluctant to push very hard, but of course more familiarity would have improved things. And in general the more you ride something, the better you know it and the more relaxed you will be riding it - and the better it will feel. By the time I got back my left arm was aching, but that was almost certainly since I wasn't relaxed rather than the scoot being uncomfortable.

With time, you'd certainly get used to the 'quirks' - the height of the seat, the tiny mirrors, the baffling info display

Then again, your opinions of scoots can change over time. I was initially not overly impressed by my first Tmax - it struck me a bland compared to the 'characterful' (ie crap) Atlantic. But the more I rode it the more I liked it, and the harder you rode it, the better it felt. On the other hand, I gradually fell out of love with the big Burgman - I never actually came to dislike it, but after a while it wasn't fun anymore.

So if I'd bought a C600 today, I would probably be thinking that it was OK at the moment, but I guess that further experience of it would improve the riding sensation.

[Deleted User 796]

I spoke to 3X a few weeks back, they said its doubtful they will be bringing anything Pug over 125cc to the UK for the forseeable.

Bye bye Peugeot. Now, who wants my money?

Piaggio does - X10 350