Hero MotoCorp’s Xoom 110 is an attractively priced scooter, starting from ₹68,599 and marks the market leader’s foray into this sporty scooter segment. A premium highlight on the Xoom 110 is it being the first Indian scooter to offer a cornering light with the top-end ZX variant. Apart from this, the scooter get’s all new styling and chassis tweaks that add to its sporty appeal. What’s the Xoom 110 like to ride? We are just back from Gurgaon with the story.
The Hero Xoom 110 speaks a grounds-up new racy styling language. Sharp cuts and creases embellish the right places. LED lighting enhances both ends of the scooter, with H- shaped DRLs similar to the Vida V1. The top-end variant also gets two additional front lights, paired with an accelerometer and a gyroscope to allow cornering lighting. You have five different colour options — black, blue, red, orange and white. Overall design is rather nice and a refreshing change from Hero MotoCorp’s usually conservative design formats.
The Hero Xoom 110 is powered by essentially the same engine as on the Maestro, with a few tweaks to bring you a peppier feel. The 110cc BS6 engine produces 8bhp at 7250rpm and 8.7Nm of torque at 5750rpm. Performance feels quick off the line with brisk acceleration up to about 60kmph, after which it's a relatively mellow climb to its top speed. With my large frame and the road limitations, I managed to clock an indicated 90kmph. Refinement is good, in terms of low NVH levels, with just a few vibrations creeping in now and then but nothing to hamper a pleasant riding experience. The Xoom 110 also benefits from the i3S start-stop system, which works just as expected.
The Xoom 110 uses essentially the same frame as a Maestro, with few changes to accommodate a new fuel-filler cap location and larger wheels. You get a premium telescopic fork setup at the front and monoshock rear suspension. Unlike the Maestro’s 10-inch wheels, the Xoom 110 rides on larger 12-inch wheels, which are cast alloy on the top-end variant. The new Hero handles as expected, with light steering and good stability even at quicker, highway speeds. Though the scooter doesn’t offer the inherently sporty feel of say the TVS Ntorq 125, it still feels spritely enough. The suspension is well set-up and absorbs most bumps and potholes with composure. My only complaint is with the riding position, which felt a tad too cramped, for larger riders like me.
Braking from the front disc and rear drum setup is another area that could do with improvement. Sure, there’s enough stopping power, but a bit more initial bite would be appreciated. A few of the test scooters also exhibited a disconcerting creaking noise under hard braking.
The Hero Xoom 110 is available in an LX, VX or ZX variant. The cornering lights on the ZX work well to enhance rider safety at night. You don’t need to lean the scooter too much to engage the light, which is a nice convenient touch. The cornering light is however positioned such that it doesn’t illuminate a lot of the road ahead of you. I would have liked if the throw of the lights was a little farther out, allowing you to look further for even safer riding.
Other features include XTec enabled instruments that allows you to pair your phone and get notification alerts on screen. A lot of ride info is also available on the app.
While the base Hero Xoom 110 LX variant costs ₹68,599, the one we rode was the top-end ZX which costs ₹76,699 ex-showroom. At this price, natural rivals are the Honda Activa and TVS Jupiter 110. The Hero Xoom is overall a well packaged scooter which does all that you could want from a scooter, and quite well at that. Despite sporty looks, this isn’t the sportiest of scooters to ride, but that’s fine too.
You can argue that the cornering lights are a gimmick and unnecessary. This is partially true and as aforementioned I would have liked a further reaching illumination throw. But considering Hero hasn’t priced the scooter out of this world, it’s a cool thing to have and I'm not complaining.