Affordable Vehicle Alternative: Yamaha 2007 C3 Scooter Part II

Well it's been several months now that I've owned the 2007 Yamaha Scooter and I'm even more impressed now than I was the first week that I owned it.

With all vehicles you have to look at overall performance, gas mileage, features and styling. While the Yamaha C3 has a very boxy look to it, it's performance and fuel mileage more than make for any other short comings.

Let's start with performance. Been a 200 pound individual, I was concerned with the 49CC engine being able to get up and go while riding it. I do have about a 1/2 mile stretch of 45 mile per hour 2 lane highway to navigate in order to get into town from my Kronenwetter suburb. Starting from a dead stop turning onto Business 51 is always a treat in a car, let alone on a scooter. However the fuel injected engine more than adequately got me up to 40 plus miles per hour so as not to hold up traffic too much. The one draw back I have noticed is the wind plays a major factor on your speed. Nice tailwind and you'll be pushing 45 MPH head on you're lucky to get 40.

Gas Mileage: While the manufacturer lists the vehicle at 117 MPG, I would have to say it's slightly less. Under perfect conditions I feel you'd be able to achieve the 117 MPG, however I would have to say its closer to 100-105MPG. Not that I'm complaining at 100MPG. So far with the full tank provided when purchased and my purchases I'm right around $8.25 for the 475 miles I've put on the machine.

Features and Styling: Let me start off by saying that this is a very boxy machine. Overall the Yamaha C3 is wide, the floor board can easily accommodate with room to spare and the storage is excellent. By no means is this thing supposed to be cute, it's meant to be functional. You can keep the cute little moped/scooters. I've run many trips to the store to retrieve beer, pop, milk and other grocery items. Try doing that on a cute moped. Not possible unless you have one of these really nifty milk crates attached to the rear.

The wide tires are very nice here in Wisconsin when they come through and fix the roads in our suburb. Their idea of a fix: tar over the old road and dump a layer of pea gravel on top. The wide tires handled the loose gravel with ease.

I have a few tricks to carry more groceries home than you planned on. The storage space allows for me to place most items, but I always have a tie strap and collapsible cooler in the storage compartment. This allows for me to haul the milk and other cold items home somewhat protected from the heat. Another thing I learned was that the plastic store bags hook nicely on the center part of the handle bar without causing any weight/steering issues.

Anyway, with gas staying unbelievable high prices I'll take the ribbing from my friends. After all it cost them nearly $100 to fill up their trucks, me $3.12 to fill up.