Honda Activa vs TVS Jupiter – Arch Rivalry Extended to 125cc Segment

Ever since it arrived in 2013, the TVS Jupiter has become a household name and a tough competitor to the best-selling scooter in India, the Honda Activa. Years have passed since then, and to meet the growing demands of the scooter buying audience, both the TVS Jupiter and Honda Activa have evolved into bigger and newer forms too. Enter the new TVS Jupiter 125 and the Honda Activa 125, which promise a little bit of extra in whatever aspect you ask for, whether styling or mechanicals. However, there is a clearer winner out of the two in the end after a spec-to-spec comparison, which is as follows:

Price

Both the TVS Jupiter 125 and Honda Activa 125 have been made available in a total of three variants – one with steel wheels and front drum brake, second with alloy wheels and front drum brake and lastly, the one with alloy wheels and front disc brake. While the prices of the first two variants of both the scooters are near-identical, the top-spec alloy wheel-disc brake variant of the TVS Jupiter is almost Rs 1,000 lesser than the corresponding variant of the Honda Activa 125.

(all prices Ex-showroom, Delhi)

(All prices mentioned above are ex-showroom, pan India)

ALSO READ: Aprilia SR 125 vs Honda Activa 125

Engine and Chassis

Both the TVS Jupiter 125 and Honda Activa 125 get a four-stroke, single-cylinder 125cc class engine, which is essentially the bigger versions of the engines of their 110cc counterparts. The minute 0.8cc advantage of the engine of the TVS Jupiter leads to slightly better power and torque outputs of 8.3 bhp and 10.5 Nm respectively. The Honda Activa 125, on the other hand, makes 8.2 bhp of power and 10.3 Nm torque. What works in favour of the TVS Jupiter 125 even further is the fact that the peak power and torque outputs in it are produced almost 500 rpm lower than that of the Honda Activa 125.

The TVS Jupiter trumps the Honda Activa 125 in other mechanical aspects too. While both the scooter gets 130mm drum brakes, hydraulic telescopic forks at the front and 90/90-12 front tyre, the TVS Jupiter 125 get gas-charged setup for rear coil spring, bigger 90/90-12 rear tyre (90/100-10 on the Activa 125) and bigger 220 mm disc brake at the front (190 mm on the Activa 125).

Dimension

There is not much to differentiate between the TVS Jupiter 125 and Honda Activa 125 when it comes to length, height and seat height. However, the Honda Activa 125 is substantially wider than the TVS Jupiter 125, which makes the former look slightly bigger in flesh. Also, despite having more or less the same length, the wheelbase of the Jupiter 125 is longer than that of the Activa 125 by almost 15 mm.

Where the TVS Jupiter 125 emerges as a clear winner is the under-seat storage space. The Jupiter 125 offers a compartment storage space of 32 litres, which by far is the maximum we have witnessed in a scooter and is capacious enough to store two medium-sized helmets. While Honda hasn’t revealed the under-seat storage space of the Activa 125, it is smaller than the Jupiter 125. However, the Activa 125 sits higher by almost 6mm over the Jupiter 125.

Design and Features

One look at both the scooters is enough to affirm the fact that they are evolved forms of their 110cc counterparts, the Jupiter 110 and Activa 110. While the Honda Activa 125 has a leaner and taller stance with slightly sharper looking body panels, the TVS Jupiter 125 follows a slightly more rounded approach in its design.

Both the TVS Jupiter 125 and Honda Activa 125 get ample chrome garnish on their front aprons and side body panels, LED headlamp, instrument console with analogue tachometer and LCD panel for fuel gauge, odometer, trip meter and MID, alloy wheels and alloy pillion grab rail.

Both of them also get external fuel filler – while the Activa 125 gets it above the tail lamp, the Jupiter 125’s fuel filler is placed behind the front apron. This unique positioning of the fuel filler in the TVS Jupiter gives it a much larger 32-litre under-seat storage compartment, as its fuel tank is placed below the floorboard. This also leads to a lower centre gravity, however, it reduces the ground clearance of the Jupiter 125, which is almost 6 mm lower than that of the Activa 125.

Verdict

While the TVS Jupiter 125 is an all-new scooter, the Honda Activa 125 too got a subtle update in 2020 only, which doesn’t make it too old in comparison. Both the scooters are evenly priced and offer almost equal performance in the real world. However, the TVS Jupiter 125 certainly has a few advantages over the Honda Activa 125, in the form of slightly better power and torque figures, lower kerb weight, bigger rear tyre, better rear suspension, bigger front disc brake and bigger under-seat storage compartment.

The icing on the cake is the fact that despite all these advantages, the top-spec Jupiter 125 is almost Rs 1,000 more affordable than the Activa 125. Talk about the value-for-money quotient, and it is hard to deny that the TVS Jupiter 125 seems to be a clear winner here.

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