My GT Review & My Final Week With the GT

*sigh* This will be my final week with the loaner GT that the Vespa folks have lent me. I have truly enjoyed my time on it. I feel very lucky to have gotten such an in depth test on a vehicle that I have long thought about. There is no doubt in my mind now that I was meant to have a GT. It is by the purest of accidents that I bought my ET4 mere months before the GT came out. I have been kicking myself ever since, but at the same time rationalizing “well how much better can it really be?” The answer: It is a LOT better.

Now let me say for the record that I am not paid to blog here, nor was I paid to review this vehicle. Also let me say that my review by no means is an endorsement for you and your scootering lifestyle. I ride every day all year round, I use my scooter as my main commute vehicle. This puts me in a different category than someone who might own a Vespa for pure recreation, or someone who may use it for short trips to the store. Frankly there are a lot of reasons to own a scooter and mine is just one of them. So don’t take my review as a recommendation for you until you review your entire circumstance.

Also, even though I was able to compare my ET4 to the GT I was not able to compare a modified ET to a GT. This means I did not test against an ET4 that had the 190cc Malossi kit installed; neither did I test against an ET4 with improved shocks. It is important to mention both of those things because the speed and comfortable rode of the GT are two of the first things I noticed as better than the ET4 when I first rode. But even if you take those things into consideration on an ET4 I don’t think you gain the smoothness that the GT has, or the responsiveness in engine performance. Additionally even with improved shocks you would not have the bigger wheel base that a GT has, so I don’t see how you could match the comfortable ride.

One of the other things I wanted to test on the GT was taking passengers. The very first night I had the bike I took my wife for a ride. She immediately remarked how much more comfortable the GT was over the ET. The foot pegs were placed in just that perfect position, her legs weren’t cramped and the slight elevation of the seat made it easier for her to fit behind me. I took others for rides as well. My friend Chris who is as tall as I am (about 5’11”) did not feel as comfortable as my wife did. In fact, it seemed to him that the foot pegs were designed for shorter people. He even went so far as to suggest that he might have been more comfortable on the ET4. My cousin Paulie, who is NOT a small individual went for a ride as well. I wanted to see how the bike would handle with over 200lbs of extra passenger weight. I had taken him for rides on the ET4 but told him I just couldn’t do that anymore because realistically he exceeded the weight limit that should have been on that bike. The GT handled well with him on it, even with that extra weight I still had much more cushion between me and the road than I would on my ET4.

As far as negatives, they were relatively few and were not anything I did not hear before. I have heard that it would be harder to maneuver and this is true, it is harder. Not a TON harder, you just find that you can’t fit through AS SMALL a space, you can turn AS SHARP as you previously could. But after 2 weeks of riding, I forgot about those limitations. One thing I did not forget about was the weight of the bike. Perhaps because I am still recovering from a surgery I had 4 months ago on my left knee, but it was a bit harder to walk the bike or put it up on the kickstand. When I rode the bike I don’t think I felt much weight difference from the ET4 except in positive ways. Meaning, at red lights it was not harder to put my feet down hold the bike up etc.

Taking all things into consideration I am truly sad that this week is my last week on the GT. I do love my ET4, but I think it is time for a change. I am not sure how I will do it yet, but over the winter I will most likely purchase a GT and then sell my ET4 (I cannot afford to keep both bikes). When it happens I will, of course, blog all about it.

Comments

[captain do]

I am 670 miles into the gt experience and love it.

[Lisa Escaloni]

The ET4 and GT200 are both fine machines. You lose the scooter "cuteness" of the ET4 when you go up to a GT, but for commuting like you do, Neil, I would feel safer on the GT. I would think it would be less apt to be stolen maybe because of its heavier weight or because it doesn't look like the toy ETs that show up in movies and ads.