@hemanth.anand
Since you have spent some time with 450X, can you confirm if Ather is able to rectify the drawbacks and major issues reported by the 450 users?
Common issues that can be confirmed without a ride:
Seat position which is uncomfortable on 450. Is it any better on 450X?
Rought edges around brake lever.
Rear view mirror design any better?
Cheap plastics used ex: fan cover.
I remember you mentioning some of the above issues about your 450 in both these forums and Team-BHP forums.
In addition, if you are attending the meet up over the weekend, then you can ask them about other major issues like phantom drain, tyre pressure getting lower every few days, etc…
Also, waiting for your test ride details about both Chetak and iQube.
Believe me, the “guy” knows a lot more about Ather than anyone else in the forum. He has clearly rationalised the decision making for folks on the border.
Like it or not, he knows what he is talking about.
Ok as you say so. Already got a warning from Ather. Arvind_nair did make a personal attack of fear mongering at me and this was personal. I am critique of thought process and generalisation. If you believe in suppression of voice and can’t take critic in the context. I’m really sorry, this community is not for me and neither is the ather team and I’m not for them as a backer.
Thanks @hemanth.anand for taking time for a wonderful recap , Loved the pictures and i can certainly agree that the mint color is Fugly , I will probably cant digest it as a color option(Lovers of Mint kindly ignore its just my perception and a very subjective topic).
Overall i feel that Ather has just rushed to do this unveil to create market traction and messed it up like anything and ended up in bad PR just because they failed to make up pricing which is one of the most important factor of any product launch.
Coming to Shreyas comments , I do not agree with that , If Ather does want to spin up a super premium scooter they should have advertised it like that so that the expectations are set for absorbing a ultra premium price tag.
Everyone know that 450 especially after fame and gst reductions has been a VFM product and they killed that value with outrageous pricing .
Secondly the upgrades they made aren’t able to justify the tag as well , If Ather said that 450x can go around 120kms in one full charge and attain a 100kmph top speed in 3.2 or whatever secconds then it makes sense to ask that price .
All the upgrades in real world are just the bare minimum and much needed upgrades which plaqued current 450’s , Still if Ather feels this is what they can offer as ultra premium product IMHO they are already failing themselves (Imagine UltraVoilette comes up with a performance scooter ) As i mentioned earlier as well Ather’s greedy pricing is not a solution and they should capture volumes and make profit by selling more not be pricing more and selling less, There’s a reason Activa is market leader Tarun compared it but forgot you can get two activas in 450x pricing…
More over they dont know howmuch number they produce per month.They simple take booking and sit on booking for 6 to 7 months…they want to cash your belief in Ather thats all…
You are the best judge of what suits you best. If this doesn’t suit you, don’t buy…as simple as that.
Seats and mirror design were same and the plastic quality didn’t look different. But one important thing is that the 3 scooters displayed were not series vehicles and hence we should not judge anything by that. Cannot confirm this, but I heard that mirrors may change for the 450x.
In addition, if you are attending the meet up over the weekend, then you can ask them about other major issues like phantom drain, tyre pressure getting lower every few days, etc…
I’m not sure If I will be able to attend it but If I do , I will. But even if I don’t attend, I’m sure many people have a lot of questions.
Also, waiting for your test ride details about both Chetak and iQube.
Sure. I’ll test ride one of them at least over the weekend.
Whether you want to keep the Vespa, only you can answer this.
If you can get the 450, go for it. For 450x, wait till you have complete clarity.
Chetak…can’t comment right now as I don’t know how it is.
Ather first needs to understand people are on the look out for good electric scooters that can munch miles not gadgets. And someone from the @Ather.Team really needs to explain how they arrived at the price of 149K for the 450X plus which has sim upgrade from 3G to 4G and newer processor to support the android open source stuff. You all need to understand that we can get a phone mount for 2K, These are not the features people waited for. . This is not something people look forward to in a scooter. People sure do love to talk about all the cool features the scooter has but thats it. The people who are gonna buy the scooter looks for other things like the distance, charging time maintenance battery etc, Not GPS or turn by turn navigation or music. This is not a long distance tourer guys, its a commuter bike. Also dont try to be a tesla, All the features are really cool i agree, But people will only keep talking about it and no1 will buy it simply coz its overpriced and beats the whole purpose of why people want to switch to EV.
Exactly people want only long distance and fast charging that’s it. If you remove all smart stuff and give 150 to 200 range and good reduction in charging time that’s more than enough.
Too bad. Should have gone for OnePlus. Have been using it from last 3 years without a hitch. They have a forum as well and generally rectify thier issues through an OTA update once per month. My friend uses an iPhone 11 just because it’s an iPhone, uses it more as a status symbol than a cell phone. It costs twice as much as mine but still has an LCD screen.
Bottom line is majority members here are not asking for an iPhone at a price of an OPPO , people who took 450 test ride are satisfied with a OnePlus and don’t want to upgrade to a Samsung disguised as an iPhone.
I haven’t noticed any decrease in range either, in fact, I’ve been getting pretty good efficiency lately. Now, with a battery better than the current one, if treated well, will be pretty reliable, or have decent health atleast for the next 3 years. So isn’t it kind of absurd that Ather came up with subscription plans for the X with infinite battery warranty? I know people have concerns about battery cost and replacement. But that’s also because most have never used an electric vehicle before, even myself.
So here’s what I think: I’m mostly sticking with my 450. The upgrade doesn’t seem big enough to change. Because although I do about 600+ Kms a month, I’m not going to use / will barely use the full potential of the X. I would mostly be a plus user. Bluetooth isn’t a big deal. Yes, better battery chemistry is a plus point and all the other smaller advantages like side stand indicator, android, etc. It’s a great product honestly! The move to android is genius and will enable a lot of amazing updates. The main thing that led to the subscriptions is people’s concern about battery dying early. Now, I’m a really careful user. I clean the vehicle regularly, I keep the belt clean and I get good efficiency. I keep the vehicle in the shade always so battery isn’t affected. I also make sure I charge only till about 85% usually and it almost never drops below 30-40% so I’d rather prefer the 3 year warranty because I know that the battery will last for about 5years atleast with 70-80% capacity. And then I can change the battery in about 7 years where the capacity goes to 50% when I can afford to spend about 50-70k for a new battery which will end up cheaper than paying more than a lakh or two in those 7 years 🤷🏻♂
But I’m still gonna wait for the upgrade plan before I cancel, because I prefer buying it whole. And I’m not sure how much my 9month old 7k Kms Ather will fetch me. I really really wish they fix the DOT with a magnetic lock though🤦🏻♂ I really like how the POD was designed.
Also, they’re giving us an option to upgrade the existing 3G module to 4G on our scooters. That, and dark mode will be great and then I probably won’t be missing much.
That’s unrealistic. Don’t you think someone would have already come up with such a scooter if it was possible? If you remove gagets cost might come down but certainly won’t increase the range. Ather’s scooters have well built power-range ratio, let’s give them credit where it’s due.
After reading this thread and looking at the sentiment, a lot of people have unrealistic expectations. This is literally the highest performance scooter on the market with the most advanced smart features available in any scooter, what did you guys think it would cost? Everyone’s asking for features that are missing, that will only add on to the cost and increase complexity of logistics and manufacturing. I agree that to the end customer, the scooter should have been about 20 to 25k more than the 450 for all the improvements, if the end customer upfront cost was 1.35L for the Pro varient, the scooter would be a great buy. I’m not sure if there’s a way to get the scooter down to that price via subsidies / etc, but that would be ideal. If anyone expected a price lower than 1.25L for such a scooter, your expectations need to be adjusted. The 450 itself was sold at an unsustainable price for Ather, and that was 1.13L, this has significant improvement, and justifies a higher price. Ather is out to build a sustainable company, they can’t do that if they sell scooters at a loss. It costs large amounts of money to do R&D, manufacturing, components and after sales service/support for such a vehicle.
I think Ather should have waited at least till April before announcing the 450X. I think waiting till July will kill a lot of the momentum for the vehicle. Hopefully Ather explains per state subsidies and discloses best possible prices after all incentives for the 450X in each state. I am still unsure of how the 1.59L price is after the subsidy, definitely needs clarification.
I am not sure how that works. For the display UI Android may have benefits, but for proper real-time monitoring of all the sensors on the scooter I don’t believe that Android is the best choice
Exactly!! Cause it’s not only taking you from point A to B in the city but it’s doing it in the most fun and peaceful way possible. I mean it’s next to impossible for anyone in the country to go beyond what Ather provides right now (scooter wise atleast)!!!
He’s ex Ather and used to lead the forum before Abishek took over a few months ago. I suggest trying to derive some value from his perspective because he probably has insights into how the company built and positioned the 450X.
The company has opened a war on 2 fronts. It is one battle to get the new factory up to scale and speed and another to fine tune and deliver a new model. The coming year will determine if the management can deliver on both. In my brief interactions with them they seem be capable, but good intentions and capabilities are just not enough in an adverse economy all stakeholders and Government need to support
This is where the support of your customers and dealers will be critical.
How you manage expectations, communicate hiccups and delays will separate the men from the boys