The Kwang Yang Motor Company (Kymco) is a manufacturer of scooters, motorcycles and ATVs and is arguably one of the best out there. This statement is not one without proof. A little bit of a history lesson should suffice. Kymco was founded in 1963 after splitting with, and subsequently supplying parts for, Honda. Based in Taiwan, Kymco built its first scooter in 1970 and began only selling products under the ‘KYMCO’ moniker much later in 1992.
By the time the noughties came about, they had become the largest scooter manufacturer in Taiwan and the fifth largest scooter manufacturer in the world. The high praise not yet justified? Well, another mark of the calibre that Kymco is, can be seen when they were chosen by BMW to supply the engines for their G450 X Enduro.
Even Kawasaki’s K300 scooter is based on Kymco’s Downtown 300i, the slightly smaller sibling of the very scooter you see pictured. First impressions of the Downtown are grand in a literal sense. A veritable yacht amongst scooters if you will, one which Kymco designates a ‘Maxi-Scooter’. As scooters go, the Downtown looks excellent; aggressive and sporty.
It gives off an impressive road presence and all the while riding the Kymco, I kept grabbing the attention of people I passed, and a few people even came up to inquire about it. Its front fairing is broad and meaty, with that tall touring front screen that keeps the wind from rearranging your face at speed just adds to the bold look of the scooter.
And speed is one department that the 350 excels at. That 321cc engine pushes you and the Downtown to a 100kmph in around 8ish seconds. That is faster than most four-wheeled, road-going companions. And it tops out at around 160kmph, even though there really isn’t any public road where that is legal. Stopping power is excellent, with predictable and progressive performance, despite the size of the bike, thanks to triple-piston floating callipers paired with beefy front and rear petal-style discs with ABS as a part of the deal and the whole setup is by Bosch so reliability should be excellent in the long term.
Unlike most scooters who seem to have that topheavy, Gru-from-Despicable-Me thing going on with the titchy wheels, the 13” rear and 14” front wheels & tyres are aesthetically pleasing and perform quite well. Ride quality is a compliant, if not a tiny bit on the stiff side, but we rode it in its standard ride settings, the rear dual shocks are five-way adjustable, so a bit of tweaking could sort that out.
Overall, with the combination of all that, the Downtown is quite the nimble thing allowing you to carve your way with an impressive lean angle of 39 degrees. With it being such a big old thing, one would expect it to be a workout to bring it up onto its centre stand, but the design of the stand is so well done that it takes little effort. A side stand is also available for convenience.
The touring-style seat is an absolute joy; plush, yet it seems to be hard-wearing, and the elevated pillion placement allows for a more comfortable long-distance ride with minimum hassle. There is so much more the Downtown has to offer, but at 1.4 million it’s a hard pill to swallow. That said, if you’re in the market for sedan beating performance, a comfy ride and all the storage (of which it has copious amounts of) look no further. But, if that’s out of your price range, at almost half off, you could go for the same with a 125cc lump, or you could save up… we’d try the latter.