FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Yamaha XMAX 300 TECH MAX

Charlie Oakman’s been to Italy to put Yamaha’s newest sport scooter through its paces. Here’s how he got on.

Launching an upgraded Sport Scoot to European journalists? Milan’s the place. Leaving the airport and heading into the city is like plunging into Scooter-Soup such is the popularity of this urban form of transport on the continent – and as for their confidence in the new XMAX 300 Tech Max, Yamaha threw us into the deep-end into early morning rush hour traffic to navigate our way through the city.

We were introduced to the new XMAX 300 Tech Max the night before. They’ve sold well-over 450,000 scooters historically, and it’s easy to see why when you get up close and personal to the ‘Tech Max’, the £6705 premium option to the standard XMAX 300 launched earlier this year.

Even if you are not a regular Scooter rider (guilty as charged), you cannot ignore the fact it’s a beautiful thing, compact in presence but with large wheels offering the promise to handle like a motorcycle – with all the benefits of a scooter that has learnt many a lesson from its 500cc big brother the TMAX. 

This build is premium, with numerous stylish touches that celebrate the X in MAX, including newly developed X-shaped LED lighting on the front and rear, which penetrated the night as the presentation drew to a close. The indicators have also been repositioned, now in line with the adjustable handlebars for greater visibility switching lanes in traffic (which would appear to be a novel idea in the traffic the following morning but being awfully British many an indicator was on show at the start of the ride).

It doesn’t take long to cast these manners aside on the heaving city roads, learning to grab any space available that offers an advance in the traffic. The XMAX 300’s change in pace is immediate, allowing you to filter extremely effectively – helped by the slim design passing through even the most challenging of gaps with the larger wheels demonstrating the light and sporty quick-fire handling that makes throwing 183kg’s of scoot around a doddle at any given pace. 

Navigating the city’s traffic at rush hour may be where the XMAX 300 comes into its own, but once out of urban environs and winding our way north to Lake Como, Yamaha’s boasts that the 300 is as happy on short bursts of touring rang true.

Out in the open, the comfort of the newly designed seat becomes apparent complete with a rider backrest and more space for the rider’s inner thighs than the previous model (which I’m told was a criticism). Storage is impressive though slightly reduced, with a keen 43 litres under the seat, which carries two full-face helmets and two handy front pockets with the left lockable complete with a power supply and the right readily available to reach for your toll money, glasses, or your keys that may include the XMAX’s keyless ignition fob.

On the open road, you can raise your feet onto the aluminium footplates and give the EURO5 Blue Core 300cc engine a proper test, with one or two of us surpassing the claimed top speed of 138km/h – despite this the fuel economy of a claimed 3L / 100km appeared accurate with the 200km round trip using about half a tank of fuel. That means brimming its 13.2-litre tank could potentially see the scoot surpassing 400km from a single trip to the petrol station.

The XMAX 300 is incredibly fun to ride. Heading down to Lake Como, several more advanced scooter riders kept a few leather-clad sports bike riders honest with the occasional scrape of the centre stand, which though avoidable does make that lovely sound of ‘progression’.

Braking is good, progressive in traffic and allows a sporting use of the rear heading into corners at pace with an intuitive Traction Control System in place to deal with any changes in road surface.

Another key upgrade is the connectivity which again learns from the TMAX – though the 4.2-inch screen did raise some concerns from those more versed in Scooter riding than I, stating that the glare could make it harder to read, it is also smaller than that of the ‘Big T’ which was considered a shame.

This screen will connect to your phone displaying information from Yamaha’s My Ride App and of Garmin’s StreetCross App for navigation (though this is an App based extra). When in use, the second screen above the TFT details your speed, fuel etc. If the TFT is not connected, you have 3 ‘visualiser’ themes to choose from, as well as more basic odometer/trip information and a settings menu.

As you would imagine, with such an important addition to Yamaha’s range of scooters, there are plenty of options to personalise your XMAX 300 with the Tech Max available in Dark Petrol or Tech Black. You can add a Sport Pack, an Urban Pack or an extremely snug-looking Winter Pack though you can also purchase the individual items of your choice – there is also an excellent collection of apparel to keep on brand when off the bike.

Feedback from journos more versed in riding sports scooters than myself were very excited at what they found with the Tech Max, celebrating the significant advances on the previous 300. I found an extremely versatile bike with excellent handling, turn of pace and ride-ability with practicality for Urban riding with enough gusto to keep you entertained on short tours where you can leave all your riding kit in the bike when arriving at your destination.

More will feature in the upcoming issue of MoreBikes, but in the meantime, for more information, go to Yamaha’s official website.

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