2013 Genuine Scooter Co. Stella 4-Stroke
User Reviews
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Stella 4T A Scooter You Would Take Home To Meet Your Mother
By (I am an Owner) on Oct 29, 2014Performance- The Stella's performance is solid to say the least. You won't win any races with the Stella 4T, but once you get into 3rd and 4th that's when she really shines. Long rides on side roads and old highways are pure joy. You can barely break 60mph with the Stella, but the sweet spot for ... me is anywhere between 45mph-55mph. I lived in a downtown urban environment and stop lights, traffic and crosswalks can be quite a nuisance downshifting into 1rst. However, once you get a good feel, you will rarely take it out of 2nd unless coming to complete stops. MPG is nowhere near 140 MPG, but I get anywhere from 70 to 90 MPG. About 80% of that is with a second passenger and a 30 pound bag. Not too shabby for a machine that can maintain 55 MPH fairly easily.
Quality and Reliability- The biggest downfall of the Stella is reliability. Initially I was plagued with problems. The first 1,000 miles I was in and out of the shop constantly. I think I had to use the tow service 7 times. At one point I had to tow the scooter to my place because it was 3 am. The next day I was unable to use the tow service to get it to the shop, because they require a one week waiting time, before you can use the service again. However, at least Genuine has a roadside assistance program for 2 years. First problem was the needle pin was not put in properly, this caused it to get stuck and go full throttle when I would hit a bump. Easy fix, second was kick starter broke off, easy fix, third was clutch cable snapped, not easy fix and not covered under warranty. Lastly, the main culprit of all my problems was the kill switch. Whenever it would rain it would mess up the kill switch which would then become intermittent. The Stella would not start and then after a few days it would work, but then turn off randomly and not start again. This was not an easy fix, eventually my scooter shop got it sorted out and installed a new one. Since those initial problems I have been 1,000 miles problem free. After doing a little research it seems the majority of Stellas have the kill switch problem, so I am disappointed Genuine hasn't addressed this. Now I feel very confident that my Stella will get me to where I need to be and that I can rely on her as a daily commuter. If you can get past the initial quarks, you will learn a lot from your machine and it will become a lasting member of your family.
Ride and Comfort- The Stella can turn on a dime and nothing is more satisfying than having an open road to yourself on a sunny day. My girlfriend and I conveniently work at the same location and 80% of the time we end up taking the Stella with our lunches and gym bags packed nicely into our roll bag on the back. With one or two riders the Stella is a nice ride and is always a pleasure weather permitting. The shocks are definitely nothing to write home about but they get the job done, and surprisingly I have hit a few potholes going faster than I should and usually go right over. Making sure the rear tire is at the proper PSI is also a necessary task to ensure safety with two riders and I always have a fear of a blowout with vintage split rims. But having split rims has been more convenient in times of need and made switching tires an easy task.
Value- Not going to lie would rather have gotten a Vespa, but for the price Stella is the way to go if you are on a budget. There are a plethora of options for upgrades and what not for the Stella and Vespa PX. The majority of items for Vespa PX will probably fit the Stella making it a nice choice further down the line if you want to class it up a bit. I am very pleased at the price I paid for my Stella, and would probably do it again in a few years time when I need another scooter.
In conclusion if you can get past the initial break in time and make sure you do a little research unlike I did like getting a new kill switch the Stella is worth every penny and will be a loyal companion for many miles down the road.
Rating breakdown
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Chinese quality at an Italian price
By (I am an Owner) on Mar 08, 2014My new 2013 Genuine Stella 4 stroke was the worst purchase of my life.
It was sold to me from an authorized Genuine dealer with false paperwork from the manufacturer. That this was a "mistake" is not my concern--things like this should not happen. It took well over a week to get the ... proper paperwork from Genuine. Little did I know that the false paperwork was merely the tip of the iceberg.
The scooter failed its initial state inspection due to a faulty fuse which made the tail light non-functional. It took me weeks to find an opening at an authorized dealer to get this problem fixed under warranty.
After getting the fuse fixed, I valiantly attempted to ride the Stella home. Scarcely ten miles from the dealership, the gear shift failed in traffic, nearly causing me to get hit by a car. As the gear shift had ceased to function, I could not operate the transmission, so I was stranded on the road.
I was left with the broken-down scooter in the blazing heat for about four hours until the towtruck (pictured) came.
After getting the broken gear shift fixed, the speedometer broke a few days later. The gas gauge broke with it. A few weeks after that the scooter would not even start.
This scooter has roughly 500 miles on it; that is all I was able to use it over the past nine months. It is constantly breaking. It is extremely difficult to start. Components fail almost like clockwork; I cannot believe this Indian import made it to America.
Please see the photo; this is what a Genuine Stella in action is: an expensive hunk of metal that I constantly have had to get towed. I was sold this scooter under the pretense that it was reliable, quality transportation. It is no such thing.
I attempted to rate everything "poor" in my rating, because it is the truth; this is a terrible scooter. Motorcycle.com's rating scale is very strange. "Great" is all the way to the left, "poor" is in the middle, and "good" is all the way to the right. So I rated everything in the middle, with the intent of it being "poor".
This scooter is a poor value and I do not recommend it.
Rating breakdown