Scooter vs. Car Drag Race!

Honda Forza vs. Honda Civic Acceleration Test: Are You Safe on a Scooter?

A common bit of mud slung at scooters is that they're not fast enough to keep up with traffic, and you'll get run over without being able to get out of the way. In California this is especially plausible because it's legal to filter through stopped traffic, such as a stoplight, to the front of a line of cars. Honda's Forza is just one of these machines. A 278cc, single-cylinder scooter that has enough punch to get around town and boogie down a freeway.

But the question remains: Are you susceptible to becoming the shrub in the commuter wood chipper? By pure coincidence (promise), we recently had a Honda Forza on a open stretch of pavement along with its natural born stoplight enemy and distant cousin, the Honda Civic. Cue the sarcastic drumroll, the video above shows what happens when a regular scooter leaves a stoplight with a regular commuter car, both at maximum thrust.

Being the “scooter guy” on staff means this editor takes a lot of flak for sticking up for the much-maligned two-wheeled cousin of the motorcycle. Hopefully this proves that scooters are not wholly unsafe for staying ahead of traffic. Yes, there are slower scooters than the Forza and much faster cars than a Civic, so this is not representative of EVERY single stoplight interaction. Even fast scooters are still slower than average motorcycles (click the link below to see our City Bike Shootout), but cars, in large part, are even slower. Fear not, scooter brethren! Ride proudly on!