2025 Ather 450X first ride review: A Magic Twist
A racetrack with obstacles right in in the middle? A seesaw platform? A berm and off-road hurdles? All this for an an electric scooter? My first thought upon the sight of the track was an adventure bike and that too a capable one. But I learnt that Ather had curated this one purposefully for the update of its flagship product. But we have to go back a little in time to know how I ended up for the ride of the 2025 Ather 450X. Usually when a player in a team goes under the weather, the load is transferred to the ones who are over the weather. In this case, it was me, when Chris fell sick and I was assigned to review the 2025 Ather 450X. When I spoke to the concerned people I figured out that it was just a minor update to the outgoing model. And that got me thinking if my senior was actually sick or whether he just wanted to avoid a product that was receiving a minor update. And let me tell you that Chris missed out on quite a fun ride, keep reading to find out what I am talking about. I was quite excited for this one because I had never ridden an Ather product before, and also, it was my first assignment for OVERDRIVE. Now, my initial impression about the electric scooter was that it remains to be one of the most sporty and athletic looking EV scooters out there, so much, that Ather touts it as the bike of scooters. Now, what are the new additions for the 2025 Ather 450X, for starters, it gets the magic twist. Read on to find out about the so-called twist and magic.
Before I get to the magic, the EV maker has not fiddled with the design and cycle parts of the scooter. Which means that the 450X continues to be offered with the same wheels, fenders, suspension components, disc brakes and lighting setup. Which is a good thing, in my opinion, the product does exactly what it is aimed to do when it comes to the looks and design. It is for a target audience that fancies a glance while zapping past the urban jungle. The Ather 450X does that with ease, courtesy goes to those sharp lines, aggressive fenders and the sporty colour themes. It turns quite the heads while it zips past you silently. But then what is new about the 2025 450X? Well, for starters, it gets new tyres that have been focused on extending range, the new 450X comes shod with MRF Zapper N e-tred tyres. Now, Ather told us that the outgoing version of the 450X with the 2.9 kWh battery has a real-world range of 85 km and the 3.7 kWh battery has a true range of 105 km, but with the new MRF Zapper N e-tred rubber, these figures have been bumped to 110 Km & 130 Km, respectively. The IDC range has also increased to a good 126 Km & 161 Km, respectively. But since we were on a short leash in terms of testing time, these figures could not be validated. For that, we will have to have for a proper road test and that will take some time. Having said that, kudos to Ather on extending the range without changing the battery and motor capacity, that's quite the feat to achieve with the help of new tyres and the magic twist feature.
Moving on, the company has added two new vibrant paint jobs to the existing palette of colour options â€" Hyper Sand and Stealth Blue. The former looks quite sexy with the orange accents that add to the sporty look of the scooter. I think it is a good move to add more paint jobs because the design supports and has potential to carry such colour combinations, good job Ather!
Now we touch up on the critical bits, the multi-mode traction control and magic twist. The magic twist was first seen on the Ather 450 Apex and it was a welcome feature, and it is very easy to use, unlike most EVs that have regen levels that are engaged by the tap of a button, the magic twist here engages regenerative function at negative input of the throttle. The moment you twist the throttle the other way around, the system engages regenerative braking, and once engaged it also gets you to a complete halt. It is a nice move to bring this feature of the flagship model down to the X. And it works just fine.
While I was attending the briefing, they mentioned multi-mode traction control, and I thought to myself that this could be more about fun than function, and I was right, as soon as I saw the track they curated to experience a set of small updates, I had clarity to where this was going, and it was fun all right. Take a look! So much for "daag acche hai".
There are three modes of traction control - Rain, Road and Rally. The Road mode has little intervention when the sensors detect slight slippage of the tyres, this will be quite handy when encountering gravel or loose surface on tarmac. Similarly, the Rain mode intervenes with a little more intensity that can be felt while the traction is lost on wet surface like puddles, muck and slush. Now, the Rally mode, this is basically to have fun I think, it lets you do all the hooliganism you can think of doing while on a bike, and the best part, it is accessible on a scooter, way to go Ather! Not only that, the 450X looks good while doing all of these stunts. Quite the bike of scooters, this one. And if the Rally mode does not quench your thirst for questionable behaviour, you can switch off the traction control and go full throttle on making the neighbours and onlookers judge your parents or yourself for upsetting the calm.
In terms of specification, the Ather 450X continues to draw power from the same 3.7/2.9 kWh battery packs that pushes around 10PS and 26Nm of peak torque. But the claimed IDC range has been bumped by 161 Km and 126 Km, respectively. The charging time for 0-80 per cent is a claimed 4h 30 min for the 3.7 kWh battery pack and 3h for the smaller pack, while a full charger will take a claimed 5h 45m and 4h 30m, respectively.
When it comes to the riding dynamics, the Ather 450X leaves little to no room for complaints, it is very light on its feet, quite nimble to handle, you can slice and dice through traffic like nobody's business. The acceleration is on tap in the Warp and Sport mode, one flick of the throttle and you have oodles of torque at your beck and call. Which means that quick overtakes are a cinch on this machine. Came across an empty stretch? Flick the throttle wide open and it will hit the top speed of 90kmph without breaking a sweat. If your priority is to cover a long distance, then you got Eco and Ride mode that compromises performance for extended range. The braking duties are done by disc brakes on both wheels, and they do a fine job of dropping the anchors when required. The bite on the front rotor is a little sharp as compared to the rear one, the rear brake has more progression and the front one takes some time getting used to. The rider triangle remains to be quite neutral and comfortable, taller riders might complain about the lack of knee room, but for the average Indian height, there is ample amount of space to get comfy. The suspension setup is on the firmer side of things, but the ride does not become bone jarring or too uncomfortable. Actually, the ride experience in itself is so engaging that it made me forget about the undulations or turbulence I felt while riding on a rough patch or broken tarmac.
When it comes to tech nannies, the Ather 450X is loaded to the gills and all of it is accessible via a 7-inch TFT display and the Ather app, both work in tandem. Although, the screen could use some improvement when it comes to calibrations, it is a good unit but while navigating through the interface it stutters a tad bit and similarly the joystick on the handlebar lags a little when browsing through the quick selection menu, This could have been a glitch on the test unit that I was riding but when I was trying to change the traction control on the move, it does work while making you work for it, should have been a seamless affair. But these are minor niggles and not something that sticks out like a sore thumb. And we hope that these issues are ironed out in the production version. The electronic aids include fallsafe, autohold, Whatsapp on dash, live location sharing, theft and tow alerts, park assist, and Alexa tethering to name a few.
Time for the big question, an asking price of Rs. 1.46/1.56 lakh ex-showroom for (2.7/3.9kWh battery pack quipped models) extended range, new tyres, two new colour options, magic twist and multi-mode traction control, is it justified? That is a Rs 6,400 hike on the 2.9 kWh battery pack and a Rs 2,000 hike on the 3.7 kWh battery pack. And that's a nominal hike where the rewards seem to outweigh the asking price. Having said that, the Ather 450X still remains to be one of the better electric scooters out there, it is thrilling to ride, looks good and packed to the brim with features. And now, the range and features column has been bumped up, in my books that's a neat update, especially achieving extended range without changing the battery or motor capacity.
And in case if you guys were wondering, Chris was actually sick and as soon as I was done with the ride I sent him a thankyou note. Now, it could have been for the opportunity, or for his metabolism that could not recover in due time for the ride, place your bets! Also, he has made a full recovery and is back on track.
Footnote-sometimes a sick teammate can help you with a super fun assignment.