Hero Impulse

Around the same time last year, Hero Motocorp launched Impulse – the sturdy 150cc motorbike that brought about a new segment in the market. Hero Impulse is India’s first dual purpose on-road off-road bike that comes with a number of good features like a high torque ATFT engine, Nitrox gas filled mono shock rear suspension, high ground clearance and a high mount muffler. The 149.2cc 4 stroke engine delivers a maximum power of 9.7 kw and 13.4 Nm torque. The Hero Impulse is available at an extremely attractive price of Rs. 69,500 (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Claimed Hero Impulse Fuel Economy

Although the Hero Impulse is designed for use on the rough terrains, it is as much a bike for the highways. Consequently, mileage is definitely something that need to be looked at while buying the bike. While Hero Motocorp does not have any information on the fuel consumption in its e-brochure, according to Gaadi, the officially claimed mileage base is 55 kmpl on the Hero Impulse. In comparison, another 150cc bike, the Yamaha FZ16 is said to draw a mileage of 50.81 kmpl under standard test conditions.

Hero Impulse Customer Reviews On Mileage

A number of websites across the internet seem to concur on the mileage of the Hero Impulse. It is expected to give around 45-50 kmpl. But while websites like PricesofIndia and IndianBikePrices report this range other websites like NewsBeats and IndiaGarage report a broader range of between 40-55 kmpl.

Again, on the owners forum on xBHP, a number of Hero Impulse customers report varying mileages between 42kmpl and 50 kmpl. There are customers who report a lower mileage – one customer for instance reported a mileage of around 28 kmpl – but they are definitely outliers and do not have to be considered while accounting for the average fuel economy.

As always, the best place to check for real-world reviews of bikes is to look into classifieds sites (where you get the upper limit of range) and reviews sites like MouthShut (where disgruntled customers typically post a lower limit). First let’s look at MouthShut.com. There are 4 reviews for the Impulse and these reviewers have together offered a rating of 3/5 for fuel efficiency. It is not clear why the bike has fetched such an average rating. Looking into the individual reviews, one customer says he can see 48 kmpl on city roads and 55 kmpl on highways. Another customer reports a mileage of a much better 60 kmpl – given that this is a 150cc bike, the mileage reported is extremely good.

On Olx, where the reported mileages are expected to be higher than customer reviews from elsewhere, they are pretty much close to test drive reviews reported earlier. The various ad posters have claimed mileages of between 45 kmpl and 55 kmpl.

A summary of the mileages as reported by various riders is posted below.

Should you go for it? From what I see, the mileage is pretty decent for the bike specs. There are very few reviews from people who report a drastically lower mileage which underlines the consistent mileage delivered by the bike. It’s definitely a thumbs up for the bike from my end.