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Piaggio Yourban 300LT: an English proofreader short of genius

By Guy Procter -

General news

27 May 2011 17:16

Piaggio's new £5699 Yourban 300 LT is so clever in so many ways it would be a shame if its stupid name got in the way of anyone warming to it. It's a lighter-weight, less troll-like version of the MP3 LT, designed to appeal more to chic inner-city types.

Like its non-Yourban MP3 LT sibling it's got the two front wheels kicked out past the crucial threshold where a three-wheeled scooter becomes – legally – a trike. That means it's rideable without a bike license, CBT or even (but don't) a helmet.

And thanks to that 'articulated quadrilateral' front end (see how well it works in the Russ Abbott-channelling promo below) it's considerably safer for the license-less than a two-wheeler would be. Hard to crash even in wet corners, easy to brake heavily on without advanced planning (20% shorter stopping distance than the regular MP3 in fact) and impossible to drop at the lights, it's only the the price and the name that will cause anyone to baulk.

The first can be easily got round if you think of it in urban terms as an incredibly fast, cheap and fun car, not a tripled-price scooter. The second, we wish Piaggio luck with. Puns are best when they don't have to be explained, but we fear the Yourban's origins in 'your urban' really does.

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OpenMind says

More Pedantry, roof, ABS

Another pedant adds: Mr Procter needs to learn the British spelling of driving licence, with a c, as opposed to the American spelling for driver's license, with an S. Apart from that, yes, Yourban is a truly awful name and why don't we get the 400 version? I agree about the appeal of a roof, C1 style. Add ABS as well and you could definitely justify the price and flog it to city slickers no problem. Finally, just because a crap rap song has got the words "1,2,3" in it doesn't make it a suitable backing track to a video for a 3 wheeler. The second video, heightening the similarities between the Yourban and skiing, is in a different class.

21 October 2011 08:59

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rgvyansays

I'd be interested to have a go. I did a test on the Canam Spyder at Silverstone a couple of years ago and that was fun, just not 13 grands worth of fun.

02 June 2011 09:19

nottheotherkevin says

Another Pedant

So after getting grief for the Rogers Abbot mix up here's more. Don't know what the term is but combining two words is not a pun.

It does have form for ineffectual advertising though. Anyone remember the ditched Nissan commercials for the Micra that combined two words? Simple and --------- became ????????? Blast just remembered the other two words, full marks if you can. Here are two words that want combining Carp (sic) and Promotion become Crapromotion.

So it's "Your Urban" not "You Urban" or the unfortunately named and unfeasible "Your Ban". Well it wouldn't be for speeding would it!

Still love a test ride on one of these and it goes to show you don't need 200hp to have fun.

01 June 2011 13:06