Hero Passion Pro vs TVS Victor

Hero Motocorp has kicked things up a notch with the 2020 Hero Passion Pro. So what’s new? And how much of a difference have the changes made? To find out, we spent a couple of days with the motorcycle in city traffic and on the highway. Yes, we even rode it over broken roads and loaded it with a hefty duffle bag, because after all, it will be used as a rugged commuter isn’t it?

The Passion brand was supposed to replace the Splendor when it was launched many years ago. But the Indian market liked this entry-level bike so much that it went on to become the second highest selling bike brand for Hero MotoCorp. Over the last few years, many manufacturers have tried to dethrone the Passion range but were unsuccessful. Hero MotoCorp found out that the Indian buyers were upgrading themselves to a higher displacement and that’s when it decided to give the Passion Pro a new 110cc heart. 

The original Victor was launched in 2001 and was the forerunner for the south Indian manufacturer. Simply put, the Victor is to TVS what the Splendor is to Hero, the people’s champion. It has been a couple of months now with this new TVS and it is, for the most part, proving to be a ‘Victor’.

If you read our first long term review of the Victor, we told you that we would be answering a bunch of questions regarding this TVS. Let’s get the most simple and important one out of the way – fuel efficiency: it gave a surprisingly great 59.8kmpl. It stacked up pretty well losing by just a couple of kilometres to its lower-powered segment rival - the Honda Livo.

After just having sold my daily ‘commuter’, I was handed the keys to the new TVS Victor as a long termer. That my daily ‘commuter’ was a manic 373cc, 44bhp machine holds no water here, because my new, though a lot slower and saner new commute partner, holds far more significance. Here’s why.