Everyone knows that scooters get better gas mileage than cars bar none (exluding hybrids). It is obvious that having smaller engines and less weight to push around yields more miles per gallon. But I've been wondering what the emissions on my Vespa GT200 are and how they compare to cars. I would assume my emissions are lower but from what I found on the web that isn't necessarily always the case. This article reports some testing done that shows a scooter fairly similar to mine (50 cc less) had 168 ppm of hydrocarbons and 3.1 percent CO2 compared to a Subaru Tribeca which had 10 ppm of hydrocarbons and 1 percent CO2. Here is another page that looks at emissions from scooters. as you can see driving a scooter is more about saving money on gas than it is for saving the environment.
The Vespa hit 2000 miles the other day while on my way to work. It seems like just a few weeks ago it was at 1500 or 1600 miles. With the weather being so nice this winter and spring I have been driving the Vespa more than I expected and thus have hit this milestone sooner than I thought. Right now I'm driving my truck roughly once a week and I'm not having to pay much in gas. The Vespa is hard to start up every now and then, especially when I haven't driven it in a few days. I need to find out what that is all about and get it resolved.