Having owned more than 50 bikes, including over a dozen scooters I can say that this is probably the best 250cc scooter ever made. It is very difficult to fault anything about the Scarabeo, from the stylling to the handling and performance. It is a very efficient city bike and also very comfortable for longer trips. One outstanding feature of the Scarabeo is the suspension which truly superior to any sccoter I have ridden. it ' 's a pity that Aprilia has discontinued this particular model (in production until 2006) and replaced it wiht a cheaper, less well apointed Scarabeo with fuel injection and smaller engine and also a new model called the Sport City. Both are a notch or two below the original in terms of quality, refinement and appointments.

Bought the Aprilia Scarabeo 250 for my wife and it's her first motorized 2 wheeler. So far, she's doing great. It's a perfect learner bike for anybody. The styling is a very nice balance between modern and older Italian and Aprilia has done a great job blending the two. Love the trunk and it'll work great for work commuting. Cannot speak to reliablity as it's a recent purchase but will update in a few months. Only reason for the 9 and not the 10 for now is lack of fuel injection and no data on reliability. So far, highly recommended (also....it's a discontinued model, still can find new if you look hard enough!).