Sunday 5 April 2009

Mana no more

I shuold let you know that I have sold my Mana. I was tired of all the problems that it had, and, frankly, I was extremely disappointed. 

The bike was in repar for more than 45 days. One morning it just stopped working. And this was after I had had to already change the dashboard due to water infiltrations. Enough is enough. 

It got to the point where I would not take my Mana because I was afraid it woulde let me down somewhere. 

This was my first Aprilia. It will be my last one. I had only had Japanese bikes so far, for more than 20 years, and never had a problem. I better stick to those. 

Too bad though. The idea of the Mana was very good. Execution was messy. And I am fed up of being used as a beta tester by companies which regard customers only as stupid fuckers with money. 

Goodbye Aprilia. 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ugh, sorry to hear that. Perhaps I should rethink the purchase of one?

Anonymous said...

Hi demonio,

could you, please, facilitate further details about problems suffered with Mana?

I had this bike in mind but I'm afraid this project might be too hard effort for Aprilia.

Maybe same concept developed by some japanese would be success.

Thank you and good luck with next bikes

Demonio Pellegrino said...

Hi there. I must say that the problems had nothing to do with the real innovation of the bike. i.e. the automatic gear. This part worked beautifully, and never gave me problems.

The problems I had were:
- water leaks into the dashboard. Dashboard replaced, but AGAIN, problems. so in the end I had my dashboard replaced twice. UNACCEPTABLE.

- problems with the fuel injectors. One morning it just would not start. The fuel injectors were changed, but still an electronic problem prevented the bike from starting. The whole injenction system was then changed, and the bike started. It took 47 days.

- noise from exhaust pipe: a metallic noise, as if something had detached inside, was coming from the exhaust pipe. the dealer (and Aprilia) refused to replace it, although they aknowledged that something was wrong.

- Minor problems such as: the trunk that would refuse to open, sometimes, electronically. I had to use the key. not always, but at times.

- passenger footrest would not unfold sometimes, remaining blocked.

Shall I continue? This was a new bike. No surprise Aprilia is not selling bikes. NEVER AGAIN.

Anonymous said...

Dear Demonio, It was really sad news. I guess it was originally manufactured inferiorly. I fully understand how you've been hurt from your new bike. More expectation, more disappointment. Too bad.

Was there no proper, no any explanations from Aprilia on your problematic Mana?...Too bad....

Yours, Lewis

Demonio Pellegrino said...

Hi Lewis,

Aprilia never contacted me, in spite of numerous messages passed on through my dealer (who was very competent and nice, by the way).

By chance, I then met one of the engineers working for an Aprilia subcontractor, which had been providing electronic components to the Mana. He told me that he was not surprised of the problems with Mana, because Aprilia had cut ressources for bike development below normal levels.

As I said, this is too much for me. never again. I wish you best of luck with your bike.