2025 Hero Destini 125 Road Test Review

Hero Destini 125 Review - Better than its Japanese rivals?

The Indian scooter market is dominated by 110 to 125cc scooters. The majority of scooter sales are accounted for by the Japanese giants, Honda and Suzuki. Hero MotoCorp has consistently topped the sales charts, thanks to the Splendor, but its scooters have never been able to replicate the same influence over Indian buyers. With the all-new Destini 125, Hero aims to become a major player in the Indian scooter market.

Design

The Hero Destini 125 is a scooter with a sleek and modern design. The front fascia of the Destini has a distinctive design for the apron with a chrome-plated grille and a stylish headlamp which gets a neatly integrated DRL in it. The scooter gets body panels with smooth lines, curved shapes, and a metallic finish which makes the scooter look quite premium. In my opinion the rear end of this scooter looks a bit odd as it has a lot going on there - a simpler design might have been better.

The Destini 125 we got for testing was in the Magenta paint scheme which looked quite vivid  and in my opinion won’t appeal to everyone. However, the other colour options like the Regal Black, Cosmic Blue, and Eternal White are going to be appreciated by a lot of aspiring customers.

Ergonomics 

The Hero Destini 125 has been designed to provide a comfortable riding experience, with ergonomics that should cater to a wide range of riders. The seat height of 770 mm, makes it accessible and the seat itself is wide and well cushioned, providing ample support for both the rider and pillion.

The handlebars are positioned to provide an upright riding posture and the scooter gets a spacious floorboard area, which allows riders to place their feet comfortably and shouldn’t be a problem even for riders over 5 '9. The rear grab rail provides a secure place to hold for the pillion along with a perfectly positioned backrest for added comfort. Overall, the Destini 125's priority is comfort, which makes it an excellent choice for daily commute and short trips.

Engine, Mileage And Performance 

The Hero Destini 125 gets a 124.6cc single-cylinder air-cooled motor which produces 9.12PS and 10.4Nm. These figures easily make it more powerful than both its rivals from Honda and Suzuki. The extra performance does make the Destini 125 feel energetic with its brilliant low-end grunt and strong midrange performance. The power delivery is linear and it pulls consistently up to its top-end. It is not bad even for occasional highway runs as cruising at a constant 70kmph is fairly easy for the Destini 125, and it also felt quite refined while doing so.

 In terms of fuel efficiency, my daily commute consists of a mix between city and highway riding and I was able to manage a respectable 48kmpl. With a 5.3-litre fuel tank, an overall range of 240km plus can be expected from this 125cc scooter. But, overall the Hero Destini 125’s performance is quite good for a family scooter.

Handling And Ride Quality 

With a 115kg kerb weight, the Hero Destini 125, is one of the heaviest scooters in the segment, at-least on paper. In real-life conditions the scooter felt fairly easy to manage and the weight never became a problem in day to day riding scenarios. It gets a telescopic fork and a rear monoshock, both of which are softly sprung. Out in the city, this soft suspension performs really well and absorbs every undulation with ease.

However this soft suspension setup does make the scooter feel slightly unstable at higher speeds even though it gets bigger 12 inch alloy wheels at both ends. The braking performance too, is not that impressive, as the brakes lack initial bite and even though the scooter gets a front disc and a combined braking system, the braking performance could have been better.

Features 

The Hero Destini 125 gets a fully digital instrument cluster which shows all the necessary information. It also supports smartphone connectivity via Bluetooth along with turn-by-turn navigation and SMS/call alerts. I found these features to be quite convenient during day to day usage. The visibility of the cluster during broad daylight was not a problem, however the cluster does feel a bit cluttered as the brand has tried to present all the information in quite a small display.

Other than this the Destini 125 gets a projector headlamp along with a DRL, the illumination during night was quite good with the right amount of throw from the headlight.In terms of practicality, the Destini 125 gets an 18 litre under seat storage which is not that spacious and is smaller when compared to its rivals. However, the scooter does get a decent sized cubby hole upfront along with 2 utility hooks. Overall, a bigger under-seat storage would have been appreciated but other than that the scooter does provide a decent list of convenient features. 

Should You Buy The Hero Destini 125 ?

The Hero Destini 125 is a scooter which looks interesting, gets a powerful and efficient motor, comfortable ergonomics but misses out slightly on practicality. This definitely makes this scooter lose some brownie points. Overall at a price of Rs 80,450 (ex-showroom Delhi) for the base variant, the Destini 125 is almost Rs 4,000 cheaper than its Japanese rivals. Talking about rivals, yes the offerings from other manufacturers does offer slightly better practicality and features but in terms of city performance and comfort, the Destini 125 has got some bragging rights.

If you are someone who wants a scooter which looks different, performs well and is able to return decent fuel efficiency figures, the Destini 125 would make a lot of sense for you.