No matter the displacement, when you see the words ‘Yamaha’ and ‘R’ bundled together, you know it’s going to be something special. Like most millennial enthusiasts, my first experience of a thoroughbred sportsbike was on the R15 and man, it made me giggle inside the helmet for how forgiving it was! You could push the R15 to its absolute limits and most of the time, come out unscathed. It was the motorcycle most of the auto-journos first got their knee-down on and one which helped improve our riding skills. The Yamaha R3 took off where the R15 left off, a step up to better motorcycling – delivering the same virtues on an exponential scale.
When the R3 first landed in India back in 2015, we got the taste of a proper quarter-litre Japanese motorcycle. Since then, the R3’s presence in India has been an on-off affair and even globally, the motorcycle hasn’t evolved as much as its competitors. Yamaha discontinued the R3 here in 2017 owing to BS4 emissions norms and made a comeback in 2019, before being discontinued in 2020. And now, the Yamaha is back in BS6 avatar and a lot more updates than its India-spec predecessors put together. But does it justify the ex-showroom price tag of Rs 4.65 lakh? That’s almost a price bump of a lakh compared to the previous iteration!
The 2023 Yamaha R3 features a sharper and sportier front end. The sleeker twin headlamps are now devoid of DRLs and are separated by a MotoGP-style air-vent like its larger siblings. It gets a petite faring enveloping the same chassis as the one on the previous generation R3. Apart from these changes Yamaha has kept the design updates to the bare minimum and from the rear, it’s hard to distinguish the new R3 from its predecessor. Also, when you factor in the competition, the R3 immediately looks dated. That’s also owing to the fact that this India-spec R3 was launched globally three years ago!
One thing the R3 still scores highly on is the ergonomics. It still features the sweet non-aggressive sport tourer stance we saw in its predecessor. At 780mm, the seat is quite approachable for shorter riders and is roomy enough for tall ones. I am 6 feet one inch tall and am comfortable with the setup. Though it is equipped with sporty clip-on handlebars, the mid-set footpegs have the riding position lean more towards sport-touring and the setup does boost your confidence with its accessibility. The seat is well padded for longer trips, whereas the riding position is sporty enough for track use. Unlike the KTMs, the rear seat is pretty comfortable too and the pillion doesn’t end up sitting a level above you.
When it comes to features, the R3 feels dated. For instance, its new full-digital instrument console still lacks the multi-colour TFT display that we find on its competitors. In fact, the display feels inferior to the one we get on the current generation R15 in India. Nevertheless, the instrument console features a clean layout and is easy to read on the go. While it does get all- LED lighting, the R3 misses out on rider aids such as ride modes, traction control, slip and assist clutch, and adjustable levers. These features or lack thereof in this day and age could be a deal breaker for quite a few enthusiasts.
What saves it from being a deal-breaker though is the sweet powertrain. The R3 gets the same old and much loved 321cc parallel-twin motor that delivers 42PS and 30Nm, it ensures you enjoy every bit of your saddle time. This high-revving unit offers effortless performance even in the lower rev-band. You can comfortably ride at lower speeds in higher gears without a need to downshift. This, coupled with the comfortable riding position, makes the R3 a good daily motorcycle and one with which you can commute on the weekdays and rev its heart out on the track or highways on weekends. The throttle feels crispier than before and that makes the R3 fun on the corner exits. It feels best ridden at high revs since that’s where peak power and torque are concentrated and this is accompanied with fantastic refinement and a sweet twin-cylinder howl you can only associate with Japanese motorcycles. The accessible, linear performance makes up for the lack of rider-aids and the motor still presents itself as a pure-bred enthusiast’s powertrain.
The R3 still feels the same fantastic handler it was before. That doesn’t come as a surprise as it packs the same chassis and overall geometry as its predecessor. The suspension has been updated though, it now gets USD forks though it is finished in black (as opposed to the premium-looking gold-finished forks in the international spec motorcycle). While it could have added a bit of premiumness to the motorcycle, this doesn’t stop it from being a fantastic rider’s motorcycle. Throw in some twisties and you will notice that the R3 is a tarmac-hugger! It handles so well and inspires so much confidence that you can scrape your knees around that corner with a big shiny smile plastered to your face. The standard Dunlops however won’t be my first choice of rubbers as, while they get the job done, they do seem to lose grip before reaching the chassis’ limits. A better set of tyres would add finesse to overall handling and give you that edge you are looking for while riding on the twisties. Talking about having an edge, the brakes do lack the bite that you expect from an ‘R’ badged motorcycle coming from Yamaha’s stable. However, they do provide sufficient bite for everyday riding.
Now to the million-dollar question, does the R3 justify its Rs. 4.65 lakh ex-showroom asking price? The straight answer is no. Being brought as a CBU does not help as it simply feels overpriced in the presence of vastly capable competitors in the form of the Aprilia RS 475 and KTM RC390. However, if you look past the spec sheet, the answer is more nuanced. The R3 is a sweeter, more forgiving motorcycle that you’d be more comfortable stepping into the world of quarter-litre sportsbikes. If you are a novice rider, the R3 is like that more expensive teacher who listens to you, gently teaches you the ropes and is more liberal in forgiving your mistakes. It’s upto you, how do you want to learn.
