In its wisdom Piaggio had decided that it was time to ditch the long-established and respected Vespa brand with something new and exciting. Despite infinite possibilities Piaggio chose what has to be one of the worst names imaginable: ‘Cosa’, which translates from Italian as ‘What’, or more commonly ‘Thing.’ There was no doubt as to its heritage, the family resemblance being strong in the model. The traditional bulbous rear end, moving front mudguard and single-legged fork being carry-overs from previous models, but the modern styling given to the scooter was largely a failure, despite it being arguably the best geared machine Piaggio ever made. Perhaps that statement won’t sit well with the traditional scooterist, given the lasting dislike the machine has had since its launch 35 years ago, but consider it from a technical point of view and it’s a different matter.
