Taxi

Vehicle

Taxi
A Taxi in GTA III. (Rear quarter view; different bumper color and taxi sign) A Taxi in GTA III.
Appearance(s)	GTA 1 GTA 2 GTA III GTA Vice City GTA San Andreas GTA Advance GTA Liberty City Stories GTA Vice City Stories GTA IV The Lost and Damned The Ballad of Gay Tony
Vehicle type	Taxicab
Body style	4-door sedan
Capacity	4
Manufacturer	Vapid and Declasse (GTA IV)
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The Taxi is a four-door sedan-based taxi featured, in some form or other, in nearly all of the games in the Grand Theft Auto series (with the exception of Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and London, 1961, which instead feautured the London Cab, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, where the Cabbie is the only taxi).

Distinguishable by its yellow livery, it is often one of the most common vehicles on the road. Between GTA III and GTA Vice City Stories, the Taxi can be used to perform taxi side-missions.

Design

GTA 1 — GTA 2

In Grand Theft Auto 1, there are three versions of the Taxi; the Liberty City version is based on the Portsmouth, the San Andreas version is based on the Vulture, and the Vice City version is based on the Flamer. The Taxi in Grand Theft Auto 2 is similar to an elongated Fiat 500 with the checkered stripe crossing the roof horizontally. In GTA 2, if it's crushed in Downtown District the reward is Double Damage.

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  GTA 1 (Liberty City).

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  GTA 1 (San Andreas).

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  GTA 1 (Vice City).

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  Ray Larabie's early design of GTA 2's Taxi.

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  GTA 2 (In-game, with lights).

GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories

From Grand Theft Auto III onwards, the Taxi is usually based on the same model as the police car from its respective game:

• In GTA III, the Taxi resembles a cross between a late model Chevrolet Caprice and Ford Crown Victoria. There are minor variants available, with darker bumpers, and different taxi lights.
• In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the Taxi is a Ford LTD look-alike.
• In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas the Taxi is based on the Premier, designed after the 1991-96 Chevrolet Caprice.
• The Taxi in GTA Advance has little indication of which car it is based on, but is generally more boxy in design when compared to the game's Police vehicle.
• The taxis in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories are largely identical to the GTA III and GTA Vice City renditions, respectively. The GTA Liberty City Stories rendition may appear with yellow, black or grey bumpers.

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  GTA III (Rear quarter view; different bumper color and taxi sign).

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  Comparison of two differences available on Taxis in GTA III. Note that the Taxi on the right says "TAKI".

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  GTA Vice City (Rear quarter view).

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  GTA San Andreas (Rear quarter view).

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  GTA Advance.

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  GTA Liberty City Stories (Rear quarter view; different bumper color and taxi sign).

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  GTA Vice City Stories (Rear quarter view).

GTA IV

There are two different taxi sedans in Grand Theft Auto IV; one built by Declasse, based on the Merit, which is the 2000-2005 Chevrolet Impala, and the other built by Vapid, based on the Fleet Sedan, influenced strongly by the 1992–1997 Ford Crown Victoria P72, with frontal design cues more similar to a 1998–2011 model.

While the Taxis come standard with regular taxi lights, some have rooftop advertisements for "WTF", "Banging Trash Can Lids for an Hour", "Conjoined Twins", "The Science Of Crime", and Weazel News, both of which can detach in collisions. Both models contain a medallion on the front hood, which is used to indicate that New York City Taxi are licensed to pick up passengers; they also have a red marker on the back left. Vapid Taxis may also have yellow, grey or black bumpers.

Players can enter Taxis in GTA IV and take taxi rides to destinations.

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  A Vapid "Taxi Car" in GTA IV (Rear quarter view; with roof-mounted advertising and different bumper color).

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  Declasse "Taxi Car" in GTA IV (Rear quarter view; without roof-mounted advertising).

Performance

GTA 1 — GTA 2

Early renditions of the Taxi are generally undesirable due to their mediocre performance. While differing between cities and partially based on muscle vehicles, GTA 1's taxis are generally slow, but compensate with good steering. In GTA 2 the opposite is the case, with moderate speed but sluggish controls, inferior to the Taxi Xpress. Both games' renditions have moderate crash endurance.

GTA III — GTA Vice City Stories

Although the appearance of the Taxi between GTA III and GTA Vice City Stories varies drastically, the Taxi's performance in all the games of this era may be described as all-round average. With moderate speed, moderate acceleration, light construction, moderate endurance, capable steering and stable cornering (all traits which are helpful during Taxi Driver missions), the Taxi is generally an acceptable vehicle to drive. The vehicle is also front wheel drive, reducing the chances of tailspins when cornering and allowing the vehicle to perform 180-degree turns backwards or forward with ease.

GTA IV

The Declasse Merit-based taxi in GTA IV is powered by a V6, coupled to a 5 speed gearbox in a RWD layout. Acceleration is very good, and the top speed is above average. The brakes have been upgraded over the regular Merit, requiring a shorter stopping distance. The suspension has also had an upgrade, making this vehicle corner more effectively at speed. Crash deformation is acceptable, and the cab can survive a few frontal hits before failing.

The Vapid Fleet Sedan-based Taxi is powered by a 4.6L V8, coupled to a 5 speed gearbox in a RWD layout. Acceleration is good, and the top speed is above average. Its braking and suspension are very good, identical to that of the Police Cruiser; ABS is standard, and the suspension easily handles cornering and smooths out the bumpy roads of Liberty City. Crash deformation is good, and the vehicle can sustain multiple frontal impacts before failing.

Taxi side missions

Main articles: Taxi Driver and Taxi (mission)

Modifications (GTA San Andreas)

The Taxi is one of only a handful of public vehicles that could be customized at a modification workshop, specially, at Transfender.

The modification options (see Transfender article for pricing) of the vehicle include:

• 1 color: For the body.
• 2 scoops: Champ and Fury.
• 2 exhausts: Medium and Twin.
• 3 types of nitrous boasts: 2x, 5x and 10x.
• 2 spoilers: Win and Alpha.
• 10 wheels: Import, Atomic, Ahab, Virtual, Access, Off Road Wheel, Mega, Grove, Twist and Wires.
• Bass boast on car stereo.
• Hydraulics.

Variants

• Bickle '76

Taxi companies

• Borgnine Taxis
• Kaufman Cabs
• Mean Street Taxis
• Sunnyside Taxis
• Vice City Cabs

Trivia

• In some of the games in the series, Taxis' radios default to certain stations. They are as follows:
  • GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories: Espantoso or VCPR
  • GTA San Andreas: CSR 103.9
  • GTA Liberty City Stories: Radio Del Mundo
  • GTA IV: San Juan Sounds (Declasse Taxi); WKTT, Public Liberty Radio, Integrity 2.0 (Vapid Taxi)
• In GTA Vice City, Taxis have white spots on the windshield due to an error in applying the vehicle's reflection map.
• In GTA III and GTA Vice City, Taxis may very rarely spawn without their lights on top. In these cases, saving the car in a garage won't fix it. In GTA IV, the taxi light can be broken off by impacts.
• In GTA III, the sign on some Taxis appears to be misspelled as "taki". This could be a reference to the English word "tacky", the Hawaiian word "taki" (meaning useless), or the racial slur "paki".
• In GTA III, the player will get $25 after carjacking a taxi.
• Taxi drivers tend to be vengeful, exiting their vehicle and assaulting the player if he or she damages their vehicle; they may pull the player out of their own vehicles, or throw punches if they meet the player on foot. In GTA IV, they hold onto the player's car door while he or she attempts to escape, until the gaining speed forces them to let go. Oddly, sometimes they will pull the player out of their car, and then utter something before running back to their taxi and drive off.
• The GTA IV Taxi originally had a black variant, as seen in the Vladimir Glebov trailer.
• In GTA Vice City, the beta texture of the taxi appears when it is seen from afar.
• In GTA IV, most taxi drivers are men, however, you can usually find a woman taxi driver in Hove Beach, Broker.
• In GTA IV, the Vapid,Declasse and Schyster Taxis have three different horns, differing in pitch with some with a high pitched, medium pitched, and lower pitched horns. The pitch determines how well and strong the horn sounds. The higher ranges usually are weak, mid-ranges usually have a somewhat over-blown or out of tune horn, while the lower pitches have healthy and loud horns. Most of the horns used can be traced back to civilian vehicles of different brands (such as Intruder, Pinnacle, DF8-90, Patriot, etc).
• In GTA IV, if a Taxi is rammed at a high enough speed, the taxi driver will die more easily than if any other car is rammed.
• Most of the taxi drivers in GTA IV speak in greek, as well as most of them, if held a gun to them say "I'm Greek, you know." and usually cuss out traffic in front of them in Greek as well.
• In the first trailer to Grand Theft Auto IV a Beta Vapid taxi can be seen on the Algonquin Bridge.
• In GTA IV, if the taxi sign is broken off of a taxi, it will still react as if it were attached. If the player turns off the engine, the light for the advertisements will turn off, and will turn back on when the player gets back in the taxi. Also, when the player destroys the cab, it will appear burnt no matter how far away it is from the car.

Locations

GTA III

• Parked on the opposite side of the road to Salvatore's Gentlemen's Club, Saint Marks, Portland.
• Commonly parked in Newport Multistory Car Park, Newport, Staunton Island.
• Parked in the parking lot of Francis International Airport, Shoreside Vale.
• Two parked in front of the terminal of Francis International Airport, Shoreside Vale.

GTA Liberty City Stories

• Parked outside Mean Street Taxis, Trenton, Portland.
• Commonly parked in Newport Multistory Car Park, Newport, Staunton Island.
• Parked in front of the stairs leading to the Shoreside Terminal LCS, Francis International Airport, Shoreside Vale.

GTA IV

• A Declasse Merit Taxi may occasionally be parked on Asparagus Avenue in front of the LTA Headquarters,
• A Vapid Taxi can be found parked in an alley near Manganese Street and Burlesque in Star Junction, Algonquin.
• Taxis are the the most commonly spawning vehicles in Liberty City, and are particularly common in Downtown, Broker, Francis International Airport and throughout Algonquin, especially The Triangle and Star Junction where Taxis make up the majority of road traffic. Taxis are less common in peripheral, industrial and suburban areas of the city; notably, taxis will rarely spawn in eastern Dukes and northern Alderney and never spawn in Acter Industrial Park (Alderney), and in parts of Bohan.

See also

• London Cab, the British equivalent featured in Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 and London, 1961.
• Taxi Xpress, another taxi featured in Grand Theft Auto 2.
• Cabbie, the older, Checker cab-style equivalent seen in the GTA III era.
  • Borgnine and Zebra Cab, variants of the Cabbie.
• Cabby, a minivan taxi featured in Grand Theft Auto IV.