Taxi

Vehicle
Taxi
A Taxi in GTA III.
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
GTA V
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 featured 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.

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:

GTA IV — GTA V

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 Stanier, 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, much like the Taxis in GTA Liberty City Stories.

Players can enter Taxis in GTA IV and take taxi rides to destinations, which is often a quicker alternative to driving themselves.
Warning: in The Ballad of Gay Tony, using a taxi during missions will often result in the completion challenges for that mission being voided due to being able to bypass the time limit using one.

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.

Each Taxi in GTA 1 has a low base export value of $2,000, while the Taxi in GTA 2 awards the player Double Damage when crushed.

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 these games 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.

The GTA III rendition of the Taxi possesses almost identical handling properties to that of the Kuruma. However, the Taxi does not suffer from the stiff suspension and heavy kerb weight the Kuruma has.

The GTA San Andreas rendition of the Taxi has a 0-60 mph (97 km/h) acceleration time of only 5.4 seconds and a top speed of only 89 mph (144 km/h).

GTA IV

Two taxi models are present in 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: 87 mph (140 km/h). The brakes have been upgraded over the regular Merit, requiring a shorter stopping distance and thus reducing the risk of being ejected through the windshield after a frontal impact. The suspension has also had an upgrade, making this vehicle corner more effectively at speed. Crash deformation is acceptable, and the car can survive a few frontal impacts before giving.

The Vapid Stanier-based Taxi is powered by a 4.6 L V8, coupled to a 5 speed gearbox in a RWD layout. Acceleration is good, and the top speed is above average: 87 mph (140 km/h). 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.

Strange enough, both cars are slightly slower than the GTA San Andreas rendition, which can reach 89 mph (144 km/h).

GTA V

The Taxi in GTA V is based on the second generation Stanier. Its gearbox, engine specs, and layout are exactly the same as the first-generation Stanier. Overall performance is identical to the Police Stanier, although its engine is markedly less powerful.

Taxi side missions

Main articles: Taxi Driver and Taxi (mission)

Customization in GTA San Andreas

In 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 of the vehicle are modest, and are nearly identical to the modification options available for the Premier, which the Taxi is based on (the only option unavailable is the roof scoop option, which presumably clashes with the Taxi's rooftop taxi sign).

Italicized pricing denotes prices at the Las Venturas TransFender, which charges 20% more except Colors.

  • Colors
    • Car Color 1 (primary body color): $150
  • Hood
    • Fury Scoop: $150 ($180)
    • Champ Scoop: $100 ($120)
  • Exhausts
    • Medium Exhaust: $200 ($240)
    • Twin Exhaust: $300 ($360)
  • Nitro
    • 2x Nitrous: $200 ($240)
    • 5x Nitrous: $500 ($600)
    • 10x Nitrous: $1,000 ($1,200)
  • Spoilers:
    • Win: $550 ($660)
    • Alpha $250 ($300)
  • Wheels
    • Import: $820 ($984)
    • Atomic: $770 ($924)
    • Ahab: $1,000 ($1,200)
    • Virtual: $620 ($744)
    • Access: $1,140 ($1,368)
    • Off Road Wheel: $1,000 ($1,200)
    • Mega: $1,030 ($1,236)
    • Grove: $1,230 ($1,476)
    • Twist: $1,200 ($1,440)
    • Wires: $1,560 ($1,872)
  • Car Stereo
    • Bass Boost: $100 ($120)
  • Hydraulics: $1,500 ($1,800)

Variants

Taxi companies

Trivia

  • In some of the games in the series, Taxis' radios default to certain stations. They are as follows:
  • 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 will not fix it. In GTA IV, the taxi light can be broken off by impacts.
  • 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 they damage the taxi; 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). A glitch sometimes happens when either taxi is stored in a parking spot and after a period of time, the horns will change no matter if it has been used or not, such as loud and healthy horns will change to the high pitched weak horns for no apparent reason. Loading any game saves changes them as well.
  • 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 the Greek language, as well as most of the. A taxi driver may say "I'm Greek, you know" when held at gunpoint. Also, they usually cuss out traffic in front of them in Greek as well.
  • In the first trailer to Grand Theft Auto IV a early version of the 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.
  • In GTA IV, if a taxi is stored in a parking spot with the "on hire/duty" lights illuminated on the signs, they will sometimes spawn turned off or on randomly. However advertisement signs don't react with it.

Locations

GTA 2
GTA III
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

See also


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