Coach

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The Coach first appeared in Grand Theft Auto 1, and returned for all of the GTA III Era games. To date, the Coach has appeared in the following games:

Overview

Like the Bus, the Coach is one of the heaviest vehicles in the games, and is also probably the longest, giving it a very wide turning radius. It is reasonably fast for its size, and has decent brakes. It's also highly durable and has a distinctive ability to carry a large number of passengers. Being essentially a charter bus, the Coach features a sleeker design and more spacious interior than the Bus.

GTA 1 and GTA London

In GTA 1, the Coach appears to be a municipal bus and is always silver. Unlike the Coach in future games, this version has no special features and is of no real use. There is, however, a side mission involving the Coach, in which the player must stay above 50mph to stop a bomb from exploding - a reference to the movie Speed.

While never appearing in traffic, the Coach has also been utilized in at least one mission in GTA London 1969 (Mission 19: Phone 2 in Northwest Bow #1) as a means of trapping a targeted passenger and blowing the bus and its passenger up. The game's rendition is no different from the Coach in GTA 1, but is stretched to appear slightly narrower in width and longer in length.

GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories

The GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories renditions of the Coach assume a modern design, with a curved front and partially rounded body. Due to its size, the Coach is capable of seating a large number of passengers (up to 8, as seen in the GTA III mission, The Fuzz Ball). The vehicle runs on six wheels, has tinted windows (which do not allow the player to see inside), has two passenger access doors on both sides, and can be sprayed in two-tone color schemes. It appears to be based on an MCI J4500 or a E4500, however the doors have been moved.

GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas and GTA Vice City Stories

The GTA Vice City, GTA San Andreas and GTA Vice City Stories renditions of the Coach are essentially older versions of the GTA III Coach, similar to 1990s MCI coach models like the 102-B3, with the doors moved. These buses have a more boxy design, with colored stripes running along the sides. Other design aspects of the vehicle are unchanged from its "future" version. The GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories renditions feature slightly higher front bumpers than the GTA San Andreas rendition.

As with the GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories renditions, these other Coaches can still hold a large number of passengers (7 in San Andreas), and may be seen stopping at designated bus stops in GTA Vice City and GTA San Andreas. In GTA Vice City, there exists an undocumented bus driver mini-game for the Coach. Stealing the bus and stopping at bus stops will cause passengers to board, awarding the player $5 for each passenger.

GTA Advance

File:Coach (GTAA).png
A Coach in GTA Advance.

The GTA Advance rendition of the Coach, like the other Coaches, resembles a large, long bus, but visual details of the vehicle are vague due to the game's GTA 1-style top-down angle. It presumably shares the general design of the GTA III/GTA Liberty City Stories Coaches.

Locations

GTA 1
  • In all 3 cities, on any of the larger roads with 4-6 lanes.
GTA III
GTA Vice City
  • Can be found spawned randomly at any bus stops around the city
GTA San Andreas
GTA Liberty City Stories
GTA Vice City Stories
  • Though there are bus stops everywhere in Vice City, Coaches are not seen picking up passengers. The only way to obtain this vehicle is to go to InterGlobal Films. Once Vic gets on the bus, the mission Crash is activated.

Beta (GTA IV)

File:Beta bus (GTA4).jpg
The unnamed bus as depicted in the Higgins Helitours advertisement on television in GTA IV. The bus shares a likeness to the Coach from GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories, but was not featured in the final build of GTA IV.

A vehicle similar to the Coach may have been cut from Grand Theft Auto IV before release. A Coach is seen in a commercial about Higgins Helitours on GTA IV's in-game TV programming (immediately after the end of The Serrated Edge) but it is not available to ride or drive in the game. It looks similar to the GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories renditions.

Trivia

  • The Coach plays the following radio stations by default when entered:

See also

External link