Uneconomical Taxi's

[Rick101]

I used a petrol over diesel. The type of driving you do it makes little difference and the servicing (every 3 months or so) is considerably cheaper.

Still, that was 2.0L petrol not a massive V8!

[skyrover]

Every single one of those yellow New York crown vic taxi's has a 4.6 litre V8 under the bonnet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Crown_Victoria#2...

[V8LM]

[IanCress]

I was sat outside a bar in Kos 6 weeks ago, when an E63 AMG taxi went past. Seemed somewhat pointless when the highest speed limit on the island is around 50mph. Not that anyone sticks to it.

[zeppelin101]

There was an old 740i kicking around Leicester for a while when I lived there as a taxi. Was running on LPG though. Still, I wouldn't fancy a 7 series-sized bill when something goes wrong with it...

[kev b]

In the late seventies someone ran a 1930s Austin Ascot as a taxi in Skegness for a year or so and another local firm had a couple of four door Mazda rotaries on their fleet.

[Small Car]

Geneva is cool for random cabs - old V8 Mercs, classic cars, yank tanks, anything seems to go.

[Small Car]

Small Car said:

Geneva is cool for random cabs - old V8 Mercs, classic cars, yank tanks, anything seems to go.

[kdri155]

I run a petrol Mondeo as a taxi so not exactly what the OP was hinting at, it's only a 2 litre petrol so not too bad on fuel, the main reason I use a petrol car is I'd much rather have the fuel costs of a petrol car over the complicated maintenance over a modern diesel, for example the fuel pump went a couple of months back £30.00 for a new one instead of upwards of £300.00 for a diesel pump.

[Jimmyarm]

zeppelin101 said:

There was an old 740i kicking around Leicester for a while when I lived there as a taxi. Was running on LPG though. Still, I wouldn't fancy a 7 series-sized bill when something goes wrong with it...

Assuming it's an E38 variety, as long as you don't have a major engine failure they don't really cost any more to run than a modern ish Passat and are probably 10x as reliable for all the ancilliary bits like electric windows, door locks etc etc. They are also easy to work on, saving labour time costs

If I had to spend all day driving round, I'd much rather use an old E38 than any newer diesel rep mobile.

[tomtom]

h0b0 said:

Über in the US relies upon private cars as well as licensed cabs. So far mine have all bee dull but I'm waiting in hope for something interesting.

My Uber driver last night was telling me that they're restricted to certain cars that Uber deem suitable. In London, anyway.

[greygoose]

Bungleaio said:

There is a discovery 2 that has been used by one guy here for years now. He must have put an unbelievable amount of fuel in it.

A bloke near us has one as a taxi too, seems an odd choice.

[Pappagallo]

There used to be a black 2 door Impreza taxi in Leamington Spa about 10 years ago. Probably a tax fiddle.

[Challo]

skyrover said:

Every single one of those yellow New York crown vic taxi's has a 4.6 litre V8 under the bonnet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Crown_Victoria#2...

In Orlando last year booked a couple of private taxi's. One was a Lincoln Navigator and the other a Chevy Suburban. Not exactly fuel efficient

[skyrover]

Challo said:

skyrover said:

Every single one of those yellow New York crown vic taxi's has a 4.6 litre V8 under the bonnet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Crown_Victoria#2...

In Orlando last year booked a couple of private taxi's. One was a Lincoln Navigator and the other a Chevy Suburban. Not exactly fuel efficient

Lincoln Navigator 5.4 litre V8, Chevrolet Suburban 6.2 litre V8

[redtwin]

Challo said:

In Orlando last year booked a couple of private taxi's. One was a Lincoln Navigator and the other a Chevy Suburban. Not exactly fuel efficient

There is some tax loophole where vehicles over a certain gross weight can be used for certain tax emptions. I think it was put in place for farmers that need big trucks, but you get the likes of Estate agents tooling around in Excursions because of the tax benefit.

Not so sure the extra fuel costs wouldn't wipe that out though.

[XPushX]

There used to be a vectra VXR taxi in Glasgow city centre a few years ago, not seen it for a while though.

[crostonian]

Our local taxi firm has a fleet of S Type Jags, all 3 litre V6 petrols. The owner is a bit of a petrol head but after years running diesels and lpg converted petrols he's gone full circle. Justifies it via low purchase price and much better reliability, he also says it generates more trade especially airport runs and he finds his drivers are more reliable as he gives them a nicer place to work.

The village in Italy where my mother's family are from often has some high end taxis, a few years ago a guy was running a W140 S Class which I thought was pretty excessive, then I spotted the V12 badges! At first I thought it must be a wind up but one day I used it and after dropping me off he opened the bonnet and yep, a 6 litre V12 taxi! They do charge about 15 Euros for a 5min journey though.

[AMD87]

[ooo000ooo]

Local taxi company has a landcruiser (lc4 I think) though I suspect it's the company owners car as I've never seen any passengers in it. Presume he can claim it as a business expense?