I?m always interested to see what cars are used as taxis. I think it says a lot if a car is reliable and economical enough to earn its keep as a taxi. Where I live they are almost exclusively diesel, the majority powered by some variation of the VW Group TDI engine.
On a new year break in Cardiff, I noticed the majority of city centre taxis I saw were Vauxhall Omega/Carlton 2.0 petrol. I was surprised, then I thought should I have been surprised??
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If I remeber correctly Black Vauxhall Omega Taxis are also used @ Gatwick airport, buckets and buckets of them. Wasn't in one so don't know what engine, so not just Cardiff. Also at least 1 large hotel chain uses some as limo / executive taxi service for customers, think those are V6 though.
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VW Jetta / Vento are very popular as taxis in Spain - Round here most older minicabs are Vauxhall Cavaliers + Vectras. Newer ones are nearly all Skoda Octavias now.
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I've had 11 Cavalier petrols as Taxis. Only one morning off the road (head gasket). Perfect for the job. Wouldn't touch a diesel, too many of my mates lose days due to head problems, pump leaks, emissions etc, etc........ Economy is not MPG!! Obvious replacement was a Vectra (ha ha!) but now have a 96 BMW 318i Touring auto, bought for £5k, FBMWSH 84k miles. Parts prices similar to Vectra but the big advantage is that everything is easy to get at (try doing anything on a Vectra). BUT best of all, NO CAMBELT! At least a chain will give a warning if trouble looms.
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In Lancaster there is now a rash of white Skoda Octavia SDI/TDIs clogging up the one way system. The local Skoda garage in Morecambe must be giving them good deals aplenty.
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Octavias are starting to appear in Ipswich as well. It's one way of getting potential customers to try your product, but I'm not sure what it does to the brand image. VW seem to be trying to move Skoda upmarket as fast as possible - perhaps they are planning to launch a new cheap brand below it. Look out for Trabant - the new value for money brand of the VW Group. And remember, you read it here first.
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I have noticed over the years DB losing their monoply in Germany ,we seem to a real cross section of cars now even smarts and I think the reason is that they do not spray them cream anymore but use a stick on system and you find the car is normally silver underneath.I think they then sell them on as one owner vehicles after a year .The camara cars also use this method so you do not regonise them Leipzig changes its car colours every 3 months.
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From observation, Dundee is really catholic in this respect, lots of things from oldish Cavaliers to quite recent Mercs. But the Octavias - actually from new, too - do seem to have a good share of the action. I was in one - an unusual experience - and was really quite comfortable apart from the usual worry about the tip - that hairline between looking mean and looking a sucker!
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Paul
At the risk of upsetting LAS/LAC,the worst taxi I nearly got in was a Lada that tried to take me from Newport (S Wales) railway station.
Goodness knows what sort of engine it had - it sounded like it was coal fired. I refused to get in it!
Ian
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The large majority around here seem to be cavalier diesels with vectra diesels now appearing as replacements and of course these have no cambelt.
Alvin
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