One of the things I was surprised a car reviewer didn't mention is one design thing the London Taxis have had forever which is a special design thing which is an insanely tight turning circle for their size. I can't imagine the new version gives that up.
Hi Ian, technically this new taxi is not actually a hybrid. It is driven by the electric motor only, the petrol engine is only on board as a range extender. Basically its only job is to top up the battery and has no physical connection to the driving wheels. an onboard generator basically. It allows the taxi to operate a longer working day without having to recharge.
A long long long time ago in Edinburgh myself and friends went into town in one of the older black taxis same as London taxi . The driver was well known for getting you there extremely fast and if need be sideways. His was rear wheel drive with a landrover engine fitted. The guy was a human Satnav and knew very part of the city. Amazing drivers with excellent stories. The turning circle on them is something special too. Great video thanks from Scotland 👍
I was a london cabbie for 10 years before marrying my PA wife and moving to usa 10 years ago. I drove the diesel TX1 which didn't even have a cup holder. Loved and hated the job but my windscreen was the best office window view I've ever had. Took me 4 years to pass the knowledge by the way. Love your channel.
The reason that london taxi's are the shape and size that they are is due to an old law from when it was horse drawn carriages. The law stated that london taxis must have space for a gentleman to be seated comfortably with a top hat and there must be enough room in the "trunk" boot for a bale of hay for the horse.
One of the ressons I like watching your reaction videos is that I end up seeing some stuff I'd never normally watch and learning along with you. The rallying and other motorsport videos don't show me anything I haven't seen before (mostly) and that's ok because i love watching rally videos but don't do it much outside of your reactions. However, stuff like this IS showing me things I haven't seen before. I mean, I'm British and have only been outside of the UK a handful of times in my 55 years on the planet and only to France, Spain amd Florida but I'm northern English and have only been to London a handful of times too. I remember the very few number of times, like 3 or 4, ever, that I've been in a London taxi and his description brought back those memories but I had absolutely no idea that these hybrid taxis even existed, or that London taxis never had cup holders. Compared to you, I live just up the road from London but, with this video I wouldn't, otherwise, have watched, I'm learning just as much as you are and I'm finding it more interesting than I thought I would. You do a great range of subjects too. I had no idea the UK was so much cheaper than the US for groceries but I do now I've seen your videos and, weirdly, I now have a fresh appreciation for something I never really thought about before, thanks to you, the humble British electrical plug! You reacted to a video I, again, wouldn't have watched but it made me realise and appreciate how well designed yet simple is this thing I use, without thinking about, on a daily basis and how clever but obvious (although only when you stop to think about it) it's safety features are. Even little things, like the fact our electrical outlets have on off switches and yours don't was news to me. It seems such an obvious thing to have because they've been around all my life. Lastly, as a UK trucker, I do enjoy your reactions to trucking around the world and how much you enjoy the off road trucks like the 8×8s. Also, i like how youve come to really love our cabovers, such as the Scanias and Dafs. These are brands i drive a lot but, once again, never really stop to think about them in the way you do. It's refreshing really. Good job dude, thanks for the entertainment and education.
When I was 10 years old in 1985 I went on a vacation with my parents and brother to London (I'm from Denmark). We drove in a "real" old school London taxi from Kensington Hotel (I think that was the name) to London Zoo. It was really fun. Also the Taxi driver was dressed in a black suit and had a tall hat on like Scrooge McDuck. Good times :D
The nicest London Taxi for me was the Austin FX4 and the Most iconic US Taxi was the Checker Marathon and here in Germany it was the Mercedes W114 /8 , W123 , W124 200 D. 😄
The Old Taxis were built by a firm called Tube Investments they were diesel engined. The new ones are made the the LEVC - London Electrical Vehicle Company. Not a hybrid - the petrol engine is only used to charged the batteries to extend the range.
Friends of mine were restoring a F X 3 so they could rent it out for weddings and such here in The Netherlands. Everything was still original. It still had the little plate in de back with the prices on it. I love the old models.
I worked for a company in Australia that manufactured automatic transmissions. Around 2010 it was bought out by Chinese company Geely. I'm pretty sure some of our transmissions ended up in London Taxi's. Unlike the reviewer's comments, our transmission wasn't too bad when fitted to 6 cylinder aussie cars. Unfortunately we closed up shop in 2014, like a lot of Aussie vehicle supply companies.
There are a few modern London cabs floating around here in Sydney as they can take wheelchairs sitting sideways.Taxis in Sydney have a registered life of 6 years & 10 years for the wheel chair taxis so you can see these cabs will pick up extra work. London Cabs lock you until you pay - well they did when I was there.
You can buy an old London Cab. The late Duke of Edinburgh was chauffeured around in one for anonymity and several UK celebrities (Stephen Fry) have them for the same reason.
My uncle was a black cab driver in London. As a kid I remember him talking about ‘ learning the knowledge’. The black cab is iconic and even as a Londoner i still love them. They are pricier than ubers so I fear they are going out of fashion but I think a few will stay around just because of the iconic nature of them. In London we still have empty red letter boxes and red phone boxes, red route master buses just because tourists love them but they aren’t used as much as before, with more modern versions coming in sadly.
It actually is not a Hybrid. It is an EV with a range extender... And they are RWD, because only then the front wheels can be angled so sharply as to enable that amazing turning circle.
London taxis powered by diesel, motor size 2.2 litre straight 4 cyclinder. They were slow and distinctive noise with s low speed idle, but ghe turning circle is ingredible small.
It's funny how different countries use different cars for taxis. In Denmark a lot of taxis are Mercedes C or E class and in Copenhagen there are some other taxis like Tesla's and Jaguar I-Pace's.
I think it's worth looking at more videos about London cabs because there's so much more to them! As far as I know, you can only buy them if you're a licensed cab driver, so they are hard to get if you've not done "The Knowledge" - several years of training that results in cab drivers knowing every possible route in London. They don't use GPS. The cabs themselves are very specifically designed for London. They can hold 5 or 6 passengers, having a turning circle so tight that they can turn around in the middle of most London streets without doing a 3 point turn. We do also have mini cabs (which need to be pre-booked) and Uber etc. in London, so black cabs might not be around forever.
I remember my uncle working extremely long hours as a London cabbie. I think you had to make a certain amount of money or something before you could finish work. He would also work a lot of nights to make more money. You would bring your cab home and it had to be washed every single day until sparkling before your next work day
I have a friend who drives an old London taxi……..he loves it as he can use bus lanes etc, now denied to us normal car drivers in most major UK cities………😊
On the taxi theme, check out the London taxi knowledge test., it takes years to learn every road in the city, then you have to do a test where you name every road and junction and turn when they give you start and destination points.
The "London" taxi, is usually called a black cab. While very much the most popular place to see them is in London, you can see them across the UK in many cities.
They use these in Belfast, North of Ireland.I Grew up riding the West Belfast taxis almost daily. In the 80s there was still a lot of 1960s models floating about. Loud and smokey but did the job. It was great sitting up front with all the old gauges.
definitely look into the learning and test that London cabbies have to go through, 'The Knowledge', it's madness... One of my last days/nights in London before i moved to NYC in '98, I jumped in a cab, female driver (which was unusual back then for sure), had no idea where I was going, just a pub elsewhere, so I told here the name of the pub in a neighbourhood NOT close by, and she was like 'yep! I know it!' and got me there lickety split! Amazing
Apparently it's quite good value for groups of London tourists to hire a black cab for the day and visit the countryside, like the Cotswolds or the seaside with stops at scenic locations and historical sites like castles and stately homes. You get a day tour with lots of stops, and the driver becomes your impromptu tour guide! The taxicabs are spacious and comfortable enough for day trips.
LEVC is owned by the Chinese company called Geely, who in turn own Volvo and Polestar (which is where he mentions having Volvo interior components). The cost of these has also doubled apparently, a youtuber I watch called Tom The Taxi Driver mentioned in one of his videos that these cost around £100,000 now (about $124,000), certainly not cheap by any means.
Don't know if you noticed but as you said, there's plenty of room for the passengers. Not even when the 3 backwards facing folding seats are used will you feel squeezed in or short of legroom. In a few of the shots from the outside you can see that there is not much space between the headrests and the back window, the car basically ends behind the passengers in the back. From that follows that the boot (trunk?) isn't very big. So what do you do when you get the customer who wants to go to the airport, where does his/her mega-sized suitcase go? Not on the roof but at the front, right next to the driver. There is no front seat (drivers are not allowed to have front seat passengers) so that's where the suitcases go instead. It's rather clever actually, the risk of of forgetting it and leave it behind is much smaller than if the luggage had been in the boot since both the driver and the passenger car see that it's there. And please have a look at "The knowledge" when you got time for it. You can find the film here on UA-cam and it's not only great entertainment, it also gives you a better understanding of what you have to do to qualify as a Cabbie in London. / B.
You will notice it is actually called a "Black Cab" and not a "London Taxi" as they are found in all major cities in the UK, therefore you could call it a "Glasgow taxi" just as easily.
All London Hackney carriages, which this is, must have a turning circle of less than 28ft in order to negotiate the roundabout outside the Savoy Hotel. A Hackney you can flag down, a taxi must be pre booked and is more properly known as a private hire.
A bit of unusual history for you. Your backdrop or the BT Tower, formally the GPO Tower! After a Saturday night out with nine other Lads, we got home about 04:15 and stood on the balcony of the 4th floor of our block of flats in South East London, having a wind down chat and about 04:30, four of us look at each other and said did you see that as well!!!! The West side of the Tower, our left, was blown up by the IRA and only 4 of us out of the 10 of us, saw it blow out!
There were a few at a Hilton hotel here in Southern California; two newer ones (LTIs) and a ‘30s Austin. The LTIs were fun to drive, but quite noisy. Tons of room, could turn on a dime. I could do a U-turn from inside to inside lane at an intersection. But… they broke down constantly. The Austin was rarely used, but I drove it once to pick up a wedding party. Unfortunately it was flat out at 40-something, billowing smoke behind, and the schedule was off so I showed up late. The whole party was gone except the bride and groom… they actually stayed behind and waited just to give me a tip before heading to the airport (in something more reliable).
Dude, I think you're in good company. Even Leno has cop cars in his collection. Fleet vehicles are awesome. Love the card reader to pay in this thing! And thing I miss the most about Crown Vics - that headlight design. For every time I slowed down for a civilian one, there's probably about ten times it was really a cop.. 😅
I think it is possible for a private individual to own a London Taxi and there are second hand one,s around. I believe Prince Phillip the late Queens husband had one as he could get around London incognito . Stephen Fry the comedian I beleive has one as well.
They are and have always been in towns and cities all over the UK. I think they're associated with London because they were originally designed for regulations there, for brand recognition and tourism.
@@andyt8216 ghe whole of the North West and west midlands uses them. And central Scotland. + most of the south east.. that's like, the majority of the uk's population
@@Gambit771 how? Theure like super common in Merseyside. And I've seen them pretty regularly in Manchester and Blackpool aswell... and that's like the majority of the North West, besides the rural bits
In Perth Australia there's a test for taxi drivers called the No Idea. First you have to be from a foreign country, second have no driving skills and also a desire to rip off customers. It all works so well on our roads. 👍
We’ve got a few of the newer hybrid black cabs here, they are ridiculously roomy inside. So far the only ev I’ve got to experience going full send which was surprising but bloody fun.
Taxi drivers in the UK can be independent or can rent a taxi from a hire company, or can part-own a taxi with other drivers in a pool so it gets driven 24 hours a day (or close). So they have to be available to anyone rather than just companies.
They sure beat the old Hansom cab with the creepy driver looking down at you under his top hat, and his big whip! 🧐 Or the everyday Hackney as shown in old foggy London murder mysteries! 😳 Could be worse, have you seen the "bath chairs"! 😄 The London cabbies are so constantly chatty, and they know everything about everybody, watch what you say! 🤐 There is one regularly parked at a taxi rank near me, it is very popular! 🤗
some of these turn up in the states but have to be a certain age. used to say they could turn on a sixpence an old small coin. some super-rich people used to have them as city runarounds as they are so maneuverable
The Chinese parent company Geely also own Volvo, surprise huh. The old FX taxis, that Prince Phillip and Steven Fry owned, had suicide doors that opened front to rear, the cabbie could open them from the driver's side window. If you like cars that are built to do a job, check out the Ineos Grenadier. It just got released to the public today It's a modern workhorse 4X4 like the old Land Rover, designed to last forever. There's a good review on the Late Brake Show YT channel.
Funny thing about London taxis is that they are all manufactured in one place and the chassis stay the same but the technical envelope/package keeps changing... in thew 1990's it was kind of thing as the first front wheel driven model came and first undomestic technical was bring in use as Nissan supplied the technic.
The old ones had diesel Ford engines,Nissan diesel engines,they are RWD and they are tremendous spacious. The new ones exist as taxi but also as panel Van and all of them can be sold to private costumers
In the 80s one of my friends dad was a taxi driver. Obviously living in London I'd see them all the time, but it was a cool having one parked in the street. Plus We'd play in it when his dad was a sleep after a night shift lol
You should look into black cab driver training to get your license. They call it the knowledge. Think it takes about two years and a hard test at the end.
4:33 You could but it would be very expensive, the ones that are not too much beaten are found at around 10 or 12 thousand pound, so around 15 to 18 thousand dollars, to that you have to add the costs of shipping, making sure the vehicle is up to US standards, doing the few modifications it's going to need for said standards and registration, which are going to sum up to about the same price as the vehicle, and you would have to redo the whole interior if you intend to use it as an almost daily car. So I think it would set you back about $30.000, but if that's a thing you really want to do, it is feasible :)
London taxi drivers have to pass "the knowledge," which means they know every street in London and how to get there from anywhere else at any time of day. A hard task.
Ok so you may be thinking, but why are they so tall with so much head room? Well, its all down to the original guidelines set out for the "horse drawn hackney carriage" that the modern taxi has taken over from that stated a gentle man must be able to keep his top hat on once onboard. Mad, but true.
Sad to see the "Suicide doors" return. While definitely very convenient for entry/exit to the vehicle. Such rearward opening doors have a long history to fling passengers out while in motion if a passenger makes a serious mistake of opening or having, a door open while in motion. The air stream rips the door fully open as soon as cracked a little free of the latch. A passenger holding the interior handle is launched out into traffic or roadside obstacles. It seems, and is hopefully secured in modern implementation, not as in past a partially closed door, or miss operation, say trying to open a window unlatched, causing opening unexpectedly. Now closed/latched sensors and electro lockout of opening mechanism may make it safer.
The driver operates a lock that secures the rear doors, so whilst operating they cannot be opened by the passenger and typically they don't get unlocked until at the destination and payment has been made.
@@bionicgeekgrrl Good, thank you confirming my hope. As I mentioned, that hopefully these doors have additional locking override to prevent the past danger while providing the better entry/exit benefit such doors offer the passengers.
Most London taxi drivers are self-employed and own their own vehicle, so yes, theoretically anyone could buy a new one. I suspect they haven't been approved for use in the USA so you would have to import one that's over 25 years old, but there are plenty out there to choose from.
My city has a taxi rank (row of taxis) outside the railway station some are black cabs but only ever seen the one like london the others have been Peugeout bodys (expert) but those old tx 4.s were work horses in there own right if not a bit noisy.
Have you ever seen double decker bus racing? Have a laugh at this - all ex-London Transport double deckers from the mid '70s (N and P reg ones) on the racing circuit! ua-cam.com/video/8SlO5_ykips/v-deo.html Also have a look for double decker buses doing handbrake turns as that's something that has to be seen to be believed - even the Human League had one do a handbrake turn on a bridge (with people in it) in the video of their single 'Louise'.
I reckon you should be able to find a FX-4, or Fairway if you wanted. It would be diesel auto RHD . It would be high mileage but they're pretty robust and I guess you could get the Nissan engine maintained easy enough. A petrol would be really old now and have either a Land Rover or Austin engine depending on year.
There is a UA-cam channel called 'Tom the Taxidriver', you might find that of interest. He deals with all matters London Cab, including his working day and the routes he takes
You might enjoy this YT vid - 'London Taxis and Lots of Spiffing Stuff About Them' by Joolz Guides. Personally I always liked the FX3 where you could put your luggage in the space next to the driver
These are built just up the road from me. I also loved the redesigned TX's up to TX5 (LEVC TX) which is just a horrible mashup with a range rover imho.
All very good but is no-one going to mention the Renault 4 at 8:46? I drove private hire (the sworn enemy of the hackneys but there were only a few hackneys in our city back then, like, 5) in the 70s but we were all Ford Cortina Mk IIIs. Nowadays, in that city it's all yellow hackneys. Same as London black cabs, just yellow. Been in plenty but never driven one.
When it came to market they took out the range extender. It is now all you can get, with a range of only few hours, not a whole day of work, MASSIVE lease costs. During COVID we lost tens of thousands of Taxi drivers as they couldn't work. Now more are giving up as it becomes uneconomical to work in the trade. Very sad times. If yu want to get in one, get over here soon!
![Дон ДОН, Алаудинов и СБЕЖАВШИЕ из под Курска ахматовцы 😁 [Пародия]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dEfCf5IK26Q/mqdefault.jpg)
One of the things I was surprised a car reviewer didn't mention is one design thing the London Taxis have had forever which is a special design thing which is an insanely tight turning circle for their size. I can't imagine the new version gives that up.
Hi Ian, technically this new taxi is not actually a hybrid.
It is driven by the electric motor only, the petrol engine is only on board as a range extender. Basically its only job is to top up the battery and has no physical connection to the driving wheels. an onboard generator basically. It allows the taxi to operate a longer working day without having to recharge.
London taxi cabs always had an amazing turning circle. They are sometimes rebuilt when retired and turned into wedding cars.
A long long long time ago in Edinburgh myself and friends went into town in one of the older black taxis same as London taxi . The driver was well known for getting you there extremely fast and if need be sideways. His was rear wheel drive with a landrover engine fitted. The guy was a human Satnav and knew very part of the city. Amazing drivers with excellent stories. The turning circle on them is something special too. Great video thanks from Scotland 👍
I was a london cabbie for 10 years before marrying my PA wife and moving to usa 10 years ago. I drove the diesel TX1 which didn't even have a cup holder. Loved and hated the job but my windscreen was the best office window view I've ever had. Took me 4 years to pass the knowledge by the way. Love your channel.
The reason that london taxi's are the shape and size that they are is due to an old law from when it was horse drawn carriages. The law stated that london taxis must have space for a gentleman to be seated comfortably with a top hat and there must be enough room in the "trunk" boot for a bale of hay for the horse.
True 💯
One of the ressons I like watching your reaction videos is that I end up seeing some stuff I'd never normally watch and learning along with you. The rallying and other motorsport videos don't show me anything I haven't seen before (mostly) and that's ok because i love watching rally videos but don't do it much outside of your reactions. However, stuff like this IS showing me things I haven't seen before. I mean, I'm British and have only been outside of the UK a handful of times in my 55 years on the planet and only to France, Spain amd Florida but I'm northern English and have only been to London a handful of times too. I remember the very few number of times, like 3 or 4, ever, that I've been in a London taxi and his description brought back those memories but I had absolutely no idea that these hybrid taxis even existed, or that London taxis never had cup holders.
Compared to you, I live just up the road from London but, with this video I wouldn't, otherwise, have watched, I'm learning just as much as you are and I'm finding it more interesting than I thought I would.
You do a great range of subjects too. I had no idea the UK was so much cheaper than the US for groceries but I do now I've seen your videos and, weirdly, I now have a fresh appreciation for something I never really thought about before, thanks to you, the humble British electrical plug! You reacted to a video I, again, wouldn't have watched but it made me realise and appreciate how well designed yet simple is this thing I use, without thinking about, on a daily basis and how clever but obvious (although only when you stop to think about it) it's safety features are. Even little things, like the fact our electrical outlets have on off switches and yours don't was news to me. It seems such an obvious thing to have because they've been around all my life.
Lastly, as a UK trucker, I do enjoy your reactions to trucking around the world and how much you enjoy the off road trucks like the 8×8s. Also, i like how youve come to really love our cabovers, such as the Scanias and Dafs. These are brands i drive a lot but, once again, never really stop to think about them in the way you do. It's refreshing really.
Good job dude, thanks for the entertainment and education.
When I was 10 years old in 1985 I went on a vacation with my parents and brother to London (I'm from Denmark). We drove in a "real" old school London taxi from Kensington Hotel (I think that was the name) to London Zoo. It was really fun. Also the Taxi driver was dressed in a black suit and had a tall hat on like Scrooge McDuck. Good times :D
The nicest London Taxi for me was the Austin FX4 and the Most iconic US Taxi was the Checker Marathon and here in Germany it was the Mercedes W114 /8 , W123 , W124 200 D. 😄
The Mercedes range was also used widely in Cyprus. Nearly every single taxi I caught in my 4 years there was one.
Ou yeah. W123 is a legend. Also used here in Finland...
I saw a black and white full cop spec Crown Vic driving past my house here in the UK last week.
I have a NY City Taxi Crown Vic and a California Highway Patrol one... in scale 1/64. 😄
The Old Taxis were built by a firm called Tube Investments they were diesel engined. The new ones are made the the LEVC - London Electrical Vehicle Company. Not a hybrid - the petrol engine is only used to charged the batteries to extend the range.
Friends of mine were restoring a F X 3 so they could rent it out for weddings and such here in The Netherlands. Everything was still original. It still had the little plate in de back with the prices on it. I love the old models.
I worked for a company in Australia that manufactured automatic transmissions. Around 2010 it was bought out by Chinese company Geely.
I'm pretty sure some of our transmissions ended up in London Taxi's. Unlike the reviewer's comments, our transmission wasn't too bad when fitted to 6 cylinder aussie cars.
Unfortunately we closed up shop in 2014, like a lot of Aussie vehicle supply companies.
There are a few modern London cabs floating around here in Sydney as they can take wheelchairs sitting sideways.Taxis in Sydney have a registered life of 6 years & 10 years for the wheel chair taxis so you can see these cabs will pick up extra work. London Cabs lock you until you pay - well they did when I was there.
It’s true! The locks in the back doors are operated by the brake pedal!
Yes, I've seen them at Chatswood Station, what an experience - like in the old English movies! 🤩😂👍
You can buy an old London Cab. The late Duke of Edinburgh was chauffeured around in one for anonymity and several UK celebrities (Stephen Fry) have them for the same reason.
My uncle was a black cab driver in London. As a kid I remember him talking about ‘ learning the knowledge’. The black cab is iconic and even as a Londoner i still love them. They are pricier than ubers so I fear they are going out of fashion but I think a few will stay around just because of the iconic nature of them. In London we still have empty red letter boxes and red phone boxes, red route master buses just because tourists love them but they aren’t used as much as before, with more modern versions coming in sadly.
it very rare i use taxi but if at a taxi stand id still choose to use the older diesel ones over the ev. i like to hear an engine what ever it is.
It actually is not a Hybrid. It is an EV with a range extender... And they are RWD, because only then the front wheels can be angled so sharply as to enable that amazing turning circle.
London taxis powered by diesel, motor size 2.2 litre straight 4 cyclinder. They were slow and distinctive noise with s low speed idle, but ghe turning circle is ingredible small.
It's funny how different countries use different cars for taxis.
In Denmark a lot of taxis are Mercedes C or E class and in Copenhagen there are some other taxis like Tesla's and Jaguar I-Pace's.
In the south of the uk most companies use skodas and Hyundai but ubers use hyundai and mercs nainly
I think it's worth looking at more videos about London cabs because there's so much more to them! As far as I know, you can only buy them if you're a licensed cab driver, so they are hard to get if you've not done "The Knowledge" - several years of training that results in cab drivers knowing every possible route in London. They don't use GPS. The cabs themselves are very specifically designed for London. They can hold 5 or 6 passengers, having a turning circle so tight that they can turn around in the middle of most London streets without doing a 3 point turn. We do also have mini cabs (which need to be pre-booked) and Uber etc. in London, so black cabs might not be around forever.
Love the London taxi. There's one running around Melbourne. I think it's a working taxi as well.
The older taxi's had two Pixies under the bonnet pedalling like mad with a Unicorn 🦄 on stand by for the hills
I remember my uncle working extremely long hours as a London cabbie. I think you had to make a certain amount of money or something before you could finish work. He would also work a lot of nights to make more money. You would bring your cab home and it had to be washed every single day until sparkling before your next work day
by the side view of that taxi with the front overhang you see it's a front wheel drive
I have a friend who drives an old London taxi……..he loves it as he can use bus lanes etc, now denied to us normal car drivers in most major UK cities………😊
Don't ever let one drive over your foot, mine got snapped when one mounted a kerb over my foot
On the taxi theme, check out the London taxi knowledge test., it takes years to learn every road in the city, then you have to do a test where you name every road and junction and turn when they give you start and destination points.
I remember occasionally seeing them riding about on mopeds learning it.
I believe it's kind of constant work as the city keeps changing and moving and growing...
The "London" taxi, is usually called a black cab.
While very much the most popular place to see them is in London, you can see them across the UK in many cities.
They use these in Belfast, North of Ireland.I Grew up riding the West Belfast taxis almost daily. In the 80s there was still a lot of 1960s models floating about. Loud and smokey but did the job. It was great sitting up front with all the old gauges.
4:16 they were turbo-Diesel van engines, 2.5 to 2.8 litre 4 cylinder.
definitely look into the learning and test that London cabbies have to go through, 'The Knowledge', it's madness...
One of my last days/nights in London before i moved to NYC in '98, I jumped in a cab, female driver (which was unusual back then for sure), had no idea where I was going, just a pub elsewhere, so I told here the name of the pub in a neighbourhood NOT close by, and she was like 'yep! I know it!' and got me there lickety split!
Amazing
Has one of the top 3 turning circles of any car in Britain
Over 60,000 streets in Central London alone (within a 6 mile radius)
Apparently it's quite good value for groups of London tourists to hire a black cab for the day and visit the countryside, like the Cotswolds or the seaside with stops at scenic locations and historical sites like castles and stately homes. You get a day tour with lots of stops, and the driver becomes your impromptu tour guide! The taxicabs are spacious and comfortable enough for day trips.
The main thing about the London taxi was it’s 25 foot turning circle. Required by law.
LEVC is owned by the Chinese company called Geely, who in turn own Volvo and Polestar (which is where he mentions having Volvo interior components). The cost of these has also doubled apparently, a youtuber I watch called Tom The Taxi Driver mentioned in one of his videos that these cost around £100,000 now (about $124,000), certainly not cheap by any means.
Don't know if you noticed but as you said, there's plenty of room for the passengers. Not even when the 3 backwards facing folding seats are used will you feel squeezed in or short of legroom. In a few of the shots from the outside you can see that there is not much space between the headrests and the back window, the car basically ends behind the passengers in the back. From that follows that the boot (trunk?) isn't very big. So what do you do when you get the customer who wants to go to the airport, where does his/her mega-sized suitcase go? Not on the roof but at the front, right next to the driver. There is no front seat (drivers are not allowed to have front seat passengers) so that's where the suitcases go instead. It's rather clever actually, the risk of of forgetting it and leave it behind is much smaller than if the luggage had been in the boot since both the driver and the passenger car see that it's there.
And please have a look at "The knowledge" when you got time for it. You can find the film here on UA-cam and it's not only great entertainment, it also gives you a better understanding of what you have to do to qualify as a Cabbie in London. / B.
You will notice it is actually called a "Black Cab" and not a "London Taxi" as they are found in all major cities in the UK, therefore you could call it a "Glasgow taxi" just as easily.
All London Hackney carriages, which this is, must have a turning circle of less than 28ft in order to negotiate the roundabout outside the Savoy Hotel.
A Hackney you can flag down, a taxi must be pre booked and is more properly known as a private hire.
The design works so well (from a passenger’s perspective) that you don’t even notice how well it’s working .
The massive amount of space in the back of these black cabs always reminds me of the old Checker cabs, before the Crown Vics became popular as taxis
A bit of unusual history for you.
Your backdrop or the BT Tower, formally the GPO Tower! After a Saturday night out with nine other Lads, we got home about 04:15 and stood on the balcony of the 4th floor of our block of flats in South East London, having a wind down chat and about 04:30, four of us look at each other and said did you see that as well!!!!
The West side of the Tower, our left, was blown up by the IRA and only 4 of us out of the 10 of us, saw it blow out!
There were a few at a Hilton hotel here in Southern California; two newer ones (LTIs) and a ‘30s Austin. The LTIs were fun to drive, but quite noisy. Tons of room, could turn on a dime. I could do a U-turn from inside to inside lane at an intersection. But… they broke down constantly. The Austin was rarely used, but I drove it once to pick up a wedding party. Unfortunately it was flat out at 40-something, billowing smoke behind, and the schedule was off so I showed up late. The whole party was gone except the bride and groom… they actually stayed behind and waited just to give me a tip before heading to the airport (in something more reliable).
If you're talking about a London taxi then you say it turns on a sixpence.
Black cabs aren't just found in London, you see them all over the uk
Steven Fry owns one and has driven across the USA in it.
Dude, I think you're in good company. Even Leno has cop cars in his collection. Fleet vehicles are awesome. Love the card reader to pay in this thing! And thing I miss the most about Crown Vics - that headlight design. For every time I slowed down for a civilian one, there's probably about ten times it was really a cop.. 😅
The huge passenger area is to accommodate American tourists!
I think it is possible for a private individual to own a London Taxi and there are second hand one,s around. I believe Prince Phillip the late Queens husband had one as he could get around London incognito . Stephen Fry the comedian I beleive has one as well.
They are and have always been in towns and cities all over the UK. I think they're associated with London because they were originally designed for regulations there, for brand recognition and tourism.
None in York, Leeds or Hull for sure.
@@andyt8216 ghe whole of the North West and west midlands uses them. And central Scotland. + most of the south east.. that's like, the majority of the uk's population
@@ms.antithesis well like, I never said they didn’t. I just commented locally.
@@ms.antithesis I'm in the north west, never seen one.
@@Gambit771 how? Theure like super common in Merseyside. And I've seen them pretty regularly in Manchester and Blackpool aswell... and that's like the majority of the North West, besides the rural bits
I don't know if you have heard of Steven Fry but he famously owned a london taxi to travel around in.
he also drove t across america as well
In Perth Australia there's a test for taxi drivers called the No Idea.
First you have to be from a foreign country, second have no driving skills and also a desire to rip off customers.
It all works so well on our roads. 👍
😂
We’ve got a few of the newer hybrid black cabs here, they are ridiculously roomy inside.
So far the only ev I’ve got to experience going full send which was surprising but bloody fun.
Taxi drivers in the UK can be independent or can rent a taxi from a hire company, or can part-own a taxi with other drivers in a pool so it gets driven 24 hours a day (or close). So they have to be available to anyone rather than just companies.
And the are wheelchair accessible!. They have a ramp, and you just wheel yourself on. Same with a pram.
The Hackney carriage was originally designed so a gentleman could keep on his top hat, and ladies could get in and out of the vehicle
I'm slowly warming to the new look.
They've tried to keep the classic, better look which is essential.
They sure beat the old Hansom cab with the creepy driver looking down at you under his top hat, and his big whip! 🧐 Or the everyday Hackney as shown in old foggy London murder mysteries! 😳 Could be worse, have you seen the "bath chairs"! 😄 The London cabbies are so constantly chatty, and they know everything about everybody, watch what you say! 🤐 There is one regularly parked at a taxi rank near me, it is very popular! 🤗
you can buy one as a luxury version, carwow looked at one, i think by sutton clive, basically a rolls royce but in a taxi shell
some of these turn up in the states but have to be a certain age. used to say they could turn on a sixpence an old small coin. some super-rich people used to have them as city runarounds as they are so maneuverable
Sadly a phrase never used by young brits, they say 'turns on a dime'. I bet they don't even know the value of a dime.
The Chinese parent company Geely also own Volvo, surprise huh. The old FX taxis, that Prince Phillip and Steven Fry owned, had suicide doors that opened front to rear, the cabbie could open them from the driver's side window. If you like cars that are built to do a job, check out the Ineos Grenadier. It just got released to the public today It's a modern workhorse 4X4 like the old Land Rover, designed to last forever. There's a good review on the Late Brake Show YT channel.
Funny thing about London taxis is that they are all manufactured in one place and the chassis stay the same but the technical envelope/package keeps changing... in thew 1990's it was kind of thing as the first front wheel driven model came and first undomestic technical was bring in use as Nissan supplied the technic.
They use a similar machine for harvesting trees in Sweden Norway places like that I think top Show by the way
The old ones had diesel Ford engines,Nissan diesel engines,they are RWD and they are tremendous spacious.
The new ones exist as taxi but also as panel Van and all of them can be sold to private costumers
In the 80s one of my friends dad was a taxi driver.
Obviously living in London I'd see them all the time, but it was a cool having one parked in the street. Plus We'd play in it when his dad was a sleep after a night shift lol
I've always wanted to own an Austin/Carbodies/Fairway FX4, one day I will lol
That or an MCW Metrocab
You should look into black cab driver training to get your license. They call it the knowledge. Think it takes about two years and a hard test at the end.
Fun fact! In the 1960s they made a "Carry On Cabby" movie starring Sid James and Hattie Jacques, brilliant! Check it out! 😄👍
The previous gen London taxis were powered by the old 2.5L Ford transit diesel engines. Absolute units those were
Don't stress over more content. We are not going anywhere and completely understand. 💝Sending love from Germany ❣
As a driver myself, when I see them driving on the left side of the road, my brain gets fried
4:33 You could but it would be very expensive, the ones that are not too much beaten are found at around 10 or 12 thousand pound, so around 15 to 18 thousand dollars, to that you have to add the costs of shipping, making sure the vehicle is up to US standards, doing the few modifications it's going to need for said standards and registration, which are going to sum up to about the same price as the vehicle, and you would have to redo the whole interior if you intend to use it as an almost daily car. So I think it would set you back about $30.000, but if that's a thing you really want to do, it is feasible :)
The body on the TX is aluminium, not weilded together but glued!!!!
London taxi drivers have to pass "the knowledge," which means they know every street in London and how to get there from anywhere else at any time of day. A hard task.
Ok so you may be thinking, but why are they so tall with so much head room? Well, its all down to the original guidelines set out for the "horse drawn hackney carriage" that the modern taxi has taken over from that stated a gentle man must be able to keep his top hat on once onboard. Mad, but true.
I suspect front wheel drive leaving rear floor flat, no centre tunnel, for maximum passenger convenience.
They also make a Commercial Van version.
Sad to see the "Suicide doors" return.
While definitely very convenient for entry/exit to the vehicle. Such rearward opening doors have a long history to fling passengers out while in motion if a passenger makes a serious mistake of opening or having, a door open while in motion. The air stream rips the door fully open as soon as cracked a little free of the latch. A passenger holding the interior handle is launched out into traffic or roadside obstacles.
It seems, and is hopefully secured in modern implementation, not as in past a partially closed door, or miss operation, say trying to open a window unlatched, causing opening unexpectedly. Now closed/latched sensors and electro lockout of opening mechanism may make it safer.
The driver operates a lock that secures the rear doors, so whilst operating they cannot be opened by the passenger and typically they don't get unlocked until at the destination and payment has been made.
@@bionicgeekgrrl Good, thank you confirming my hope. As I mentioned, that hopefully these doors have additional locking override to prevent the past danger while providing the better entry/exit benefit such doors offer the passengers.
Most London taxi drivers are self-employed and own their own vehicle, so yes, theoretically anyone could buy a new one. I suspect they haven't been approved for use in the USA so you would have to import one that's over 25 years old, but there are plenty out there to choose from.
My city has a taxi rank (row of taxis) outside the railway station some are black cabs but only ever seen the one like london the others have been Peugeout bodys (expert) but those old tx 4.s were work horses in there own right if not a bit noisy.
Steven Fry did a TV series where he drove a London cab all over the lower 48. It's on UA-cam.
i just had a pop up to watch this video even though it was uploaded nine hours ago
They failed in Perth Western Australia not sure why but they did.
👍
London cabbers. Just like Germans on the Autobahn. Both love to yell at traffic with the same lines. Love it!
the taxis in my area wodonga on the New South Wales and victorian boarder they charge $4.00 flag fall and its $2.00 per km
Saw one of these last Friday in my local car park, you know where you can park a car.
Have you ever seen double decker bus racing? Have a laugh at this - all ex-London Transport double deckers from the mid '70s (N and P reg ones) on the racing circuit! ua-cam.com/video/8SlO5_ykips/v-deo.html
Also have a look for double decker buses doing handbrake turns as that's something that has to be seen to be believed - even the Human League had one do a handbrake turn on a bridge (with people in it) in the video of their single 'Louise'.
Stephen Fry did a TV series where he drove a London taxi around America
Rode in one of them over here in Australia going to catch a plane in Melbourne
Quite a nice taxi ride. As it should be given the prices we pay in London :P
I reckon you should be able to find a FX-4, or Fairway if you wanted.
It would be diesel auto RHD .
It would be high mileage but they're pretty robust and I guess you could get the Nissan engine maintained easy enough.
A petrol would be really old now and have either a Land Rover or Austin engine depending on year.
There is a UA-cam channel called 'Tom the Taxidriver', you might find that of interest. He deals with all matters London Cab, including his working day and the routes he takes
You might enjoy this YT vid - 'London Taxis and Lots of Spiffing Stuff About Them' by Joolz Guides. Personally I always liked the FX3 where you could put your luggage in the space next to the driver
These are built just up the road from me. I also loved the redesigned TX's up to TX5 (LEVC TX) which is just a horrible mashup with a range rover imho.
London public transit went electric a long time ago
Then stopped
Harvesting the materials proved unnecessary
Most people in the uk knows the black cab is from faketaxi
Congratulations to You And Your Wife On The Birth Of Your New Baby 🙂
There is a VAN version of this new one, and yes it is expensive.
All very good but is no-one going to mention the Renault 4 at 8:46?
I drove private hire (the sworn enemy of the hackneys but there were only a few hackneys in our city back then, like, 5) in the 70s but we were all Ford Cortina Mk IIIs. Nowadays, in that city it's all yellow hackneys. Same as London black cabs, just yellow. Been in plenty but never driven one.
When it came to market they took out the range extender. It is now all you can get, with a range of only few hours, not a whole day of work, MASSIVE lease costs. During COVID we lost tens of thousands of Taxi drivers as they couldn't work. Now more are giving up as it becomes uneconomical to work in the trade.
Very sad times. If yu want to get in one, get over here soon!
They'd have to drop the hybrid by 2035 anyway mind. So pure electric is likely to be the future. Hopefully newer models become better range wise etc.