Hotknife

"Calling all car nerds who love to spend lots of money building a vehicle that looks like it's from the 1930's, but also kind of looks like it's from the future. The almost-street-legal Hotknife is perfect for getting you from the steampunk social to the furrie convention."

- Legendary Motorsport description.

The Hotknife is a appearing in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. It is manufactured by Vapid in GTA V.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The Hotknife is a late 1920s/early 1930s resembling a, with modifications and a custom paint job.

The vehicle may spawn with or without a cover for the engine bay and is only available in a single paint scheme; a purple body with white accents and a black roof.

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online
The Hotknife returns with a slightly updated design, being based on a, albeit modified with a lowered suspension, wider tires, and a low "chopped" roof, which are common hot-rod modifications for this model.

The front of the Hotknife features a sleek chrome grille with what looks like the symbol of a bent sword pointing down, placed over two edges that are part of the vehicle's chassis. Two circular lamps can be seen on either side of the grille. On the sides, large fenders may be seen running along the vehicle, covering the wheels and having black steps on the middle section, while the engine bay area features exhaust stacks on both sides. The cabin area features two classic circular rear-view mirrors finished in chrome, placed near the A-pillar. The rear of the car is very traditional, featuring a curved trunk with a chrome handle, and two circular tail lights below the same. The car lacks any sort of bumper and only features a license plate mounted below the bodywork. On the lower side, the suspension is composed of small shock absorbers and articulated bars that start in the vehicle' structure and ends in the axle shafts. Its interior is shared with the Peyote, using the same large analog dial on the driver side.

The fenders and the engine bay cover are considered extras. Therefore, the Hotknife will spawn with exposed wheels and engine, revealing two support frames passing over the engine, as well as red wiring coming from an open space located in the driver's cab. The vehicle spawns in a variety of two-tone colors, with the primary one on the front, sides and fenders of the vehicle and a secondary one on the hood, roof and curved rear. The stock wheels are similar to the "Wired" lowrider rims available in Los Santos Customs.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
For what the Hotknife lacks in being easy to find, it makes up for in being a very fun vehicle to drive. It handles well on-road and off-road. There is a great acceleration to be had from the V8 up front, resulting in great air times when going off certain jumps, but its top speed is ultimately lower than the more aerodynamic cars found in the game. Its cornering is not too good, which makes turning at high speed somewhat difficult, but this can be solved by using the handbrake. One bad aspect about this car is its poor endurance in crashes because of the exposed front suspension and radiator, which is made up for by the suspension being so good that it rarely tips over. Important to note are the car's side steps, which can actually collide with curbs when turning due to the car's extremely low stance.

The vehicle is powered by a V8 engine fitted with a bug catcher on top, a 5-speed gearbox and a rear-wheel drivetrain.

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online
The Hotknife has acceptable acceleration and top speed which is average for a Muscle car. Its handling, though, is outright terrible. It has immense understeer, and feels very uncomfortable to steer through traffic, to such a point that high speeds make the car feel almost impossible to steer. This understeer-heavy trend even continues into the lower speeds. The Hotknife's braking is also poor, and this leads to a nasty combination where the car will wreck frequently. What makes the Hotknife worse is how it handles crashes. Being relatively light and lacking much downforce, the Hotknife is almost always taken out by traffic to unrealistic results. In a collision, it will regularly end up being sent rolling or airborne briefly while the traffic will often emerge almost unaffected. Deformation is strong though, and the car will be able to take a decent amount of abuse before being out of commission.

Being a muscle-like vehicle, the Hotknife comes with a carburetored single-cam V8 engine. This gives the vehicle a loud engine sound, in a similar manner to muscle cars like the Dominator and the Gauntlet.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Like the Phoenix, the Hotknife is an extremely rare car to find in GTA San Andreas, but with patience and searching in the right places, it will eventually spawn.
 * Spawns in front of the Driving School in Doherty, San Fierro after getting all gold medals in driving school (its license plate reads "GOLD").
 * Rarely spawns on The Strip, it will eventually spawn if the player waits for some time.
 * Can be obtained through Vigilante missions, which in rare occasions are driven by criminals, but only at levels 1 and 2, otherwise only 4-door cars are used (This can be done even from the beginning of the game).
 * Spawns often when the "fast cars" and "crazy town" cheats are activated.
 * Spawns inside The Four Dragons Casino. (The Definitive Edition only)

Grand Theft Auto V

 * Original version
 * The vehicle is immediately given to the player in a garage for every character if the player has the Collector's Edition.


 * Enhanced version
 * Can be bought for $90,000 (For free to Collector's Edition holders) from Legendary Motorsport.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Original version
 * Can be bought for free from Legendary Motorsport if the player has the Collector's Edition.


 * Enhanced version
 * Can be bought for $90,000 (For free to Collector's Edition holders) from Legendary Motorsport.

General

 * The default radio stations for Hotknife are:
 * GTA San Andreas: Playback FM.
 * GTA V: Channel X.
 * The name Hotknife is a possible reference to "hotknifing," a common method of smoking hash, while also being a play on "hot rod."

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * Strangely, the upper frame of the passenger side's door is inconsistent to that of the driver side, appearing recessed and colored purple (as opposed to the driver side's black), This is caused by the door being set in too much to the car's body and is evident when the door swings open, to reveal the door is identical to the driver-side door.
 * Found in the game files, the Hotknife in front of the Driving School is actually painted silver, like the Bullet beside it. (This can be seen clearly using modifications.)
 * It is the oldest car in the 3D Universe, along with the Hustler, Hermes, and the Thunder-Rodd.

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online

 * If the player looks at the Hotknife's grille from the side or from the back, the grille is invisible.
 * It is the third oldest car in the HD Universe, along with the Z-Type, Duneloader, Rat-Loader, Roosevelt, Fränken Stange, and the old rusty Tractor.
 * When entering the Hotknife, the name of the vehicle at the bottom right of the screen does not display the manufacturer, despite the manufacturer being displayed on the car itself.
 * This has been fixed in the enhanced version, displaying as "Vapid Hotknife, Muscle".
 * If there are two players in the Hotknife, the driver's right shoulder will clip into the passenger's left shoulder due to lack of space.
 * As of the 1.16 patch, the Hotknife will be free to replace if it gets destroyed by any means.
 * However, those who do not own the Collector's Edition, it will still be rendered unrecoverable.