Roman's Taxi



Roman's Taxi is the taxi used by Roman Bellic's taxi company in Grand Theft Auto IV. Roman's taxis are solely driven by Roman and his employees (including Niko in some early missions).

Design
Roman's Taxi is based on the Albany Esperanto - due to the Albany badging, many people thought that it was actually called the Albany (which was probably its beta name, see Trivia). The car is visually distinguishable from the Esperanto by its minor alterations—red or yellow taxi emergency lights affixed to the front and back, taxi registration number on the trunk, advertising on the rear bumper and rear window, and a custom red interior. By default, Roman's Taxi is dark gray with a discolored gray driver's side front fender. It can be resprayed to other colors, and may be randomly resprayed back to its default appearance.

Performance
Performance and handling-wise, Roman's Taxi is heavier than the Esperanto (1700 kg to the Esperanto's 1600 kg), and has inferior acceleration, but has a significantly greater top speed (295 km/h to the Esperanto's 218 km/h); it also has slightly stronger braking and softer suspension. It is slightly less prone to deformation than the Esperanto, and can better withstand collisions.

Use as a taxi
Niko can call Roman to send a taxi to pick him up, after gaining his favor. The taxi driver is notoriously short-tempered, with the taxi rides peppered with insults hurled Niko's way for being a freeloader. After unlocking the Algonquin Safehouse (at which point Roman's business appears to have become highly successful), Roman's taxis are replaced by a fleet of gray Cavalcades, with the same disgruntled driver as before. After this, the car is no longer available, unless the player has saved one at a safehouse.

Benefits
Unlike the other taxi there are a few advantages to using Roman's taxi.


 * The ride no matter where or how long, is free of charge.
 * The driver won't leave the car due to a wanted level.
 * It is a good choice for a drive-by, having someone else drive.
 * If you accidentally try to carjack the taxi, the doors will be unlocked so there is no wanted level for vehicle theft.
 * The police can't arrest you as the doors are locked.

Prominent appearances
Roman's Taxi is the first vehicle that the player drives in Grand Theft Auto IV, and was prominently featured in pre-release materials, with the car initially painted with an all-black body color. It features as part of several early missions, including GTA IV's taxi side-mission.

Trivia

 * Albany may actually have been the true beta name of this car. First, it had been seen on pre-release pictures a long time before Rockstar Games decided to incorporate vehicle brands to the game. And secondly, inside the file "american.gxt", every car is named in the alphabetical order, excepted "Roman's Taxi", which is between "Airtug" and "Ambulance", where "Albany" would have been found.
 * Roman's Taxi as depicted during "The Cousins Bellic" features an all-black body, as opposed to other occasions when the car features a discolored quarter panel.
 * The default radio station in Roman's Taxi is Vladivostok FM.
 * In The Lost and Damned, Roman's Taxi can be called in by dialing 555-2222 (the number given to Johnny by Elizabeta Torres earlier in the game) during the mission Roman's Holiday.
 * Roman's Taxi does not have the same horn sound as the Esperanto
 * Roman's Taxi features the "Door Ajar" Chime which can be heard easily in the first mission "The Cousins Bellic". Before moving the vehicle, turn off your engine and get out without closing the door. With a turned up volume, you should hear the chime.
 * Although Roman's Taxi is never to be seen without the default black paint job, it can be re-sprayed at a Pay-n-Spray for a grey or red paintjob.
 * Another Easter Egg from Rockstar relating to the GTA III Era: Roman's Taxi bears the registration "LC2708"; this is the same registration donned by the license plates on all cars in GTA: Liberty City Stories.