Schafter

"Good-looking yet utilitarian, sexy yet asexual, slender yet terrifyingly powerful, the Schafter is German engineering at its very finest."

- Southern San Andreas Super Autos description.

The Benefactor Schafter is a luxury four-door sedan featured in Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * First Generation

"The Schafter. Take control."

- Billboard advertisement.

The Schafter is in a lot of ways similar in design to a, but was altered to appear with a longer wheelbase, bulkier body (in this case, it would be a in particular) and less luxurious fascias. Its rear fascia seems to be derived from a, most likely the AMG variant. The front also bear resemblance to the (which is based on a Mercedes-Benz platform) with the headlights from the  and.

The Schafter features a distinctive design, where the front end is predominated by a bulky bumper with a set of intakes on the centre and on the edges. The upper area is occupied by silver/chrome housings with circular lamps and small lights on the edges, as well as a grille with seven horizontal bars. Said grille is also part of the bonnet.

The sides of the car are relatively simple in appearance, with flared wheel arches and wide skirting area. The window trim and inner pillars are finished in black, as well as black rear-view mirror shells.

The rear of the car is rather generic, featuring a basic boot holding the license plate and the silver badging. A set of tail lamps can be seen on the outer edges, with the reverse lamps placed within silver strips. The lower area is occupied by a flat bumper with a lip at the bottom, as well as mouldings for the square-shaped exhaust tubes.

The Schafter can spawn in a large variety of primary colours for the body, while the rims and door handles assign a white secondary colour, with the exception of two colour sets with black secondary colour. It uses plain steel rims with five small gaps around the centre.

The Schafter is equipped with a GPS system with a female voice, but only if the player leaves the "selected cars" (default) option in the audio menu.

The Ballad of Gay Tony
Featured in The Ballad of Gay Tony, there is a newer iteration of the Schafter, with a general design based on a, while the front heavily resembles the.
 * Second Generation

The vehicle has a modernised appearance, featuring a larger grille and LED strips below the two bi-xenon bulbs in the headlights, as well as unusable fog lamps. The cabin area lacks the extra black pillars on the rear windows, while the rear section has a more aerodynamic profile, featuring a boot lip, larger tail lamps and slanted upper area. The vehicle is only available in a modified form, featuring a different grille, a body kit and dual exhaust.

The Schafter may spawn in monotone and two-tone colours, the the secondary one is applied on the bonnet, roof and boot. It uses a set of larger chrome wheels.

Unlike the first generation model, the GPS option is not available by default. Should the player leaves the "yes" option on the audio menu, the GPS system still uses the female voice.

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online
In Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online, only the Second Generation model returned to the game, with the same design as in TBoGT, but lacking any bodywork modifications (instead being only available at Los Santos Customs).

Colour distribution is the same, although the interior stitching matches with the primary colour. It retains the same wheel design, being similar to the "Benefactor" SUV rims available in Los Santos Customs.

Current Design Gallery
Second Generation=

First Generation=

Grand Theft Auto IV
The Schafter is powered by an apparent 6.5L supercharged V12 (according to badges) coupled to a 5-speed automatic gearbox in a RWD configuration. Although the large 6.5L supercharged V12 is quite powerful, the car feels slow because of its weight. Due to said weight, acceleration is below average, compared to other vehicles in its class, such as the Oracle and Presidente. Top speed is very good for the vehicle's engine statistics and specifications. The car handling is above average, although a slight hint of oversteer is detectable, the Schafter's firm suspension makes it a pleasure in low-speed cornering. Both generations of the Schafter bear an impressive degree of torque, being able to push or ram other vehicles with ease. The suspension is a perfect balance of firm and soft, keeping the Schafter planted on the road in turns, while not jarring over bumps. Braking is fair, and ABS is available, though not standard. Crash deformation and engine build quality are excellent; the car is capable of sustaining multiple direct impacts, and can also take a fair amount of gunfire before the engine stalls or inflames. The "Russian Mafia" Schafter has a slightly higher top speed than its unmodified counterpart.

Both the first and second generation performs the same.

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online
The Schafter is powered by the same V12 engine (according to the badges), but shares a similar engine sound with the Tailgater, Sentinel and Sentinel XS, Gresley and Surano, all of which have lower power-sounding engines. The Schafter is considered as among the fastest Sedan-class vehicles, with a higher top speed than any other (except the Super Diamond) and excellent acceleration. Unlike other cars such as the Tailgater, it does not have as much of a tendency to oversteer because of excessive traction, hence retaining much of its speed in the corners, therefore making the Schafter an ideal, if not the ideal, car to use in Sedan-class races in Grand Theft Auto Online (namely in the X360/PS3 versions of the game), as well as a good choice as a getaway vehicle for The Big Score. Crash deformation across all variants is acceptable.

Special Variants

 * A tuned version of the Schafter (similar to either a Mercedes-Benz E 55 AMG or a ) are commonly found in Hove Beach, being driven by the Russian Mafia. It is black, has black wheels, lacks the chrome trim on the trunk lid and sports a body kit including a debadged black grille. The Russian Schafter can be resprayed to any color of the regular Schafter, this will also cause it to lose its unique wheel color unless painted with a certain silver shade that is accompanied by black wheels. The custom grille, however, will always remain black.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * Common in Hove Beach, where both the regular Schafter and the Russian Mafia Schafter can be found.
 * Frequently appears in Firefly Projects.
 * Down the street from the Broker Safehouse, towards Firefly Island.
 * Common in Cerveza Heights.
 * Common in Algonquin.
 * In The Lost and Damned Gang Wars, the Russian Mafia version very commonly appears when warring with Russians. (TLAD only)

The Ballad of Gay Tony

 * In a large majority of Tony's missions and the Club Management missions, Luis is ordered to transport Tony in the Schafter and can be kept post-mission.
 * Spawns in Algonquin when already driving one.
 * Commonly found throughout the city (both 1st and 2nd generations).

Grand Theft Auto V

 * Occasionally seen driving around Rockford Hills.
 * Parked in the golf course parking lot.
 * One appears during a random event as a rental car of a businessman that the player has to drive to the airport.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Can be found driven around Rockford Hills and Vinewood Hills, often when wanted by Simeon Yetarian.
 * Parked at the Golf Course if wanted by Simeon Yetarian.
 * Can be used in the introduction race after creating a character. After the race, it can be kept.
 * Can be bought from Southern San Andreas Super Autos after the Heists Update, for $65,000.

Notable Owners

 * Mikhail Faustin can be seen riding in a unique all black Schafter during the mission The Master and the Molotov. It has black rims and a silver grille.
 * Jimmy Pegorino also owns a black Schafter, with black rims and a standard silver Schafter grille, featured and used in the mission Pegorino's Pride.
 * Gay Tony owns a black Second Generation Schafter, which serves a chauffeured vehicle courtesy of Maisonette 9. He also owns a pink First Generation Schafter, as his personal transport.
 * Packie McReary may own a Schafter, as a white one appears outside his house in Waste Not Want Knots.
 * Timm drove a second generation Schafter as a rental vehicle, until it broke down.

General

 * The first generation Schafter is the first land vehicle seen in an HD Universe game; Shortly before the end of the opening sequence in GTA IV, a Russian Mob Schafter can be seen being lowered from the Platypus by a crane. It is not however the first vehicle to chronologically appear in the HD Universe; that honour goes to the Emperor in GTA V, in which it appears in the Prologue set in 2004.
 * The name Schafter may be a crude reference to the shaft of a penis or the act of shafting, slang for sexual intercourse. It may also refer to the slang term 'shafting', which describes disadvantaging or irritating someone.
 * Counting all variants, including the unobtainable 2nd generation variant in TBoGT, its coupe version and the armored variants in GTA Online, the Schafter has by far the greatest number of variants of any other car in a GTA game (1st gen, 2nd gen stock, 2nd gen modified, Schwartzer, Stretch E, Turreted Limo, LWB, LWB Armored, V12, V12 Armored).
 * The default radio stations are:
 * GTA IV: Jazz Nation Radio 108.5 or Fusion FM.
 * EFLC:
 * First gen: Self-Actualization FM.
 * Second gen: K109 The Studio or Vice City FM.
 * GTA V: Non-Stop-Pop FM.

Grand Theft Auto IV

 * In the opening scene of Grand Theft Auto IV, some Triads are seen loading heroin into a Russian Mafia Schafter. The same car is seen being lowered onto the dock while Niko is waiting for Roman in The Cousins Bellic.
 * In A Revenger's Tragedy, a rare Schafter can be found at the abandoned Alderney Casino. It is the Russian Mob variant, with black rims, but has a dark red fluorescent tint. No matter how many times the car is taken to a Pay 'n' Spray, it will remain the same color.
 * There is a particularly rare color variant of the Schafter with a silver body and black rims; Schafters of this color are only spawned while the player is already driving one.
 * In the loading sequence, the concept art shows Niko Bellic running from the police in a maroon Schafter.

Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online

 * The slightly less luxurious version of the second generation Schafter can be recreated almost completely at Los Santos Customs, with the only differences being the lack of a Benefactor badge on the grille and notches not being present on the custom rims.
 * There is a color available at Los Santos Customs, Schafter Purple, named after the car. It is also the color of the Schafter in the Grand Theft Auto Online mission, Ballas to the Wall.
 * Despite the car being based on the Mercedes E-Class, the Schafter's description on Southern San Andreas Super Autos most likely alludes to a flagship model (namely, the ), being described as "German engineering at its very finest".
 * The Chrome Grille can be used to partly resemble the grille of the unused schafter3 from TBoGT.

The Ballad of Gay Tony

 * The second generation Schafter's reverse lights, while present, are not functional. This was fixed in Grand Theft Auto V.

Navigation
Schafter (IV) Schafter Schafter Schafter Schafter