The Pony is a medium-sized civilian and commercial van featured in both the 3D Universe and HD Universe. It is manufactured by Brute in the HD Universe.
In all its portrayals, the Pony is capable of carrying four passengers (two in the front, two in the back), and can be found driving around industrial areas.
Regular Ponies in San Andreas may occasionally appear with stereo systems in their cargo holds. One such Pony is seen during the mission Life's a Beach, where it is used by a DJ for a beach party (see Variants for more details).
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
In Grand Theft Auto IV, the Pony is manufactured by Brute and is bigger than it used to be. The front resembles a GMC Vandura and a Bedford CF2, while the sides and rear resemble a 1986–1993 Dodge Ram Van. It has tall, narrow taillights, more so than the Ram Van, and its side mirrors seem to closely resemble modern vans, particularly the 1996–present Chevy Express/GMC Savana. The rear also resembles that of the 1995–2005 GMC Safari. Its interior features unique metal bars that separate the cab from the cargo hold. The van may spawn with or without a roof rack as the only available accessory. It can also spawn with boxes loaded in the back.
The Pony returns to Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online with the same design, however its liveries have been replaced with 3 different liveries; Sunset Bleach, GoPostal and Sprunk Extreme. The van spawns with several random colours, however some of the colours only appear paired with a specific livery. Color set 3 (dark gray) spawns only with the GoPostal livery[1], and set 6 (black) only spawns with the Sprunk Extreme livery.[2]
Performance[]
3D Universe[]
In GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories, despite being a van, the Pony is able to accelerate finely and reach top speed very quickly, making it one of the best vans in the games. Although the steering is not as favorable, it can easily be overcome by using the handbrake in sharp turns and corners.
The performance of the Pony was harshly redesigned in GTA Vice City and GTA Vice City Stories. While it has retained its decent top speed, its acceleration is now poor. Unless the van is being driven on a lengthy road with no interruption -which is almost never the case- it will never have enough time on full-throttle to reach top speed. The heavy weight of the van prevents it from being able to effectively steer without using the handbrake, but even that is not straightforward because using the handbrake tends to cause the van to come to a complete stop before continuing to accelerate, unless it is being driven on top speed, which is very unlikely due to the aforementioned reasons.
In GTA San Andreas, the steering seems to be more responsive, but the van still suffers from the poor acceleration.
The Pony's performance is somewhat distant compared to the Speedo and the Burrito, as its top speed and acceleration are lower, given the rather large size and the RWD layout. Its handling is decent and its brakes are average, but tends to be problematic when attempting to steer. Resistance to crashes is something that the Pony will have over the Speedo and the Burrito, as the rather heavy weight allows it to push vehicles easily at top speeds and seems to withstand more head-on collisions than the two aforementioned vans. In other words, instead of the Burrito's focus on speed and the Speedo's focus on handling, the Pony is heavily focused on resistance.
The Pony is powered by a transversely-laid, double-cam inline-4, coupled to a 5-speed gearbox in a FR layout. There is a badge on the rear that states it is a supercharged engine.
The performance of the Pony remains challenging, as the van has extremely poor acceleration, which is on par with the Utility Van's. The Pony has a higher top speed than other vans, however its sheer weight and size prove a struggle for the van to reach it, and the low-revving diesel-sounding engine clearly is not powerful enough. The vehicle has acceptable brakes, and a mediocre cornering, which can be said better than other, larger vans, but still not as nimble as the Speedo or Rumpo. Strangely enough, the Pony can drift quite decently for a van with below-average performance.
On a technical standpoint, the Pony is not different from its GTA IV iteration, having the same inline-4 coupled to a 5-speed gearbox in a FR layout, again stated to be a supercharged engine. However, it is slightly faster due to the increased speed, according to the files.
In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the Top Fun is a variant of the Pony that bears the "Top Fun" logos on it and, like the TOYZ, can be used to start sidemissions in RC Vehicles. It always spawns in a light gray color.
The Berkley's RC Van in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. (Rear quarter view)
Description
In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the Berkley's RC Van is a variant of the Pony that bears the Berkleys RC logos on it and is known to be one of the rarest variants in the game. It is the replacement of the Top Fun from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and therefore, labeled as "Top Fun" in the files.
A Pony with a unique black body colors can be found during Loose Ends. It can be also found driving on the streets or parked somewhere in the city if the player inputs "Black Cars" cheat into the game.
During the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas mission Life's a Beach, there is a also unique teal Pony with a large stereo system and off-road wheels (presumably to allow it to traverse the sandy beach); it is a one-of-a-kind vehicle as Ponies cannot be modified at TransFender.
The Pony as depicted during Life's a Beach. Note the off-road tires.
The sound system on the Pony in Life's a Beach. Other Ponies in the game may feature the same content in their cargo hold.
It can rarely be found parked around East Hook and BOABO. Driving a van increases its chance of spawning. It can only be found during office hours (from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
It can rarely be found either driven or parked around Acter Industrial Park and Port Tudor. Driving a van increases its chance of spawning. It can only be found during office hours (from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
It spawns more frequently in the enhanced version. It cannot be modified, sold or kept in garages.
Prominent Appearances in Gameplay[]
Grand Theft Auto III[]
Import/Export – The Pony is one of the 23 vehicles wanted for the Portland portion of the Import/Export side mission.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City[]
Cannon Fodder – After the cutscene at Café Robina, a Pony spawns at the empty yard beside the café, so no time need to be wasted while looking for a four-door vehicle if the player doesn't have one. Later in the mission Tommy and the Cubans must steal another Pony loaded with drugs.
Loose Ends – A unique black Pony spawns within the yard during this mission.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas[]
Life's a Beach – CJ has to steal, for OG Loc, the van with a sound system and off-road tires after dancing with the DJ .
The Green Sabre – Some Ballas arrive into two Ponies to perform the onslaught against GSF.
Snappy Dresser – Toni must tail Casa, who gets on a unique white Pony to Callahan Point. Later Casa parks it near the café. If Toni tries to keep near to the Pony, Casa will be spotted and the mission will fail.
Dead Meat – The same white Pony reappears in the mission after Toni executes Casa. It can be obtained during the mission progress by driving it into the safehouse garage and destroying it, or simply dumping the van into the water, although this will lead to mission failure. NOTE: It is impossible to obtain the Pony after mission passed, because it disappears when the mission is completed.
The Trouble With Triads – A Pony gets caught in the explosion of the Leone warehouse. One more Pony is seen inside the destroyed warehouse.
Taking the Peace – Toni must get in a unique black Pony to get the control of a gang leader's car. After killing all the enemies, the mission passes and the Pony can be driven to a garage if the player wishes to do so.
Night of the Livid Dreads – A black Pony is used by the targets to kill the Yardies. It still exists after mission passes, but locked. Push it to a garage to obtain the unlocked doors and save as usual.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories[]
Money for Nothing – Two Ponies are used in this mission, one is used by Victor as a decoy van and the other one is used by Lance and Forbes to carry the drugs away to safety.
Havana Good Time – Two Ponies are used in this mission by Victor and the Cubans in order to take the Cholos' crates of weapons.
Purple Haze – Victor drives Gonzalez' Pony loaded with drugs to a drug deal; however, he is ambushed by two gang members driving a Linerunner, rendering him unconscious and allowing them to steal the van with the drugs inside. After waking up, Vic phones Gonzalez who orders Vic to retrieve the van and bring it back to the garage.
Drug Running – In the fifth job, Victor drives a Pony with merchandise to make a deal that is later sabotaged.
Civil Asset Forfeiture Impound – The Pony is one of the 32 vehicles wanted by the Civil Asset Forfeiture Impound in the side-mission of the same name. Placed on the first list.
Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Luck of the Irish – The last enemy attacker attempts to leave the area by taking a Pony on the alleyway. However, Niko reacts quickly and snipes him.
A cosmetic glitch in GTA Vice City causes any Pony which enters a Pay 'n' Spray to emerge with its front bumper facing the opposite direction, towards the rear. Simply parking the vehicle in a garage and allowing the garage door to close will restore the bumper's alignment. This problem is also present on the Rumpo in the same game, as well as in GTA San Andreas and GTA Vice City Stories.
Radio Stations[]
The Pony has the following defaultdefaultstations dictated by the vehicle, not set by any previous NPC occupant's preferenceradio station(s):
