[00:05] This is a 2005 LTI TX4, better known as a London taxi. London is one of the few places in the world that uses special purpose built cars for taxis. They don't just take a normal Ford Crown Victoria, paint it yellow,
[00:18] and throw a light on top. It's totally different and totally iconic. And today, I'm going to review a London taxi and show you all of its quirks and features.
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[01:54] months on the two-year plan, and there's no risk with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee. The link is in the episode description box. All right, time for the quirks and features of the London taxi. But first, a quick thank you to the
[02:10] Petersen Museum here in Los Angeles, who had borrowed this London taxi from. The Petersen Museum is an awesome car museum with an amazing collection of awesome cars and rotating exhibits that have cool, interesting, different stuff all
[02:25] California, if you're visiting and you're into cars, you got to go visit the Petersen Museum. It's a great spot for any car enthusiast. I love it, and thanks to the Petersen Museum for providing this car. And now, let's talk
[02:40] London taxi, starting with the basics. A weird thing about London is that their taxis aren't just normal vehicles, like they are in the States and most other places where they may be painted a different color, you install a meter, a
[02:54] light on the top, and you call it a day. In London, for years and years, going back decades, taxis have been purpose-built, distinctive, special vehicles that aren't really owned or purchased by the general public, but
[03:07] purchased by the general public, but primarily only used as taxis. But historically, especially decades ago, London taxi cabs were all painted black. So, you had a distinctive, special car in a distinctive, special color, and it
[03:22] kind of became a symbol of London. Specifically, the London taxi that was used beginning in the '50s, the Austin FX4. This famous London taxi cab ended up being used for years, all the way into the 1990s, 40 years with this same
[03:39] cab, until it had finally gotten to be such an old design that it simply had to be replaced. Enter this car. In the late 1990s, the taxi had to be modernized,
[03:51] and so the government worked with taxi drivers, the company LTI who makes this drivers, the company LTI who makes this car, taxi riders, they all had input on how to improve and modernize and purpose-build this car to make it the
[04:06] purpose-build this car to make it the best taxi possible. And then it debuted. And initially it was controversial replacing the famous beloved Austin FX4, replacing the famous beloved Austin FX4, but quickly both riders and drivers grew
[04:20] to love this car for all of the amazing quirks and features that made it the best taxi possible, which I'll show you now. We begin in the back where the TX2
[04:32] has a massive rear door, especially given the overall size of the vehicle. You can see a few distinct things about it. For one, it doesn't curve around the wheel arch like back doors in most cars. Instead, it's mostly just a tall
[04:46] rectangle. And indeed, it is a tall rectangle. Height was important for this car. It looks a little weird being so tall, especially since it's relatively short in length, but they wanted to
[04:59] maximize head room for people climbing in, but also for wheelchair users, which is the reason why this door doesn't curve around the rear wheel arch. They wanted it big and wide so wheelchair users could get in this car as easily as
[05:15] possible and suddenly London taxis became friendly disabled and people with kids and strollers. In fact, once you open the door, you will notice a little switch with a wheelchair on it. You would press that switch and then it
[05:30] would allow you to activate the wheelchair ramp, which is mounted down wheelchair ramp and then a disabled passenger could come up in the wheelchair and then be wheeled into the taxi and then get inside without any
[05:45] extra complication like what would have happened in the old school taxis that didn't have this accommodation. Now you understand why it's so tall and why you have this kind of weird rear door design. And a lot of other interesting
[05:58] design elements relate to this car being purpose-built for taxi use. Take for example the interior of the rear door panel where you have a big kind of ugly grab handle to close the door but it was functional and easy and so that's what
[06:14] it's there for. You also have your regular door lock and latch but mounted directly above that there's a sticker explaining how they operate. Exit above the latch and unlock above the lock showing the direction to unlock. There's
[06:28] even a little depression in the door molding making perfect space for this sticker to be placed. You also have another little purpose-built door molding depression right here where it says red light indicates doors are
[06:42] taxi you're not sure if doors are locked or unlocked. Here there's a red light so you don't have to guess with a little lock on the side if it's down or up. The red light shows you that and this little decal explains how it works. There's
[06:56] also a space as you can see a little plexiglass cover area where you can put an advertisement or an announcement or whatever was necessary that passengers would see inside the vehicle. Now you climb inside the London taxi and this
[07:10] rear area is really where the purpose-built quirks and features all shine. Let's start with the bench seat in back. You can see three across rear three people which is nice and practical. But if you look on the other
[07:26] side of the rear compartment you will notice there are two jump seats that are folded up against this plastic partition between the front and rear. You can fold them down and get two extra seats back here. So the rear of this vehicle can
[07:41] actually carry five passengers. Now, it's only 180 in long, which is like compact car Toyota Corolla sizing, but you get five people in the rear separate from the front compartment, which makes it especially practical. And when you
[07:56] don't need to carry five, when it's three or less, you can fold up those extra jump seats, so rear passengers have extra legroom or extra room for their bags. Or if it's a wheelchair user, enough room wheelchair or a
[08:10] stroller to get back here without having to deal with folding it up and all that other stuff. And when it comes to seating, it gets even better back here because in the rear bench, there is a center armrest. You can fold it down for
[08:24] comfort or you can expand it, and you can see it becomes a child booster seat, which is a constant issue with parents traveling with children in taxi cabs. You got to bring along a car seat wherever you're going. Well, here this
[08:38] had something of a solution. Wasn't perfect, wasn't sized for a child, but it offered something. Stroller access and small child safety, which was brilliant. And this rear seat, this bench is made of a very cleanable
[08:51] material. It's not the most comfortable, but it's very easy to wipe down and but it's very easy to wipe down and clean off kind of cloth nylon material, and it could therefore be easily washed off when people would throw up or other
[09:04] fluids, drinks would spill back here. Another big benefit of a purpose-built taxi. And next up, another interesting quirk. Directly behind the seat, you have a speaker mounted right here to enhance your listening capabilities
[09:17] sitting in the back, which was a pretty neat placement. And also next to that speaker, there is a power port for charging devices. Again, within very easy reach of rear seat passengers, kind of directly behind you. They didn't have
[09:31] space in front because there's all this open space. You don't have a console in here, so they stuck it back there, which was really smart thinking. And there's still more. Over on the passenger side of this taxi cab, although in the UK it
[09:45] would be the driver side, the right side sitting where I am, you have three different switches and they control the rear climate controls in this vehicle and it's very, very simple. There is one switch to turn it on or off, there is
[09:59] one switch to choose heat or cold and then the other one controls fan speed it. You can't set the perfect temperature or address exactly where the air is flowing out, but you do have your own rear seat climate controls, easy and
[10:14] simple with pictures, not words. A lot of foreign travelers who may not know English in London for easy access so they can all figure it out. Over on the other side, you have two other interesting switches. One of them is
[10:28] obviously a light. You can turn on this switch and all of your rear lights will trying to read something, read a map, whatever you want to do. The other switch though, is even more interesting. This one has an image of someone
[10:41] speaking and that's because it controls an intercom system that lets you talk to the driver. So, you can see in this cab there is a partition, a glass one that can be closed separating the driver and the rear passengers and then you
[10:56] wouldn't be able to hear each other and that's where the intercom comes in. You press that switch and a little light turns on letting you know the intercom is activate. Beyond that, there's also a light above the partition that turns
[11:09] light above the partition that turns bright red and says, "Red your voice may be heard by the driver." So, if you get out of the cab and the person before you accidentally left that on, the red light lets you know, "Don't
[11:21] say anything stupid." [laughter] Cuz the driver might be able to hear hear you, well, you turn off the intercom and then and gone. Beyond that stuff, there's still more cool purpose-built taxi quirks back here. How
[11:36] about the reading lights individually on either side of the rear bench? So, you light on either side, and you can read without turning on all of the rear interior lights. You also have a mirror
[11:50] you're sitting in the taxi, you want to check out how you look before going into work, whatever, you can do that in your taxi-mounted mirror. Maybe not quite as from the ceiling and be beautifully lit, but it's practical and it works and it's
[12:06] but it's practical and it works and it's a great solution. As is the padded ceiling. Instead of having any sort of metal roof, you have this sort of ceiling padding, but it's also not a typical cloth headliner, which can sag
[12:19] over time. This is a very durable and very cleanable material. So, if it gets hairspray, whatever, on it, you can hose it off. And if you accidentally bump your head, it won't hurt. Again, the Austin FX4 taxi that London had used for
[12:35] decades, beloved. People adored it. They cried when it was being replaced. But once they started to see all these improvements and features, there was improvements and features, there was widespread acceptance of this new taxi.
[12:49] With that said, there were some drawbacks to the new taxi, and one of them was undoubtedly trunk space. The trunk at the back of the taxi, you open it up, the boot, if you will, and you can see there's just really not all that
[13:04] much space back here, a very small amount. And what is here is primarily taken up by the spare tire that was included in these taxicabs. And that meant that if you had stuff with you, it couldn't really ride in the trunk. Even
[13:19] if it was wet or fragile, it had to go in the interior, which wasn't really always ideal. However, there was an interesting solution in the front seat, which I'll show you in a second. But first, let's talk about the other little
[13:33] drawback to the new London taxi, which is also space related, and it's the space that the driver had up front. Because this partition was installed for wheelchair users and strollers and five seats in back, the driver doesn't
[13:49] have a huge amount of space. It's a very upright partition, and while it curves a little bit to give the driver seat more space, it's still not a massive amount of room up here for the driver. It was tolerable even for me who's tall, but
[14:03] it's not exactly roomy or luxurious or particularly comfortable. That was saved for the people in back. Now, with that said, the storage solution up front was genius. You can see over on the passenger side, you have another folding
[14:16] jump seat made of that same easily cleanable, washable material as the bench seat in back. But, if you fold the jump seat out of the way, suddenly you have an open compartment where you could put stuff. There's no trunk, no boot
[14:32] really for storage, but the front passenger compartment could be used for that purpose, since it's probably rare that you're going to have more than five people inside a taxi and a bunch of stuff. You could fill the back with
[14:44] people and the front with things. Now, you might be wondering, speaking of the passenger side, why is the driver's seat over on the left? a London taxi, shouldn't it be right-hand drive? And indeed, London taxis are right-hand
[15:00] drive. But, the manufacturer of this vehicle, LTI, as I'll explain later, they also figured there'd be a market for it in left-hand drive countries that might want their own purpose-built taxi, or for people who just want the novelty
[15:14] of owning a London taxi. And so, they made right and left-hand drive versions, including this one, which was manufactured like this in the beginning. And almost certainly therefore never saw service as an actual London taxi. And by
[15:28] the way, speaking of LTI, the company who made it, I love the fact that they don't even brand the center of the steering wheel. Instead, it explains the type of airbag system that's used in this vehicle. You don't even have an LTI
[15:41] logo in there. After all, this was not a advertise and get more sales. It was a commercial purpose-built work vehicle. And so branding was almost secondary. Now, just like in back, up front, there
[15:57] are quite a few interesting quirks and features designed to make life in a taxi especially easier. Probably the most ingenious quirk of all is that there's a ingenious quirk of all is that there's a rope connecting the passenger door to
[16:12] somewhere in the passenger footwell. Why is that rope there? Well, I mentioned before that this door, this area could be used for storage. So, if a passenger
[16:24] gets their bag out of the passenger seat and then forgets to close the door, that rope made it possible for a driver to reach over, grab the rope, and close the door without having to get out of the car and walk around. It was actually
[16:39] brilliant thinking, even though it is, well, just a rope. Also interesting here, there's a switch in the center console you can see with just an orange box on it. That switch would turn on the taxi light on the roof to let people
[16:53] know that you were open for fares. Very easy reach of the driver, just like the hazard light switch, which is also frequently used by taxi drivers dropping off passengers. Also within easy reach in this center control stack panel are
[17:07] two switches to turn on lights. The one on the far right turns on the front you're trying to figure out giving change, coins, counting out money. You need easy access to bright lights to see that stuff. The one in the back turns on
[17:21] also be useful. If someone's back there they're not familiar with the fact that lights, ask the driver to do it and boom, the driver can easily do it. The driver can also do a lot of other stuff for the rear passengers. You can see in
[17:36] the center console here you have window switches, those control the rear windows. The front window switches are on the driver's door panel like in most the driver can put up or down the windows if need be. The driver can also
[17:50] turn on the rear climate control with these switches directly below those window switches in case rear passengers can't figure that out, and the driver has their own switch for the intercom system. So, if the passenger turns it
[18:03] on, the driver has it on, then they can communicate, and the driver has that choice with that intercom button that's up here as well. Another interesting quirk inside this vehicle, when you put on the turn signal instead of making a
[18:15] clicking noise like it does in every other car, it makes kind of a chime. And I think they do that to make sure that it's easier to hear if you've accidentally left it on. No kind of subtle clicking, instead the chime is
[18:28] subtle clicking, instead the chime is there to make sure you can hear it. the clock is mounted on the ceiling rather than the center console or the
[18:43] gauge cluster like in most other cars. And the reason for that is obvious, the ceiling mounted clock allows both the driver and front passenger to see it, but also rear passengers in the back to see it and thus have access to knowing
[18:56] what time it is, which is a nice touch. And by the way, one other notable quirk And by the way, one other notable quirk of the London taxi, this power mirror switch is the exact same one that is used in my Ford GT supercar, the
[19:11] used in my Ford GT supercar, the vaunted, beloved '05 Ford GT shares its power mirror switch with the London taxi. What a surprise. Actually, it's not that much of a surprise if you know your London taxis because in addition to
[19:27] your London taxis because in addition to a Ford power mirror switch, the TX2 also used a Ford powertrain. It was the Duratorq four-cylinder, which is a small turbo diesel four-cylinder engine that was also used lot of other Ford models
[19:41] at this time, ranging from the Land Rover Freelander, which was under the Ford product umbrella, to the Ford Mondeo and Focus. They used this powertrain in a lot of vehicles and that included the London taxi. And in fact,
[19:56] the TX2 using this engine was one of the big distinctions between it and the TX1, big distinctions between it and the TX1, the original new London taxi, which used a Nissan powertrain instead. And just in case you're curious, the TX2 was really
[20:12] only a slight variation on the TX1, the new powertrain and some other changes. new powertrain and some other changes. And after a few years of the TX1,
[21:07] other changes. And after a few years of the TX2, it was strangely replaced by the TX4. There was no TX3. And the TX4, again, was only slightly updated compared to this. All of these TX models lasted
[21:23] until 2017. They were really common sights on London streets. If you visited between the late '90s and just a few years ago, you would have seen one of the LTI TX models driving around. But, things have changed
[21:39] since then. Somewhere in that period, LTI actually went bankrupt. And they were purchased by the Chinese brand Geely, who now still manufactures London taxis, but they were completely redesigned in 2017. They're now a
[21:55] totally new look, a little bit more modernized and future-y compared to this. And they have a plug-in hybrid three-cylinder powertrain to make them more environmentally efficient for green-going London. It seems to work.
[22:09] And in fact, the new Geely London taxi is sold globally, not just in London. It's used as a taxi in other markets, too. So, the distinctive, unique London taxi isn't quite as unique as it once was. But, there you go. The quirks and
[22:24] features of a London taxi. I've always wanted to review one. Now it's time to get behind the wheel and actually see how it drives. All right, driving the how it drives. All right, driving the London taxi. I have always wanted to
[22:38] drive one of these cars for a video. I love the idea of purpose-built vehicles. are purpose-built, but it's rare that you see cars that are purpose-built. And London. I've ridden in in purpose-built taxis in Japan. And I've always been
[22:53] curious, like, what changes are made to make a taxi and make it practical? And very interesting uh to see. First note when you're driving this car is uh it is tight up front. I am actually really surprised at how small it is. Obviously,
[23:07] I'm a taller person, but in order to get the partition in here and make the car multiple people, four plus people back there, and still have the car be relatively short in length so that it
[23:20] can be maneuvered throughout London where streets can be tight and all that, somewhere someone has to give up space, and that's the driver. And so, it's like it's fine. I can do it at 6' 4". I would not want to be any taller. My knees
[23:33] Headroom's fine. Obviously, this is a tall car. That's one of its most distinctive things. Uh but in terms of knee room and leg room, that is the thing driving this car, it's it's pretty slow. Now, this Duratec four-cylinder
[23:47] slow. Now, this Duratec four-cylinder was not a particularly uh powerful engine in any vehicle that it was in, and it wasn't intended to be. Um but because the London taxi is a fairly bulky vehicle, like a lot of the cars
[23:59] that used this engine, it was either the base powertrain or it was a smaller car, like a Ford Focus. In this car, the powertrain doesn't really do it many favors in terms of moving. But once again, think about purpose-built. You're
[24:11] car. Maybe when you're driving people to Gatwick, but most of the time you're going to be driving this car around traffic around town where a small, relatively efficient for 20-plus years ago powertrain makes the most sense.
[24:24] that the driving experience of this car is not particularly notable uh steer and handle like any form of sports car. That's not really the purpose of the car in any capacity. The steering is not particularly direct or linear. That
[24:39] again, that's not really the goal. That's not really what you might expect, either. It just uh it does what it needs to do. Um you know, it I would say it drives like a lot of compact cars from Europe from this era, um which is
[24:53] relatively underpowered, you know, kind of slow steering, kind of slow acceleration, nothing particularly amazing to write home about in terms of any component of the driving experience. And even despite it being like this
[25:06] weird, unusual, kind of quirky London taxi, the driving experience portion, of tightness up here, the driving experience portion isn't really a big part of, you know, the the quirkiness of this car. I will say it's it's a
[25:21] this car. I will say it's it's a relatively smooth ride. Um I'm used to riding in Ford Crown Victorias and other American taxis that have been beat up relatively low mileage. Obviously, left-hand drive probably never really
[25:35] sort of a novelty car. And so, it probably hasn't had time for the suspension to really get worn or abused. Uh and so, it feels surprisingly good. Interestingly, despite its height, it definitely feels more compact car
[25:49] than SUV. Because the ground clearance is relatively low, it's a car that stays near the ground. Despite the height, you don't really feel like you're tall, necessarily. And because of the relatively short size, the overall
[26:02] doesn't have like a big car feel to it. It feels surprisingly nice and tidy. And people I have kids I meet people who say, "I really want to own a London desirable car. I think it's neat, it's cool, it's an icon. I think the thing
[26:17] that would really annoy Americans about this car is specifically the powertrain. The your freeways are going to be tough. Around town is not even really the best. It is just not a particularly strong, in any sense of the term, muscular or
[26:32] excitable powertrain. That's just not what it's for. And so, that's the 2005 what it's for. And so, that's the 2005 LTI TX2, the London taxi. This is quirky
[26:44] and cool. And it's an icon of London, sort of like Big Ben and double-decker sort of like Big Ben and double-decker buses and endless excessive regulations. And now you know all of its quirks and features thanks to the Petersen Museum.
[26:59] Anyway, now it's time to give the London taxi a Doug score. 100, which puts the London taxi here against some similar cars. Although,
[27:13] similar to the London taxi, so I just sort of rounded up practical cars from its era. The London taxi is way behind most on the weekend scores, earning low marks for acceleration, handling, and definitely styling. But, it's almost
[27:26] unbeatable in the daily categories and with good reason. This is a wonderfully with good reason. This is a wonderfully purpose-built car for real practical use in one of the most demanding jobs a car can do.