how bad are ex-taxis really? they seem to have all been maintained

>>15671755
Is he Indian? If not, don't buy.

You'll get a 12 year old commodore falcon Magna camry for that much with less than 200k km which will still have another 12 years in it of shit box motoring.

>>15671755
from what I've read, Taxi companies dont maintain cars, they literally take out old parts and put in brand new OEM parts
from what I've read, they will actually be 90% okay and feel normal
but that last 10% are parts that will just ruin the drive of the car and will need replacing soon

good thing with the falcons are that the I6 engine is basically bulletproof.... but 500,000km's is a long way

you are damn right about the interior though

think about everything from 20y/o's puking to girls on their periods to much... much worse from stories I've heard

strip EVERYTHING that could possibly soak up a liquid

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>>15671755
Most of them still have plenty of life in them tbqh. 750,000 would be the upper limit though breh.

And taxi drivers cant afford to have poor running cars. Do you realise how many complaints they get if their car is noisy or clunky? Everyone has the internet on their phone and tracy grimshaw on speed dial.

It is literally their livelihood and govrrment inspections ever year. Just give it a GOOD test drive. Any smoke from exhaust when engine is warm then walk away.

Fg's are known for flogging out rear diff bushes. You will hear and feel the clunk upon acceleration.

Also the zf 6 speed auto can suffer what they call the "zf milkshake". An aftermarket tranny cooler can prevent this, if it doesn't already have one.

FG also features infinitely variable cam timing. If you put premium fuel in it changes the engine mapping. Expect 215kw+ from 98octane. 195kw from 91.

Worst case it dies in 2 years. Gives you plenty of time to save for a G6

>>15671755
Unless the engine was rebuilt and the tranny has been changed, I wouldn't really hope for a lot of good. The engines are usually extremely high on mileage and strained to hell from sitting in the traffic jams. So are the transmissions.

Something that has been doing motorway airport transfers all its life, yes.

Something that has been idling in traffic all its life, no no no.

I wouldn't take the risk unless you know the owner well.

>>15671755
dont do it. been there: done that especially ones that have been owned by imigrants. here is a fact for you: all taxi drivers are tight arses. if the car aint rolling, it aint earning. which means for you, most of the fuses will have to be replaced and most eletrical components. expect backyard engineering on complete car. that also goes for services as well. only buy taxi as parts. ex service vehicles (cop cars, fire cheifs, hearses) are a different matter. they may have been driven hard (cops) but they all get a FULL service and have service history to go with it.

All this bullshit about taxi drivers maintaining their cars...yehnah. I used to take an old ex taxi I was using directly to a place in Alexandria where taxi drivers took their cars to be serviced.
They were pretty cheap with things. They told me a lot of these old cars run without a thermostat. That's fukken dumb.

Anyway taxis have a life of 5 years in NSW from when they are new. So they do roughly 100 000 kays every year they're used as a taxi.

>>15672687
This is it.
They just do whatever it takes to get the thing back on the road

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Can I post ITT? I drove nightshift taxis from 2013-2015. Drove a variety of fleet and privately owned vehicles, mainly falcons.

Fleet vehicles are owned by Ahmed and driven by Sanjeet. As >>15672687 said: if it's not rolling, it's not earning. Once the taxi is approaching its 5 or 8 year age liimt, they just stop spending money on it, and start rotating out any good parts on the car to their other, newer taxis. That's also the onyl reason why Jamal drives an ex taxi, all his mates have taxis and he gets cheap parts.

If you're looking at AU-FG series falcons, here are some specific wear points that always go:
>front ball joints
>diff bushes, blade bushes, and rubber spring cushions on IRS sedans
>4 speed autos shit the bed every 250k, even with an oil cooler
>drivers seat, turn signal/wiper switch, steering wheel, and shifter go from being gross, to flogged, to unusable especially on fleet cars
>most have been crashed and hastily repaired literally dozens of times, plus you have all the permanent stickers and roof holes drilled if that bothers you

Here in WA, they recently repealed the rule that ex taxis had to go for inspection before they get re-registered as normal cars. So there are some absolute basket cases getting out on the road.

Pic related, one of my taxis.

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>>15672800
oh yeah and I forgot
>the E-gas LPG system is terrible but fixable anywhere but the ecoLPi system scares off mechanics
>tiny boot space on E-gas BA/BF sedans because they raised the boot floor to put the tank in

Overall there are plenty of great shitboxes getting around for 2k, don't fall for the meme of an ex taxi.

>500,000 km

Basically ever single moving part of that car is worn to shit unless it's been replaced. Save a little more and get a preowned normal shitbox with a tenth the mileage.

>murrica
>get in taxi (repainted cop crown vic)
>on the half of the display I can see there are 3 warning lights
>check engine
>tire pressure
>oil
>try not to imagine what others are on that I can't see
>spend the ride praying

>>15672870
don't worry, pajeet knows how to drive

With the way prices are on Commodores and Falcons, you don't need to buy shit-tier taxis to get a bargain. Buying a taxi is probably going to cost more once repairs that need to be done are done.

You can get a GOOD 150,000KM BA Fairmont Ghia for under 3k. BFs aren't that much dearer.

I purchased a BA Ghia 18 months ago for $3500, immaculate interior, great paint.

Nobody wants these cars, everyone has moved away from the large sedan into SUVs or small cars.

I owned a 500,000 km ex taxi VS commodore sedan years ago and (until recently) had a 500,000km VS ute. Both went well but had a lot of rattles. Not like suspension rattles, more like rattles from in the pillars where the steel was probably cracked. Both were really good cars though.

Short answer is only buy an ex-taxi if it's for a temporary shitbox. Don't be some 17 year old space cadet who thinks he's gonna rebuild the engine in his bedroom and bring it back to showroom condition. Just buy it, drive it and as things break on it learn to live without them.

>>15671755
Probably not as bad as an ex-driving school car. My sister owned one and boy was it a bad idea.