New Prius

If you haven't seen my album of current taxis, it's one of those things I've been excited about. Since I've taken a picture of each cab currently in service the excitement has faded, but the new Toyota Prius was the most recent car that I hadn't taken a good picture of. This one is a little better replacement of the last picture I had on file.

You might also want to check out my other photo albums, the taxis of the past I put a lot of effort into, and it brought me much joy in finding so many of the models that have gone into and out of service, as well as the colors, they weren't always yellow here.

Today's cabs in slides

Jetta TDI Wagon!!

Just a few days ago I was thinking about the alternative taxi choices. If a driver does decide to buy their cab the decisions can be daunting. While saving half your daily gas costs when buying a hybrid or diesel, questions still come quickly about weather these smaller cars can do everything that the Crown Victoria can.

Major sticking points:

• Durability
• Trunk space
• Passenger space
• Safety

Ford has supposedly proven itself durable, and if not that at least it is cheap to fix. On the other hand a hybrid engine might cost more to fix, and so would a diesel, but the money saved in gasoline might outweigh the maintenance. The Ford Escape is top heavy, a small S.U.V. that may tip over in strong evasive maneuvers. It's trunk space is pretty good, preferred by hotels over the Crown Victoria, but the legroom for the passengers is debatable. Looking at all the hybrid choices in cars, the trunk room is a joke, space is cut practically in half. The only hybrid taxi choice that seems to provide lots of trunk space and passenger space is the Toyota Highlander, a medium size S.U.V. with some intimidating bulges on the exterior design. The Problem with the Highlander though, is it's size may lead it into lots of tings and dings, bruises, and so on. The gas Mileage on it is great in comparison to the Crown Victoria, but for the great price of more than $40,000, you'd expect more.

So I think about the Volkswagen Jetta Diesel. The car is the size of a Toyota Corolla, but the trunk space is surprisingly large. The major benefit of Diesel is it doesn't take up valuable trunk space, and since diesel is not a new technology the chances are greater for a long lasting vehicle I would think. I fantasized about driving around that great car and spending less than 15 dollars a day on gas, rather than 35. And still, I wondered, would there be enough trunk space? perhaps having less room for passengers wouldn't be such a bad thing, but a larger trunk is absolutely necessary. And just days later, I saw the Jetta Wagon as a taxi.

The Hybrid Civic Taxi-

This was like my holy grail or some other Indiana Jones analogy. I believe there is only one, one Honda Civic taxi out of more than 13,000 yellow cabs in New York City. For months I have been hoping to see it while at the same time having my camera ready. It has been very elusive until yesterday.



In related news, Honda plans to sell the insight, a hybrid very similar, but smaller and cheaper than the Prius, by this spring. I'll keep tabs on weather the model will be approved as a yellow cab by the T&LC. The Toyota Prius, which is just gaining unstoppable momentum with a broad spectrum of buyers including more than a handful of taxi drivers, will also be re-designed by this spring. The new Insight won't break any records with Miles to the gallon ratings, but the new Prius will get 50 highway, and 49 city. And also this spring, Ford will sell a hybrid version of the Fusion. It will better the Toyota Camry in Mile to the gallon ratings. Being that Ford has been badge of choice by almost every cab company and driver alike, it is sure to be a hit. 

UPDATE: I wouldn't be surprised if there are now a few more Honda Civic hybrid taxis.

Latest N.Y.C. taxi-

Volkswagen Jetta Clean Diesel:

On the Sunday shift I was shocked to finally see the Jetta taxi. This might have been the first day of the first Jetta's hard life as a taxi. I have been waiting in anticipation for such a day, but now after seeing the car, it looks way too small to carry out the hard life of a taxi. Not to mention that being both German and cheap might make the maintenance costly and frequent. But it is a great idea for a civilian life, providing an mpg rating competitive with the best hybrids.

Updated shot- 

Newest New York City taxi model:

Tada, the Chevy Malibu Hybrid-

Updated Image (as of january 2009)-

Complete with the "Greenyc" sticker on the C pillar, along with countless other stickers from its garage. 

All Hybrid taxis in New York City get the "Greenyc" sticker, a badge of honor and intelligence showing the public that very soon, New York's taxis and even our car services will be eating less gas per mile, and less gas per minute while idling. 

But while we're investing in a different taxi, why don't we do it right? 

Of all the cleaner vehicles to choose from, the Chevy Malibu has the second worst city gas mileage. The only car with lower M.P.G. on the approved list is the Saturn Vue Hybrid Sport Utility vehicle; both vehicles are made by General Motors. Now, it is wonderful that General Motors has finally joined the band wagon, and is now mass producing hybrid vehicles, these vehicles are significantly reducing our "Dependence on Oil", but still, G.M. should be making even more fuel efficient vehicles than they already are.

Toyota has the most hybrid models. These models are exceptional in their gas consumption in the City, using the battery to power the car at low speeds and while idling. Toyota's technology has also been transferred over to the Nissan Altima hybrid, which gets the second best gas mileage only bested by the tiny Toyota Prius. 

 

The Toyota Highlander S.U.V. hybrid taxi

The Highlander is the biggest hybrid taxi available. And even with four wheel drive it has a comparable M.P.G. rating to the midsize sedan Chevy Malibu. 

And let's not forget the fabulous job Ford has done at making an affordable and durable Ford Escape Hybrid, which gets 34 M.P.G. in the city, making it 3rd best rated Mileage in T&LC approved taxicabs. Its S.U.V. character gives it more trunk room than the Crown Victoria, a higher commanding view of the road, suitable legroom, and easy exit and entry for passengers. The detriments though are a small width providing less ass room for passengers.

Want to see all the New York City Taxis? Click the link below (NYC taxi models) to see all the blogs posted of each taxi.

Taxi Models: Present

A: The Hybrids:

Lexus RX 400h (26 mpg city)

There was an article somewhere on how one of the Lexus driver/owners had a completely clean driving record even after driving for 30 years, impressive.

Toyota Highlander hybrid (4 wheel drive, 27 mpg city)

Toyota Highlander hybrid (model years 01' to 07')

Toyota Prius (48 mpg city)

Toyota Camry hybrid (33 mpg city)

Ford Escape hybrid (2 wheel drive, 34 mpg city)

The best bang for the buck, the Escape is sweeping the city with more than 1,000 vehicles both privately driven and also, owned by taxi fleets.

Ford Escape hybrid (model years 01' to 07')

Nissan Altima hybrid (35 mpg city)

This car has absolutely no advertising. The only way people learn there is a Nissan hybrid is through word of mouth. Nissan is actually borrowing hybrid technology from Toyota. The Altima is second only to the Toyota Prius in best city gas mileage on the approved T&LC list. Fleets are already starting to purchase the car.

For more info: treehugger.com

UPDATE: Nissan has agreed to supply extra numbers of Altima hybrids as New York taxicabs, and very recently the NYPD has just approved them for use as police patrol cars.

Honda Civic Hybrid

There are only between one and three Honda Civic hybrid taxis in New York. It has less legroom, higher gas mileage, and relatively similar if less trunk room than the environmental front runner, the Toyota Prius.

The Civic is no longer on the approved TLC list.

B: Wheelchair Accessible Taxis:

07' Dodge Caravan: Eclipse Mobility

Ford Freestar

The Ford Freestar was the first of New York's wheelchair accessible cabs. Occasionally I see one still being used so there may be one, or maybe a small handful left on the streets. They are no longer on the approved taxi list. Now only the Dodge Caravan and the Toyota Sienna can be used with wheelchair kits. The Chevy Uplander was the second car to be approved after the Ford Freestar, but in short time it was taken off the approved list, and for some odd reason, there are no Chevy Uplanders on the city streets today as taxicabs.

Toyota Sienna: Freedom Motors Kneelvan

C: Regular Taxis:

Ford Crown Victoria Stretch

For the past 4 years or so all Crown Victoria NYC taxis have had extended rear doors

Toyota Sienna

Honda Odyssey

Being phased out by the Taxi and Limousine Commission

Honda Odyssey (model years 99' to 04')

Ford Explorer (circa 06')

The Explorer is no longer on the list of approved taxi vehicles, but there are two remaining. When there time as taxis expire, their owner/drivers will probably replace them with the new approved Lexus Hybrid RX400h.