[1100D]

Originally Posted by Rtech

For all the Fiat lovers, I'd say look at the bright side - you will soon have a pool of 55,000 padmini's to scrounge bits and pieces off! And dirt cheap as well.

Nope. Fiat lovers actually support the presence of the Vendors who produce spare parts for these cars. However spares taken directly from these cars are not recommended as they undergo abuse and sometimes tinkered wrongly with.

However, there are many Fiats with many a loving private owner.

[skunk]

I have never been to India, but I must go now - before the Premiers start disappearing from Mumbai streets. I have to ride in one before I croak, and I will pick the cabbie with the ugliest hubcaps just for a laugh.

[Ram]

Anybody Wonder why Fiats were modded and raced/rallyed but Ambassadors weren't?

Early Fiats were built Continental European style -- free revving engines, wishbone and coil-spring independent front suspension (Ambys had torsion bar fronts). Fiats had antiroll bar on the rear axle, rubber-bulb windscreen washer, good power to weight ratio. Unfortunately Padmini workmanship deteriorated over the years.

In contrast, Ambassador was always bad -- as bad as the original Morris Oxford/Cowley, unreliable Lucas electrics, unreliable SU dashpot carb.

The Bombay monsoon would flood low lying areas like King's Circle. I remember as a kid that Ambys would easily stall while Fiats soldiered on. No wonder all taxis were Fiats. There were a few "Chhoti-Taxi" Ambys but they didn't quite click with Bombay cabbies.

Ram

[President]

Amit, I surely agree with you.
The Logan will be a real good workhorse to replace the dilipidated Padmini Taxis of today.

[musicmanaman]

This is good development if it happens, and a city like Kolkata would also benifit a lot if such a thing happens here. Kolkata is such a congested city and over that we have the biggest cabs (Amby's) which rattle to hell and a very polluting. It would be fantastic if Muruti becomes cab's of the nation, and wagon r has all the right thing's going for it to become a cab, to add to the wish list, may all cab's have AC running.

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

Its time to say bye bye to the good old Premier Padminis used as Taxis on the road in Mumbai very soon its place is going to be taken up by the maruti wagon-r.



Source:
WagonR could be the new Mumbai taxi- Hindustan Times

i saw it in news they were replacing it with Esteem, this is new news anyways anything is better than the padmini.

[salilpawar1]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Heres a 1963 Fiat 1100 Super Select I chased and flagged down yesterday. After all these years, the car still had most of its original fittings, incuding scratchless bumpers (!) covered in antirust, and the horizontal needle speedo. Its quite obvious seeing the lines of the car that shes been well looked after. The driver said that there are still 3 such cars plying Bombays streets, and I left thoroughly impressed!

I have a pic of a 1100D taxi. It is parked a few blocks away from my house. Yesterday, I saw a President Taxi too (MMT 4508) !

[vinod_nookala]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Looking at it from a durability point of view, is the WagonR built to take the abuse that a average cab endures? Whatever people say about Indicabs, IMO they have a lot going for their durability.

Abusing Suzukis have historically lead to a lot of body damage in the form of dents/scrapes/knocks etc and rattles from every conceivable location!

Also, I would be worried about crash protection for passengers although this may just be a unreasonable bias. I always look at the WagonR as being a tinny 'toy' car as opposed to the tank-like build (not quality!) of the Indica.

Wagon R may not be ideal for taxi use, first of all it is a 4 seater, not practical in india especially in taxi segment, also try loading wagon r and it is almost on its rear bump stops.... Indica on the other hand is better load carrier and doesnt bottom out as much as wagon R. i have no idea about the costing what taxi union must be looking at but an estate like indigo marrina in CNG version would be ideal as it has lot of space for luggage & passengers.. what say???

[amtak]

Wagon R is now a 5 seater. I personally feel that Versa is a better buy as a Taxi.

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by amtak

Wagon R is now a 5 seater. I personally feel that Versa is a better buy as a Taxi.

yeah good idea actually.

[mithun]

Originally Posted by amtak

Wagon R is now a 5 seater. I personally feel that Versa is a better buy as a Taxi.

But there is no space to accommodate 5 people. The rear split seats in oldie is now bench seat. Nothing more !

[Mpower]

After a state government order, several cabbies have agreed on taking their 25-year-old Fiat Premier Padminis off the roads, and have even decided on a replacement- the Mahindra Logan. It’s spacious, it’s affordable and it’s already being used by private AC cab services in the city.

But there’s one problem: the manufacturer refuses to let its cars be used as black-and-yellow cabs.

"Around 250 taximen are ready to buy the Logan. But whether or not it can be coloured black and yellow is being discussed with the Regional Office now," said Sunil Sathye, secretary of the Mumbai Taxi Chalak Malak Sena, who recently requested Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd to supply the cars.

The company refused to supply the cars for use as black-and-yellow cabs "taking their retail market into consideration", but said they would be more than happy to supply the Logan for AC cab services.

Among the options were the Maruti Omni, 800, Alto, Wagon R, and the Hyundai Santro. "But the Omni does not have a bonnet and could be risky if there is an accident. No other small car has luggage space, which is why we are looking for sedans," said Chandrakant Lohar, general secretary of the union.

"Cars like [SX4 Hyundai Accent and Ford Ikon are out of our budget. The Logan fits the bill, so we hope to sort out the issue with the manufacturer."

Meanwhile, taxi owners have filed a PIL seeking relief from the government. "We have asked for relief from professional tax and in toll and octroi for the cars so that they could be made cheaper," said Anthony Quodros, head of the Mumbai Taximen’s Union.

A government-appointed committee has recorded statements from all taximen and will give their reply on January 8

source: ET Carmaker refuses to reduce its brand to black-yellow cab- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

[Parm]

Omni and Versa are very good for usage as taxis because of their space, why go for sedan/saloon cars when you can have MPV (multi purpose vehicle) of small compact size of omni and versa?

i wonder who conducts the survey to judge the vehicle to be used as a taxi?

Honda has a policy as not to allow their vehicles to be used as taxis. in dubai honda turned downed a big order for accord to be used as taxis. toyota just belive in numbers sold, dont care how their vehicles are used!

cheers:

[1100D]

This is a perfect opportunity for Tata. All they need to do is, introduce the Indigo Vista, then allow the Indigo's to be used as black and yellow. Even if they come with a NA engine and manual windows, the pricing will be just perfect for the cabbie.

[ahuja365]

How about the getz being a taxi as the i20 has arrived and the getz is a decent car taking into acoount luggage space and passenger space.It is definately safer than the wagon r.It is also cheaper than what it used to be and hyundai can get much needed numbers for the car as it had made lots of investment to localise the cars and thus recover some of that money.