Not to be confused with Wrecks.
Beaters are cars in the Grand Theft Auto series with reduced performance, engine problems or mismatched body parts like bumpers and fenders. They are rusted or run down.
Description[]
These cars are old and rusted, but still drivable, albeit with reduced performance. In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, these are actually separate vehicles to their normal counterparts in the game's code, explaining why they cannot be repaired or modified.
The Grand Theft Auto series has not traditionally featured working cars in dilapidated form until GTA San Andreas. Earlier signs of such vehicles are primarily present in Grand Theft Auto III's Hoods Rumpo XL and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City's Gang Burrito (variants of the Rumpo and Burrito, respectively). Both vehicles, which are essentially variants of commercial vehicles, feature multi-colored body panels and paint jobs, as well as graffiti on their sides, but they are both superior in performance over the vehicles they are based on.
In GTA San Andreas the Clover and Tampa appear with mismatched body panels, the Tampa itself featuring lopsided license plates. In addition, damaged variants of the Glendale and Sadler are scattered throughout rural San Andreas, with their body panels dented and irreparable.
In Grand Theft Auto IV, beaters tend to have delayed ignitions, very weak suspensions, weak tires and a tendency to backfire. GTA IV beaters can be partially repaired and repainted, though the weak performances remain.
In Grand Theft Auto V, a few beaters can actually be given more performance-oriented modifications than their undamaged counterparts, making the beater variants more desirable; these include the beater Rusty Rebel, which can be turned into a trophy truck, and the Rat-Loader which can be modified into a high-performance rat rod. However, even with resprays and repairs, any rust, fading, dents and corrosion cannot be removed, unless there is a specific modification that replaces the damaged parts with undamaged ones.
In Grand Theft Auto Online, several beaters were introduced, such as the Technical (and its aqua variant), the Rat Bike, the Tornado Rat Rod and the Wastelander. Despite their unappealing looks, these have much better performances and are highly beneficial to combat hostile NPCs and players and being able to weave through traffic and terrain.
List of Known Beaters[]
3D Universe[]
| Image | Name | Description | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Clover | The Clover features a mismatched front quarter panel on the driver's side, as well as a mismatched passenger door and trunk lid which gives the car the appearance of a poorly maintained muscle car. | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas |
|
Ruined Glendale | A beater version of the Glendale (internally named GLENSHIT), which cannot be repaired or modified. | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas |
|
Ruined Sadler | A beater version of the Sadler (internally named SADLSHIT) that cannot be repaired or modified. | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas |
|
Tampa | It has multiple mismatched body panels, a crooked bumper, and rusty trim, most likely indicating it was put together with spare parts from a junkyard. | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas |
|
Walton | The Walton appears as a dirty, well-used farm or work truck, having permanent dirt, rust around its trim, and a somewhat rusty underside. | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas |
HD Universe[]
| Image | Name | Description | Games |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Beater Dukes | A beater variant of the Dukes with crumpled front fenders, grille, hood and bumpers and a worn and torn interior, yet restorable. | Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Bodhi | The Bodhi featured in GTA V only appears with a rusted appearance, and occasionally has a delayed ignition. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Duneloader | The Duneloader in GTA V features a rusted bodywork and faded paint, and the bed is full of random trash. The vehicle also lacks a tailgate. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
 
|
Emperor | Rusty, dilapidated version of the Emperor. In Grand Theft Auto IV and its episodes, it features two broken lights on the left out of three, peeling paint, and sometimes missing fenders, whereas in Grand Theft Auto V it is merely lightly rusted and with worn paint all over. A snow-covered version exclusive to North Yankton can also be found in the latter game. | Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V |
|
Gang Burrito | A poorly maintained, rusty, modified Burrito, used as a gang vehicle by the Angels of Death in The Lost and Damned. | The Lost and Damned |
|
Injection | The Injection, despite being an old car, features desirable performance and modifications, such as reinforced suspension. The vehicle's body, however, is severely rusted and features a heavily-damaged interior, such as a damaged dashboard. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Journey | The Journey in GTA V only appears with a rusty color and a poorly-maintained interior. Its performance is also underwhelming, although it is because of its type and not because of its worn appearance. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Rat Bike | A Wolfsbane that "spent a decade or two submerged in raw sewage", resulting in a bike with a rusty bodywork and a speedometer with a broken glass case. Despite the worn appearance, its vital components are completely good, having a good performance. | Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Rat-Loader | The Rat-Loader can be considered an even more poorly maintained (and slightly older) variant of the Duneloader. It features rusty rims, faded paint, worn-out, sagging suspension, rusted, crooked, dented (and even missing) bodywork, and the rotting homemade flatbed is full of random trash. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Regina | The Regina in The Lost and Damned always spawns in a beater form. It features a worn out engine, ignition troubles and a tendency to backfire, like other beaters in the game. Therefore, one can assume its performance was much better at some point in time. | The Lost and Damned |
|
Rusty Rebel | The Rebel in GTA V is usually found in a rusty form. It features rusted bodywork, faded paint, and heavily corroded chrome trim. Despite its worn out appearance, rusty Rebels can be given performance modifications unavailable on the standard Rebel, making it more desirable. It is known as "Rusty Rebel" by Southern San Andreas Super Autos. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Sabre rusty | Rusty, dilapidated version of the Sabre. It often features a missing grille, one missing/mismatched tail pipe, missing/broken headlights, or bodywork patched with shoddy spot welding. | Grand Theft Auto IV |
|
Scrap Truck | The Scrap Truck is a poorly mantained Yankee-based truck. It features worn out panels and a wooden bed full of random trash. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Surfer rusty | The beater variant of the Surfer features rusted bodywork, faded paint, and heavily corroded chrome trim. Its performance is even worse than that of the already weak standard Surfer, but makes up for its better ground clearance to sort the uneven terrains and bumpy roads of Blaine County. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
 
|
Tornado | The rusty variant of the Tornado features rusted bodywork, faded paint, heavily corroded chrome trim, slightly detached hood, and under-inflated tires. It does not have as many modifications available for it as the standard Tornado, and often has trouble starting.
The Mariachi version also has a rusty form and is more comparable to the convertible version of the car. |
Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Tornado Rat Rod | A highly-modified, "hotrod" version of the Tornado, having a rusty bodywork. Its engine features rusty cam covers, rusty large velocity stack carburetors and rusty exhaust pipes, but those are not a problem to it, therefore able to give the car an excellent power. | Grand Theft Auto Online |
 
|
Tow Truck | The Tow Truck featured in The Lost and Damned and Grand Theft Auto V is essentially a poorly maintained, rusty variant of the Lost Slamvan. | The Lost and Damned, Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Towtruck | The Yankee-based Towtruck featured in GTA V only appear with a rusty color. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Tractor | Given its rusty appearance and weak engine, it is certain that the Tractor's performance was better at some point in time. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Vigero rusty | Rusty, dilapidated version of the Vigero. Common damage includes missing headlights, windows, mirrors and fenders. The rear windows also appear to be held on with duct tape. | Grand Theft Auto IV |
|
Voodoo rusty | The Voodoo in GTA V can be found in traffic as a beater, but can be upgraded to a Custom variant at Benny's Original Motor Works in Grand Theft Auto Online. It has better performance than its GTA IV counterpart. | Grand Theft Auto V, Grand Theft Auto Online |
|
Yankee | Rusted variant of the Yankee, with a damaged bodywork and rusty color, but also featuring better performance. | The Lost and Damned |
Trivia[]
- In GTA V and GTA Online, some beater vehicles appear to have their radio removed. Despite this, the radio can still be used.
- For an unknown reason, the Mariachi version of the Tornado can be used in offroad races, despite the fact it is not an offroad vehicle. However, the regular Tornado cannot be used.