Tank

Lore & Background

In the Saints Row universe, the Tank is less a military surplus acquisition and more a testament to the franchise's core joke: the Saints are criminals, but they are criminals with a garage that rivals a national defense depot. The vehicle's presence in the roster underscores a running gag across the series—Saints Row City (and later, the broader world) is a sandbox where the line between a street gang and a small army is just a purchase menu away.

In Saints Row: The Third, the Tank fits into a roster that already includes everything from a lawnmower to a rocket-powered car, and its inclusion is played for both practicality and spectacle. The player can sit in the driver's seat of a multi-ton armored vehicle, peel out of a dealership lot, and mow through a police blockade while a pop-punk track plays over the radio. The vehicle's slow handling is a deliberate design choice that trades the thrill of high-speed chases for the satisfaction of watching enemy vehicles crumple around the Tank's hull.

In Saints Row IV, the sci-fi framing elevates the Tank from a grounded military asset to a piece of alien-era hardware, consistent with the game's blend of intergalactic spectacle and street-level mayhem. The vehicle's role remains the same—be the thing that does not stop moving when everything else is exploding—but the surrounding context shifts from urban crime to interdimensional warfare, and the Tank's boxy silhouette reads as equally at home in a St. Mark's alley or a UES base corridor.

In Their Own Story

The engine coughs twice, then roars to life with a sound like a freight train clearing a tunnel. Through the slit of the armored window, the Saints' crew watches a line of police cruisers and two SWAT vans wall off the intersection. Nobody in the back seat says anything. Nobody has to. The driver eases the Tank forward, and the first cruiser doesn't so much crash as get *relocated*—folded against a lamppost like a paper bag. The radio crackles to life, someone's playlist kicks in, and the Tank rolls on, slow and inevitable, while the city skyline blurs past in a smear of neon and smoke. Somewhere ahead, a rival gang is about to learn that 'armored vehicle' and 'getaway car' are the same thing when you're the Saint.

Reader's Guide

Saints Row: The Third: The Tank is available as a purchasable vehicle in the game's expansive garage roster. It is one of the larger, slower options, trading top speed for a high durability pool that shrugs off sustained gunfire and collisions. It can be obtained through the in-game vehicle purchase system and, in some cases, through mission rewards or challenges. Its stats favor survivability: it takes a significant amount of damage before being destroyed, making it a popular choice for players who prefer to drive through police roadblocks rather than dodge them. The full customization suite applies—paint colors, wraps, and accessory slots—so a military tank can wear a polka-dot wrap and a spoiler if the player insists.

Saints Row IV / Re-Elected: Armored and tank-class vehicles remain in the roster, now framed within the game's sci-fi setting. The Tank's role is similar—high armor, low speed, high intimidation—but the surrounding vehicle lineup shifts toward alien-tech and experimental designs. The Tank reads as a grounded, human-made counterpoint to the more fantastical options, and its customization options stay consistent with the series' over-the-top aesthetic.

Aesthetic role: Across both entries, the Tank is the franchise's answer to the question 'what if the Saints just… didn't care about being quiet?' It is the vehicle you pick when the mission is less about elegance and more about making a very loud, very metal statement. Pair it with a loud paint job and a ridiculous accessory, and it becomes the Saints in a single, rolling silhouette.

Did You Know?

• The Saints Row franchise is known for including an unusually wide range of vehicle types in a single game, and the Tank is one of the more extreme examples of that range sitting next to a lawnmower or a rocket-powered ca
• The Tank's slow handling is a deliberate design trade-off: players who choose it are opting for a vehicle that can absorb a great deal of punishment in exchange for giving up the high-speed chase gameplay that defines mu
• In Saints Row IV, the franchise's vehicle roster is reframed by its sci-fi setting, but grounded, human-made armored vehicles like the Tank remain available as a contrast to the alien-tech options.
• The Saints Row customization system applies the same paint, wrap, and accessory options to a multi-ton armored tank as it does to a compact sports car, reinforcing the series' commitment to making every vehicle a persona