RE: SOTW: Lada Niva Cossack

[anything fast]

DanGPR said:

Interesting to see so much love for the little Lada.

Let's see peoples opinion on the 'Asia Rocsta', a friend had one, I thought it was tragic.

NO NO NO NO, this is one of the worst cars ever made, please do not post pictures of such a worthless POS like this again, the Lada is like a Range Rover Sport compared to this junk on wheels..

[Munich]

Love these things. I first saw one while on a skiing holiday in Yugoslavia back the late 1980's.

[Munich]

DanGPR said:

Interesting to see so much love for the little Lada.

Let's see peoples opinion on the 'Asia Rocsta', a friend had one, I thought it was tragic.

Yeah, pretty tragic.

[prand]

thewheelman said:

As i already said, a mate of mine did as a first car, a pile of st! They were cheap for a reason.

I had one, it was only 4 years old, but felt like a 30 year old car once you got to know it. Build quality was awful and gave random reliability. It would make this car a very expensive and frustrating ownership experience, even with the good off roading ability.

Fittings and trim were often screwed right into the bodywork which would rust and fall out. The steel was made of some Soviet era cheese. People think "Russian car - built like a tank for horrible roads and harsh winters" but you'd have been better off with a 70's era Alfa.

Worst of all was the availability of parts, which I had to order quite a few (head gasket & bolts, front calipers which had seized, and other bits & bobs, which I found a source in France, I couldn't find any in the UK. Things might have changed now with the Internet but I doubt it.

Was fun when it worked. The biggest thing that wound me up was the latch on the quarterlights. They were stuck diectly on teh glass and whatever I did to stick them back, they would always fall off.

All in all this wouldn't be worth buying unless I suppose you are a good mechanic and - £900 seems expensive too!

[scholesy]

I had one of these a couple of years ago, simply amazing off road and was nice and simple to work on, it just rusted away though, which was a shame, as for its off roading ability, I had a Suzuki SJ before it and a defender 90 afterwards, it trounced both of them off road, it weighed as little as the suzuki, but had a better 4wd and suspension system, equalling that of the landie. In summary, one of the best offroaders I have ever owned, and definitely the best ruster I have owned!

[radlet6]

I like the way the ad says 'some rust'. They came with rust as standard.

I can't believe one of these is still running after 20 years. I thought all UK models had turned to ferrous oxide a decade ago.

[martynr]

Denorth said:

standard since mid 90s. There is also another version - GMNiva, completely new car designed with GM. So the have new GMNiva and different variants fo old Niva produced at the same time.

I am sure wikipedia has someting about it

Yes there was a stretched Niva available from manufacture in late 1990's VAZ 2131

http://kamazexport.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/...

[Schnellmann]

Interesting choice of SOTW. I have no experience of the car but thought on seeing the picture and noting it was a Lada that it would be heaped with abuse. But apparently from those that have owned it, it seems to be a pretty good car (in the right environment). One of the things I like most about the forums is having one's own prejudices challenged and learning something new.

[NHK244V]

The only older Lada i'd own, actually i do, oops.
A tough old beast, they would have lasted better if they had a seperate chassis IMHO rather food off road if you have the right tyres and griver

[martynr]

bob1179 said:

I can usually spot several of these outside my apartment window on a daily basis, plus loads of Samaras, Sputniks, Volgas and Rivas.

I'm in Russia though so it's probably cheating! As many have said, the old Niva is pretty dire on road, but great fun off road! They also start when it's really cold in winter which helps. Our diesel Ford Rangers won't even turn over when the temperature drops below -25C due to the fuel waxing up, the Lada fires up straight away!

Because Niva has petrol engine and your Ford is diesel, have you heard anything about winter diesel...

You should have bought Primera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOQw0ReQwiw

[martynr]

bob1179 said:

I can usually spot several of these outside my apartment window on a daily basis, plus loads of Samaras, Sputniks, Volgas and Rivas.

I'm in Russia though so it's probably cheating! As many have said, the old Niva is pretty dire on road, but great fun off road! They also start when it's really cold in winter which helps. Our diesel Ford Rangers won't even turn over when the temperature drops below -25C due to the fuel waxing up, the Lada fires up straight away!

Because Niva has petrol engine and your Ford is diesel, have you heard anything about winter diesel...

You should have bought Primera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOQw0ReQwiw

[SammyW]

Would be a laugh as a winter hack, i'm sure it would embarrass a few X5s and RRS on 20" wheels.

[mad4amanda]

volks al said:

Whats is the Crank handle reference about in the original ad? Surely it has a starter motor too?

yes they came with a starting handle in the tool kit and a pump like a bicycle pump oh and tyre levers!

Few more things I did to/with mine that Ive remembered :
Daihatsu fourtrack wheels and tyres front and rear fitted, just! with a lift kit for front and rear springs from grayston to stop it fouling on steering lock.
Cibe oscars with 100w bulbs on the std tube bull bar plus 100w headlight bulbs .
Peco or janspeed exhaust system (yes reallY)
front seats replaced from an Alfa I think.
extra side repeaters to replace the Lada badges on rear side wing.
there was a circle each side in the boot you could cut out and fit clarion 6371 speakers in exactly and they sounded fab!
it needed an alarm as it kept getting broken into due to the quarter lights being so naff so I fitted a moss 735!
weber 32/34 dmtl conversion for autochoke on a cavalier solved the carb problem with different jets ( still have a spare carb in the bottom of the tool box cabinet brand new.)
4 wheel wheelspin coming out of the roundabout from 7 mile lane after the new clutch but before the wider wheels.
offroading in devon and driving it in the sea! No wonder it rusted!
Bringing my newborn son home from hospital he is 21 this year!
think the reg was G938GKN or M bought from shield motor group in Tonbridge sold privately in maidstone, saw it about 3 years later still with the big wheels on , looking back it was heavy to drive espacially with those wheels on and had some gear noise but we drove it to the west country from kent and the lakes and scotland so it cant have been that uncomfortable. I only remember replacing the clutch and disi cap and rotor arm as it sheared off and went through the cap and the carb issues nothing else failed although I serviced it regularly at work.

And yes it was good off road drove across many farms in kent greenlaning in kent on the pilgrims way and the west country and even a bit in peters pit wouldham the old AWDC venue. It was good off road because of the light weight plus coil spring suspension and the ability to lock the centre diff and low range gear set.

Edited by mad4amanda on Sunday 25th September 13:54

Edited by mad4amanda on Sunday 25th September 14:26

[Veeayt]

They still being made here in Kazakhstan with many improvements.

[radlet6]

Veeayt said:

They still being made here in Kazakhstan with many improvements.

Well that wouldn't be difficult.

[was8v]

This one will be straight back to Russia at that price. They are hoovering them (and Japanese pickups) up from Western Europe and taking them back.

That's why theres none left in the UK, not because they are rusty but because they are worth ££££ back in the motherland.

Get in quick, buy this for £600 then drive to St. Petersburg and have a free holiday on the proceeds.

[Denorth]

was8v said:

This one will be straight back to Russia at that price. They are hoovering them (and Japanese pickups) up from Western Europe and taking them back.

That's why theres none left in the UK, not because they are rusty but because they are worth ££££ back in the motherland.

Get in quick, buy this for £600 then drive to St. Petersburg and have a free holiday on the proceeds.

it won't. They change customs fees and it would cost maybe $3-4K to make customs clearance. I think current price for a new one in Russia is around $8-10K. and there are plenty of them (comparing to Defender price there - around $57K) In total it was almost 2mil of them produced over 30 years.

So it will rust away here in UK.

[pthelazyjourno]

thewheelman said:

Ah, name calling from the troll himself. Funny how you moan about pretty much every car on every thread, yet call names when someone doesn't like a Lada that you like. Get a life, your post count suggests you should get a job.

How old are you?

[Dimski]

rockymount said:

Oh and for all those who may have had a strenuous day, posting, replying, posting again and re-replying etc., thought you might be interested in building one of these! ;

http://lada2siberia.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/ni...



(n.b. even more relaxing and therapeutic if built whilst listening to Harp Music - Andreas Vollenweider “White Winds” anyone ?)

I'm really tempted to hide in my office and do just that today instead of, you know, work.

[dtrump]

thewheelman......you fail at life