RE: SOTW: Lada Niva Cossack
Discussion
300bhp/ton said:
thewheelman said:
I always look forward to SOTW, but can't help being disappointed by this one. They weren't very good in their day, & getting whimsical about the car just because it's old & there aren't many left, doesn't change the fact that it was s
t when new, & it's st now.
As for "It was even quite popular in the UK for a while" Err.......no they weren't, not at any point in time.
Urm yes they were, esp in the farming community. And actually, they were very good. 90% of what a Defender of the day could do for something like half the price.t when new, & it's st now. As for "It was even quite popular in the UK for a while" Err.......no they weren't, not at any point in time.
Edited by thewheelman on Friday 23 September 08:20
tload of farms, i can tell you they were a laughing stock. So dream away all you like, all the country types drove Land Rovers or Land Cruisers if they wanted to get jobs done.I used to own one, baby pooh brown it was
On a set of SATS knobblies it was awesome offroad, so much better than my SeriesII LR I had around the same time. It had the best heater of any car I've ever owned, until the summer that was, as you could'nt turn it off
Mechanically brilliant little cars, truly awful on the road above 50mph but great fun none the less, mine died of rust :sad:
On a set of SATS knobblies it was awesome offroad, so much better than my SeriesII LR I had around the same time. It had the best heater of any car I've ever owned, until the summer that was, as you could'nt turn it off
Mechanically brilliant little cars, truly awful on the road above 50mph but great fun none the less, mine died of rust :sad:
thewheelman said:
Nyphur said:
These are absolutely superb offroad
My mate had one as a first car in the early 90's......."superb", if by that you mean slips all over the place & wheelspins on wet grass, then yes, they were superb.Wet grass is a bit like driving on ice. And amazingly, almost all 4x4's are pretty equal on it.
The reason being, most 4x4's transmit power to the drive wheels in exactly the same way..... so it makes no odds who makes it.
It then comes down to tyres - this will be the biggest decider.
The only other things that can make a difference would be full diff lockers (very rare in production 4x4's with only a couple of examples existing really) or a modern advanced off road biased TCS system like Jeep/LR currently use.
So all in all, on the same tyres a Defender would have been just as s
te as your mates Lada given the same situation.
y2blade said:
Colonial said:
Massive respect for these.
Real, no bull off roaders.
this^^^Real, no bull off roaders.
they are bloody superb off-road
I've seen guys in those on Salisbury plain pulling Disco's out of trouble.
300bhp/ton said:
thewheelman said:
Nyphur said:
These are absolutely superb offroad
My mate had one as a first car in the early 90's......."superb", if by that you mean slips all over the place & wheelspins on wet grass, then yes, they were superb.Wet grass is a bit like driving on ice. And amazingly, almost all 4x4's are pretty equal on it.
The reason being, most 4x4's transmit power to the drive wheels in exactly the same way..... so it makes no odds who makes it.
It then comes down to tyres - this will be the biggest decider.
The only other things that can make a difference would be full diff lockers (very rare in production 4x4's with only a couple of examples existing really) or a modern advanced off road biased TCS system like Jeep/LR currently use.
So all in all, on the same tyres a Defender would have been just as s
te as your mates Lada given the same situation.tbox Lada as i did on my Defender, & i had no problems what so ever. I was for ever pulling his stbox out of situations that my Defender just went through.I think this is a pretty cool SOTW and anyone wanting a winter hack, then this is ideal.
I'd have seriously bought one last year could I have found one for sale (bought a Jeep instead).
A bit crude and very rugged, but exactly what a 4x4 should be. They have a pretty good suspension setup as standard and all the other off road trimmings.
I think some parts can be a bugger to get these days and rust is certainly an issue. But they are as good as ever for a compact, lightweight off roader.
You can even by them new still, albeit LHD only: http://www.markkey.co.uk/
I'd have seriously bought one last year could I have found one for sale (bought a Jeep instead).
A bit crude and very rugged, but exactly what a 4x4 should be. They have a pretty good suspension setup as standard and all the other off road trimmings.
I think some parts can be a bugger to get these days and rust is certainly an issue. But they are as good as ever for a compact, lightweight off roader.
You can even by them new still, albeit LHD only: http://www.markkey.co.uk/
thewheelman said:
God.....all the dreamers are out today, "better than a Land Rover" hahahahahahahahaha, oh fk me, that cracks me up. A new Fiat Panda is better off road than the Lada stbox.
have a nice weekend k me, that cracks me up. A new Fiat Panda is better off road than the Lada stbox. 
btw
I agree with you about the new Panda 4x4
they are bloody good little cars boobles said:
To be fair, the only reason why the majority of 4X4's get stuck is because of the way they are driven off road. 9 times out of 10, it's the driver at fault & not the vehicle.
Very true. Getting out of a particularly bad Glastonbury, my slow and steady Mondeo drove past 2 Suzuki off-roaders, both sunk to the diffs.
And the Niva went places the army boys wouldn't take their Land Rovers.
y2blade said:
thewheelman said:
God.....all the dreamers are out today, "better than a Land Rover" hahahahahahahahaha, oh fk me, that cracks me up. A new Fiat Panda is better off road than the Lada stbox.
have a nice weekend k me, that cracks me up. A new Fiat Panda is better off road than the Lada stbox. btw
I agree with you about the new Panda 4x4
they are bloody good little cars h on pretty much every thread, yet love the Lada stbox. Owned one? Hmmmm didn't think so. 
thewheelman said:
Yeah, coming from Gloucestershire, where there are a stload of farms, i can tell you they were a laughing stock. So dream away all you like, all the country types drove Land Rovers or Land Cruisers if they wanted to get jobs done.
Well you see, that's funny as I grew up on a farm too. And guess what.... yep, that's right a Niva tload of farms, i can tell you they were a laughing stock. So dream away all you like, all the country types drove Land Rovers or Land Cruisers if they wanted to get jobs done.
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