RE: Dacia Duster - modern day Lada Niva? PH Blog

[ian2144]

dsuk said:

Have they sorted out the rust from the factory in India yet?

I'm fairly sure the rust proofing is hand applied.

As far as I'm aware, the rust issue is no longer a problem. Now they are being built in their home country Romania..

[300bhp/ton]

marlons69 said:

Not True; I certainly remember it as the Niva. Do a google image search and you'll find loads of images of 80's &90's RHD UK models with Niva badges - including Niva Cossacks, which was a UK dealer model.

lol, maybe re-read what I posted. I said nobody knows them as a "Lada 4x4" in the UK

I know they are Niva's and Cossacks. We had one on the farm, bloody brilliant it was too.

[300bhp/ton]

FWDRacer said:

The Duster is breath of fresh air in an automotive world sold on glitz and bllox. As for it not being able to "Rock Crawl"... Seriously. When are you realistically going to drive in those conditions. I'm sure a Duster will adequately see off a pot-holed farm track.

Basic Model. Steelies. 4WD. Screw the Aircon, are wind down windows an option?

Edited by FWDRacer on Friday 21st April 09:23

I'm sure the phrase 'rock-crawl' was probably misleading in the article.

As to many "rock crawling" is an American thing, such as in Moab..



Suspension travel & flex are vital, as are good approach/departure/breakover angles. And traction systems such as locking diffs.



That said, terrain across the UK is highly varied and plenty of 'green lanes' are very rocky. Just a different kind to the USA.




This picture highlights that you need good approach angles and that big plastic bumpers are a no no on any proper capable 4x4.

In fact a stock Disco 1 bumper would be ripped off or badly damaged doing stuff like this. The Duster, no hope at all. You'd probably write the vehicle off due to the amount of damage.


And lets not get carried away, this is not a pay and play site. This is a green lane... i.e. it's a public road. You need a driving license and insurance with a road legal vehicle to drive along it.

[DBSV8]

unfortunately had to drive Lada Nivas as company vehicles in Siberia for several years !!

For the most part they are light weight , will tend to float over swamps rough terrain / soft sand etc.

Terribly unreliable , not surprising as the design did not change from 1977 !!- 2015 , The biggest down side was crash protection , they would open like a baked bean can in an accident ....no airbags ABS etc.. had to go on scene to 5 fatal's with this type of vehicle . Unsurprisingly the company soon upgraded and sold of their fleet of Nivas
interestingly apart from short wheel base 2 door versions ( Company opted for 4 door version ) , they did make a LWB version ......kind of executive model , exactly the same , although it was 12" longer in the rear .....presumably to cater for big Russians !!

. Worst memory was driving 120km at -45c along an ice road , even though kitted up with thermal gear , there are holes under the dash which let a cold draft blow around your feet , by the time I arrived feet werer sodding frozen !!

[dapprman]

dsuk said:

Have they sorted out the rust from the factory in India yet?

I'm fairly sure the rust proofing is hand applied.

Fixed in 2013 by shifting RHD coonsrtuction to either Romania or Russia (can't remember which) where the LHD models are built. No problems reported since then.

[LandRoverManiac]

The Crack Fox said:

I don't get the appeal of this. Never have. I've done the Land Rover experience thing a few times and still don't get the excitement. The more the instructor says "this car will get up that slope" the more I want to put it on it's roof and walk away. The chaps in the background - do they have a whiff of Walt, or is it just me?

A lot of it comes down to the enjoyment of technical driving - an off-roader would probably get the same buzz from managing to get over a stupid-angle slope or carefully navigating an obstacle in the same way IAM types get all giddy when talking about mastering left-foot-braking or heel-toe on the public road.

Do you need to do those things really? No. Is it satisfying when you pull it off and it works? Yes.

On-topic - My parents had a Lada Cossack and it was loud, crude yet effective and obviously designed by the same nation of people who designed the T-34 tank. It made my first 1970s Series Landy look positively ergonomic....

Most 'proper' off-roaders would need probably a lot less care when it comes to grounding/beaching/fouling bumpers than driving something like a Duster - where even the slightest misjudgement will rip bits of bodywork off or collapse suspension which wasn't really designed for off-roading. Crossovers don't really do ever so well when they leave the tarmac - some fall flat on their face more quickly than others.

[IanJ9375]

can't remember said:

The only brand that Alfa introduced me to when my company 159 kept breaking was Fiat. Oh the tragi-comedy of being towed back to the dealer in the Fiat less than an hour after I had been towed to the dealer in my car.

Should have turned up with a loud "Next!" Just to see the reaction

[DonkeyApple]

300bhp/ton said:

I'm sure the phrase 'rock-crawl' was probably misleading in the article.

As to many "rock crawling" is an American thing, such as in Moab..



Suspension travel & flex are vital, as are good approach/departure/breakover angles. And traction systems such as locking diffs.



That said, terrain across the UK is highly varied and plenty of 'green lanes' are very rocky. Just a different kind to the USA.




This picture highlights that you need good approach angles and that big plastic bumpers are a no no on any proper capable 4x4.

In fact a stock Disco 1 bumper would be ripped off or badly damaged doing stuff like this. The Duster, no hope at all. You'd probably write the vehicle off due to the amount of damage.


And lets not get carried away, this is not a pay and play site. This is a green lane... i.e. it's a public road. You need a driving license and insurance with a road legal vehicle to drive along it.

Dedicated 4x4s are very much like a pair of skis.

In the confines of their extremely limited sport environment they are the best form of footwear.

In every single other situation on the planet they are pretty much the worst choice of footwear.

And what kind of chopper buys and wears skis when they are never going to go skiing? That's why these road cars with reasonable off- road ability are superior.

[M3DGE]

I had a Duster in Italy as a hire car last summer and was impressed. Surprisingly nice to drive, roomy (took all our cases easily), looked pretty good and felt competent the few times I took it off road.

Looking back to the comments about the Jimney, I had a couple of SJs when I lived in the sticks in Scotland back in the 90s. They rotted like a rotten thing, but were never scrapped - they fell to about £600 then you could sell with no MOT to the off road brigade. Selectable low/high ratio FWD. The Jimney is just the same car without the rust, correct??

[only1ian]

Never mind the Dacia (terrible drive) or the jimny. Surely the spirital Niva sucessor was surely a diahatsu terios. All the toys a dacia has and still better looking for less money! In japan these are sold as the Toyota Rush!

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

Edited by only1ian on Friday 21st April 15:45

[300bhp/ton]

The Crack Fox said:

I don't get the appeal of this. Never have. I've done the Land Rover experience thing a few times and still don't get the excitement. The more the instructor says "this car will get up that slope" the more I want to put it on it's roof and walk away. The chaps in the background - do they have a whiff of Walt, or is it just me?

The appeal is twofold really.

1. Such vehicles allow you to get to places and see things you may not otherwise. Sure if you are an avid hiker you'll get too see a lot of the same terrain, but not everyone is and you can cover more ground in a 4x4. So this side of it is very much the outdoor spirit and adventuring.

This is from a trip last year. If I hadn't been in a 4x4 I'd not have seen these views, miles from anywhere.




In other parts of the world the scenery is arguably even more dramatic.



2. Off roading has the same appeal as a track day, or if it's a competition the same as a hill climb, sprint, rally or autosolo. It's just a different flavour. Essentially being in a vehicle and making it do things beyond the bounds of normal ordinary driving.

The Land Rover Experience is a bit different, as the terrain looks worse than it really is and is 100% designed to be a show piece to demonstrate the vehicles. Arguably it's not really off roading in the same sense.


Driving off road, despite what the LR Experience might suggest, requires skill, judgment and the correct vehicle to do it well.

Be it something like this:


or this:


Or this:


Or this:

The Crack Fox said:

Back on topic - the Duster looks pretty good to me, nobody will be off-laning or green-roading or whatever in them anyway, they just want to see over others in traffic en-route to the shops.

Well exactly, but exactly why it isn't even close to a Niva. The Niva makes a great green lane vehicle and I suspect most were/are used off road.

[300bhp/ton]

DonkeyApple said:

Dedicated 4x4s are very much like a pair of skis.

In the confines of their extremely limited sport environment they are the best form of footwear.

In every single other situation on the planet they are pretty much the worst choice of footwear.

And what kind of chopper buys and wears skis when they are never going to go skiing? That's why these road cars with reasonable off- road ability are superior.

Couldn't disagree more I'm afraid. I simply adore driving proper 4x4's on the road. They are hoot to drive.

[300bhp/ton]

M3DGE said:

I had a Duster in Italy as a hire car last summer and was impressed. Surprisingly nice to drive, roomy (took all our cases easily), looked pretty good and felt competent the few times I took it off road.

Looking back to the comments about the Jimney, I had a couple of SJs when I lived in the sticks in Scotland back in the 90s. They rotted like a rotten thing, but were never scrapped - they fell to about £600 then you could sell with no MOT to the off road brigade. Selectable low/high ratio FWD. The Jimney is just the same car without the rust, correct??

Jimny is quite a different vehicle. Not sure it really shares any components with the older SJ's. SJ's were leaf sprung, the Jimny is coil all round.

[DonkeyApple]

300bhp/ton said:

DonkeyApple said:

Dedicated 4x4s are very much like a pair of skis.

In the confines of their extremely limited sport environment they are the best form of footwear.

In every single other situation on the planet they are pretty much the worst choice of footwear.

And what kind of chopper buys and wears skis when they are never going to go skiing? That's why these road cars with reasonable off- road ability are superior.

Couldn't disagree more I'm afraid. I simply adore driving proper 4x4's on the road. They are hoot to drive.

You may have misunderstood as disagreeing would obviously make you wrong. Adoration has no relevance to comparable abilities of types of cars.

[300bhp/ton]

DonkeyApple said:

You may have misunderstood as disagreeing would obviously make you wrong. Adoration has no relevance to comparable abilities of types of cars.

Abilities seem fine. They get me from A to B in relative comfort. They accelerate, stop and corner just fine. Usually have room for whatever or whoever I'm carrying and to top it all off are enjoyable and fun to pilot and even hustle along. And you get to see more.

[anonymous-user]

300bhp/ton said:

Pic taken just before the vehicle flooded and destroyed its engine? There doesn't appear to be a snorkel fitted, and looking at the vehicle behind it seems things "suddenly got a lot deeper"!

[coppice]

I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than be seen in a half submerged Land Rover with a St George's flag on the roof. Streams are for trout fishing , not buggering up with Bear Grylls wannabes..

[caelite]

AussieFozzy said:

An Alfa company car? Where were you working, Sadist inc?

Used to know a lad who ran a burgundy 156 1.9 diesel as a taxi. Got well into the 200ks before anything major broke. It was at 270ish when the gearbox went and he finally replaced it, with an old diesel Merc no less.

[DonkeyApple]

300bhp/ton said:

DonkeyApple said:

You may have misunderstood as disagreeing would obviously make you wrong. Adoration has no relevance to comparable abilities of types of cars.

Abilities seem fine. They get me from A to B in relative comfort. They accelerate, stop and corner just fine. Usually have room for whatever or whoever I'm carrying and to top it all off are enjoyable and fun to pilot and even hustle along. And you get to see more.

And you could go shopping in skis also.

[anonymous-user]

DonkeyApple said:

300bhp/ton said:

DonkeyApple said:

Dedicated 4x4s are very much like a pair of skis.

In the confines of their extremely limited sport environment they are the best form of footwear.

In every single other situation on the planet they are pretty much the worst choice of footwear.

And what kind of chopper buys and wears skis when they are never going to go skiing? That's why these road cars with reasonable off- road ability are superior.

Couldn't disagree more I'm afraid. I simply adore driving proper 4x4's on the road. They are hoot to drive.

You may have misunderstood as disagreeing would obviously make you wrong. Adoration has no relevance to comparable abilities of types of cars.

While your logic is totally flawless and your argument well presented, you do know that by engaging with him you've effectively handed him a bog roll and invited him to take a huge st in this thread and ruin it?

Edited by dme123 on Saturday 22 April 16:09