RE: 2021 Lada Niva Legend | Spotted
Discussion
kambites said:
Bladedancer said:
As someone born and largely raised under communism I never ever understood why would westerners willingly spend their own money on commie cars. Is it some form of sophisticated car masochism?
Because they're cheap and most people are relatively apolitical. The things are all over the place in Bulgaria and most people of driving age there will remember when the country was communist. They're certainly not owned by people who support communism or Russia, just by people who want a cheap car. Something like the appeal of a Dacia Duster instead of a poncy Renault.
After all, Landie Fagenders have their fans and they too are crude, unreliable and simple to fix.
Mind you, there are plenty of cheap Landie parts suppliers, but finding your local ABTOBA3 dealer might be trickier...
As a child of the (original) cold war era, I do profess a certain affinity for the GAZ-24 Volga. So sinister in KGB-black with the red interior. Nearly as terrifying as Daleks...probably as lethal too.
Shame the new one is merely a grille-engineered Chang'an, but one must start from somewhere...
I find the Niva much more interesting than much of the content on here, and I'd rather drive one than many other more 'desirable' cars. They are brilliant off road, I remember CAR mag really rating them... Didn't Johnny Smith drive on green lanes across the UK in one of the newer ones?
Nope. Nope. Nope. Utter garbage. Unreliable, rusting fossil. As s
t as any Russian car ever was.
Nivas are decent off-road, but not nearly as good as some people make them out to be. A Duster or a Jimmy will be better off road, and be much better cars on the road. Before you ask, yes, I've driven one and been in one many times.
A drunk forester once bet me that he can go up a snowy hill in his Niva, and that the Hilux I had would not be able to do it. He ate his words the next day when the Niva got stuck and I towed him to the top with the Hilux.
t as any Russian car ever was.Nivas are decent off-road, but not nearly as good as some people make them out to be. A Duster or a Jimmy will be better off road, and be much better cars on the road. Before you ask, yes, I've driven one and been in one many times.
A drunk forester once bet me that he can go up a snowy hill in his Niva, and that the Hilux I had would not be able to do it. He ate his words the next day when the Niva got stuck and I towed him to the top with the Hilux.
Edited by Salamura on Friday 24th May 12:24
biggbn said:
I find the Niva much more interesting than much of the content on here, and I'd rather drive one than many other more 'desirable' cars. They are brilliant off road, I remember CAR mag really rating them... Didn't Johnny Smith drive on green lanes across the UK in one of the newer ones?
Yes he did.However it did not end well
Hippea said:
Saw this on another forum, brilliant!! My dad had one of these (a Niva 1600 if I remember correctly?) in the 80s (we lived in Berkshire at the time)... Red with the light brown fabric interior.
The two main memories I have of it was the red paint faded horribly and it actually came with a crank to start it when the ignition didn't work (like the "chitty-chitty-bang-bang" cars of old) which I remember him using a couple times during one particularly vicious winter; even back then, aged seven or eight, I remember thinking it was st but looking at it today it's even more st now.
The two main memories I have of it was the red paint faded horribly and it actually came with a crank to start it when the ignition didn't work (like the "chitty-chitty-bang-bang" cars of old) which I remember him using a couple times during one particularly vicious winter; even back then, aged seven or eight, I remember thinking it was s
t but looking at it today it's even more st now.Edited by sidesauce on Friday 24th May 14:13
LotusOmega375D said:
I know this is tantamount to heresy on a motoring forum, but it reminds me a bit of those cliche London folk with a second home in Tuscany and an original 4x4 Fiat Panda for when they visit. I am sure the idea of owning the Panda is better than the reality of using it. They probably just hire a modern car from the airport and leave the Panda in the barn.
Why? Are some people now so soft, fat and lazy that they couldn't possibly drive to the supermarket in anything without an automatic gearbox and massaging seats? I used to have a battered old base model Peugeot 206 as a runabout / shopping car (until a van driver crashed into it). It had no central locking, keep-fit windows (which my wife and I used to have "races" with
) and unpainted black plastic bumpers and I can honestly say that I had as much fun ragging that around the Peak District as I have driving cars that PHers typically drool over. There are loads of times I'd rather take that £350 banger out than our c£90k Defender. I was even planning to do the mongol Rally in it before the world went mental.Basic, characterful cars can be ridiculously good fun, unless if course you only measure satisfaction by what the neighbours or your Insta followers think.
Clivey said:
LotusOmega375D said:
I know this is tantamount to heresy on a motoring forum, but it reminds me a bit of those cliche London folk with a second home in Tuscany and an original 4x4 Fiat Panda for when they visit. I am sure the idea of owning the Panda is better than the reality of using it. They probably just hire a modern car from the airport and leave the Panda in the barn.
Why? Are some people now so soft, fat and lazy that they couldn't possibly drive to the supermarket in anything without an automatic gearbox and massaging seats? I used to have a battered old base model Peugeot 206 as a runabout / shopping car (until a van driver crashed into it). It had no central locking, keep-fit windows (which my wife and I used to have "races" with
) and unpainted black plastic bumpers and I can honestly say that I had as much fun ragging that around the Peak District as I have driving cars that PHers typically drool over. There are loads of times I'd rather take that £350 banger out than our c£90k Defender. I was even planning to do the mongol Rally in it before the world went mental.Basic, characterful cars can be ridiculously good fun, unless if course you only measure satisfaction by what the neighbours or your Insta followers think.
I think they had heated seats even in 1979... In Scandinavia anyway.
But definately not AC or el.windows!
But definately not AC or el.windows!
biggbn said:
I loved my original Pandas, brilliant wee cars.
Panda is a VASTLY more modern car, can't believe anyone even mentioning it here. And much smaller..Edited by Pereldh on Friday 24th May 14:31
biggbn said:
Clivey said:
LotusOmega375D said:
I know this is tantamount to heresy on a motoring forum, but it reminds me a bit of those cliche London folk with a second home in Tuscany and an original 4x4 Fiat Panda for when they visit. I am sure the idea of owning the Panda is better than the reality of using it. They probably just hire a modern car from the airport and leave the Panda in the barn.
Why? Are some people now so soft, fat and lazy that they couldn't possibly drive to the supermarket in anything without an automatic gearbox and massaging seats? I used to have a battered old base model Peugeot 206 as a runabout / shopping car (until a van driver crashed into it). It had no central locking, keep-fit windows (which my wife and I used to have "races" with
) and unpainted black plastic bumpers and I can honestly say that I had as much fun ragging that around the Peak District as I have driving cars that PHers typically drool over. There are loads of times I'd rather take that £350 banger out than our c£90k Defender. I was even planning to do the mongol Rally in it before the world went mental.Basic, characterful cars can be ridiculously good fun, unless if course you only measure satisfaction by what the neighbours or your Insta followers think.
Black S2K said:
Perhaps there's also an element of anti-BS statement about it.
In the UK, certainly. From my experience, in Eastern Europe most people have more important things to worry about than even inverted snobbery. I'd say in Bulgaria 80% of cars are of an age and condition where they would long ago have been written off in Western Europe (and indeed many of them HAVE been written off in Western Europe). Owning a newish Lada Niva is considered decadence. About 15 years ago, we bought the in-laws a 1.4 Astra G in the UK and drove it out to Bulgaria. At the time, it was one of the newest cars you'd see on the road in their town; quite a lot of people still used horses and carts. Even now, at about 25 years old, it's no older than average (and you still see horses and carts, albeit fewer of them). A new Niva would be considered luxury, a new Duster completely out of reach for the huge majority of people.
Edited by kambites on Friday 24th May 14:47
Salamura said:
Nope. Nope. Nope. Utter garbage. Unreliable, rusting fossil. As st as any Russian car ever was.
Nivas are decent off-road, but not nearly as good as some people make them out to be. A Duster or a Jimmy will be better off road, and be much better cars on the road. Before you ask, yes, I've driven one and been in one many times.
A drunk forester once bet me that he can go up a snowy hill in his Niva, and that the Hilux I had would not be able to do it. He ate his words the next day when the Niva got stuck and I towed him to the top with the Hilux.
Ironically I had 2 Nivas many years ago mainly used on building sites, and pulled many a Rangerover, Hilux and other 4wd out of the mud on a regular basis and washed the mud out from inside with a pressure washer on many occassions!t as any Russian car ever was.Nivas are decent off-road, but not nearly as good as some people make them out to be. A Duster or a Jimmy will be better off road, and be much better cars on the road. Before you ask, yes, I've driven one and been in one many times.
A drunk forester once bet me that he can go up a snowy hill in his Niva, and that the Hilux I had would not be able to do it. He ate his words the next day when the Niva got stuck and I towed him to the top with the Hilux.
Edited by Salamura on Friday 24th May 12:24
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