RE: 2021 Lada Niva Legend | Spotted

[Whydoyoutalkcrap]

BenGB said:

This.

+1

[LotusOmega375D]

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. Basic, characterful cars can be ridiculously good fun, unless if course you only measure satisfaction by what the neighbours or your Insta followers think.

With all due respect the Panda was launched in 1980, so not long after the Niva in 1977. The 4wd Panda in 1983. Your 2wd Peugeot 206 cannot be older than 1998, so a full generation after the Panda. You cannot compare them. I remember being collected from school by a Panda in 1981. Even then I was shocked how cheaply built it was: eg. front seat backs barely an inch thick. As for your final comment, yes that’s exactly why the people in my original post have them.

[Gecko1978]

braddo said:

I can't imagine being so tone deaf as to willingly drive around in a modern Russian car. Let alone paying £15k to do it.

The only acceptable destiny for this car is for it to be donated to the Ukranians.

Agree it's like buying a VW during WW2

[kambites]

Gecko1978 said:

Agree it's like buying a VW during WW2

Or an American or British car during the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan...

[MustangGT]

Salamura said:

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.

Edited by Salamura on Friday 24th May 12:24

Having owned examples of all three of your named vehicles I can confidently say that there is nothing between Jimny and Niva off-road, and both beat the Duster easily. On road the Duster is far and away the best, both Niva and Jimny are too short in wheelbase to make a good road car.

[ArgonautX]

Niva benefits from short wheelbase and relatively low weight when off roading. And it's so stty as a car that you don't mind abusing it. That's probably it's biggest advantage.

[gruppeb86]

Rear/Side angle remarkably similar to a Fiat 126.

Should be donated to a small classic car museum that you may find in somewhere like Poland.

[biggbn]

Pereldh said:

I think they had heated seats even in 1979... In Scandinavia anyway.
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

Both Panda and Niva are 70s designs man.

[AmyRichardson]

Clivey said:

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?

Less that than a Panda 4x4 being a tropey looks-the-part accessory for the Italian second home.

Tobias and Tchikasta don't know how to unhook a battery, or the number for a local mechanic, but its looks spot-on nestled in a slightly saggy timber outbuilding.

How all that relates to a Lada I don't know; are there folks willing to buy a car just to Commi-cosplay when they visit the dacha? (Then they'd be missing out on a Dacia for the dacha.)

[biggbn]

LotusOmega375D 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. Basic, characterful cars can be ridiculously good fun, unless if course you only measure satisfaction by what the neighbours or your Insta followers think.

With all due respect the Panda was launched in 1980, so not long after the Niva in 1977. The 4wd Panda in 1983. Your 2wd Peugeot 206 cannot be older than 1998, so a full generation after the Panda. You cannot compare them. I remember being collected from school by a Panda in 1981. Even then I was shocked how cheaply built it was: eg. front seat backs barely an inch thick. As for your final comment, yes that’s exactly why the people in my original post have them.

Panda is Giorgetto Giugiaro's favourite design, it was designed to be cheap to build, cheap to fix, cheap to run, a true utilitarian great. Mine had the hessian type thin seats, the rear one could be used as a hammock, front dash was just a fabric covered shelf and the floors were rubber, no carpets. It was a 750l 4 speed, thrashed everywhere, every day, used as a family car, a van, everything. Absolutely wonderful, I'd have another in a heartbeat

[garypotter]

would we be breaking the sanctions against russia buy importing and buying said vehicle??

anyway not for me at £15k, £3k possibly

[V10 SPM]

A car with character that is instantly recognisable worldwide is very rare nowadays...

[Angelo1985]

The niva tried to appeal to the masses of the decadent west by offering no-nonsense motoring. While hiding its real nature of antiquated relic from a car industry that never had the ingenuity to develope anything better and that assumes that you won’t notice its backwardness and lack of safety features because you’re driving drunk. Basically a good metaphor of modern russia.

I wouldn’t touch that piece of s#%t if they were paying me 15 grands, let alone paying that sum for it. Send it to the fat guy in Pyongyang, I am a man of principles

[biggbn]

Angelo1985 said:

The niva tried to appeal to the masses of the decadent west by offering no-nonsense motoring. While hiding its real nature of antiquated relic from a car industry that never had the ingenuity to develope anything better and that assumes that you won’t notice its backwardness and lack of safety features because you’re driving drunk. Basically a good metaphor of modern russia.

I wouldn’t touch that piece of s#%t if they were paying me 15 grands, let alone paying that sum for it. Send it to the fat guy in Pyongyang, I am a man of principles

First mass produced 'unibody' 4x4....yeah, really antiquated for its time....

[irish boy]

My kind of tat. Just not at 15k. Remember these on the road as a youth. What was the top of the line one called? Cossack or something?

[Angelo1985]

biggbn said:

First mass produced 'unibody' 4x4....yeah, really antiquated for its time....

So what? Is that a redeeming feature for being a car with dodgy electrics, ridiculous ride, an appalling engine and the design of a brick with lights? Do you think that’s gonna make its way into history books? Or maybe look at the European and American cars of that era, to see if it reaches the same level of sofistication and engineering (spoiler: no)

Nothing defensible here. Just an antiquated piece of soviet crap that was terrible then and it’s even more terrible now.

[tr3a]

Hateful crapmobile, from a hateful, crap country. In normal circumstances, it should be crushed forthwith. But given what's going on right now, it should be given to Ukraine, where it'll no doubt be much more useful than anywhere else.

[biggbn]

Angelo1985 said:

biggbn said:

First mass produced 'unibody' 4x4....yeah, really antiquated for its time....

So what? Is that a redeeming feature for being a car with dodgy electrics, ridiculous ride, an appalling engine and the design of a brick with lights? Do you think that’s gonna make its way into history books? Or maybe look at the European and American cars of that era, to see if it reaches the same level of sofistication and engineering (spoiler: no)

Nothing defensible here. Just an antiquated piece of soviet crap that was terrible then and it’s even more terrible now.

Hey man, you don't like it and that's cool but I'd ask in the 70s what was the competition like? A properly antiquated Series Landy? An Lj80 suzuki, again, properly antiquated. Various other leaf sprung Japanese jeep homages, all of which i adore, but none of which were sophisticated or refined. The nearest thing to the Nivas ride was the Range Rover, not my words, Car magazine's. The Niva was praised for its ride in contemporary tests, certainly in comparison to other offerings available at the same price, or even dearer. Coil sprung all round from memory? Can you name some 4x4 from that era that were not 'like a brick with lights'...the Niva was one of the first to use a light car type body on 4x4 underpinnings from memory rather than a crib of the original military jeep style...cracking heaters to by the way, I'll bet many an owner was grateful for the simplicity of the engine and the furnace like heater. You don't like them and that's cool, but I'm sorry, suggesting they were antiquated etc...for a 70s design is just wrong. It's really quite a forward thinking design.

Edited by biggbn on Friday 24th May 20:19

[Rumdoodle]

garypotter said:

would we be breaking the sanctions against russia buy importing and buying said vehicle??

anyway not for me at £15k, £3k possibly

As a private citizen purchasing a car from a non-sanctioned Russian individual or company, it's probably doable in theory. Even if that is the case, it might be tricky finding a UK bank prepared to touch such a transaction with a bargepole.

[Ken_Code]

I was once told that Lara’s were designed to (and generally could) start irrespective of the temperature outside, a feature that was very important given where and how they were used.