Since it was me that brought up the infamous Lada (joking, though I was), I'll briefly comment on the North American experience of these cars, along with the Niva.
The Lada was probably the cheapest car available in Canada when it was introduced, and it sold well. They didn't blow up or anything, and I don't know that smoke tended to bellow out of the heater. Their bodies tended to rust relatively quickly, but some parts of Canada (ie: Ontario) use much more salt on the roads in winter than necessary; maybe this isn't such a problem in Russia. For the price, they were no more or less reliable than other mega-cheap cars of the time (read: Hyundai Pony). I think one of the problems was that if you got stuck with a lemon, ~they were bad~. But if you got a good one, it was okay. The Niva, as Boris says, was a Suzuki Samarai-sized 4WD sport-cute (before the word was invented). It had a good reputation here, actually. Two solid axels, it had real off-road capability, as opposed to many SUV or Sport-cute poseurs. Unrefined, featuring old technology, not terribly smooth on the road (short wheelbase and aforementioned sold axels), they did what they were designed to do well, at a very good price. I know that the Lada was Fiat 1960's design (so the engineering was Italian, not Russian), and I suppose that the Niva was also an older design. They weren't ~that~ bad, but I couldn't resist making a joke. AFAIK, they beat Skodas (Czech?) and Trabants (East German) all to hell! cheers, frank Boris Liberman wrote: > Hi! > > Well, since you ask in public, I am going to answer in public. I am > afraid you were subject to a practical joke or rather sick sense of > humor. > > Lada is a reasonably good car. Niva is a small jeep (a-la Suzuki > Samurai) produced by the same factory. > > Indeed, both have certain problems, mechanical etc. But you don't have > to run fast if it smokes from beneath the bonnet, you really don't. By > the way, if you go to Yahoo Autos and add VW Golf '92 to your cars > you'd see that some of them were recalled due to some defect that > could potentially cause fire beneath the bonnet. And of course, > numerous recalls from numerous auto makers are common practice these > days. > > So Lada (and Niva) are both normal cars... They are not as good and > reliable as Hondas, but nevertheless they are sound. > > I hope next time you'd be more critical to what you hear about Soviet > engineering... > > --- > Boris Liberman > www.geocities.com/dunno57 > www.photosig.com/viewuser.php?id=38625 -- "Honour - that virtue of the unjust!" -Albert Camus
