Were Ladas really that bad?

StereoSound

I do remember the Riva saloons back in the late 80s and early 90s. Friends mother had a brown 88' Riva 1200 model. Had leather interior and never broke down. Fierce underpowered though. I remember a big hill near our house and I was in the back of it as it rattled and banged up the hill at 15 or 20mph. Friends mother use to build up speed approaching the hill so she could clear it lol. Funny memories of that car. But it never broke down and always started.

I've heard all the jokes about them. Lada with a sunroof is a skip..... When someone is swearing on your street in the middle of the night it's usually just your neighbour push starting their Lada. These were two common jokes about them when I was a kid.

I don't think they were really as nasty as people said they were though, I think your 80s Ford Fiesta had more trouble starting to be honest.

colm_mcm

They were built for extreme conditions. Fit and finish, interior comfort etc weren't a priority

punisher5112

Look at YouTube crash videos from likes of Russia and see how well they hold up in any crash....

Not good.

Gravelly

I remember when they launched in Ireland first, there was a big marketing campaign to promote them. They looked dated even then, though the price was very low iirc. I remember very few of them on the road. If they were good enough to survive in Russia, you'd wonder how bad they could have been - I presume the unpopularity was more due to their outdated looks and technology more than reliability, as they were launched at a time when the country was full of Fords, Fiats, BL, and many others which were hardly the most reliable.

JoeA3

My Dad had not one.... but two of them

I remember it quite well. In 1987 he ordered a brand new Riva 1300SL Saloon - in white... long long before white was in vogue like it is today! He took delivery around mid-late October that year and as was common at the time, he didn't register it... so "FOR REG" was scribbled on the front and back. It had kit and equipment fitted that was not common in run of the mill cars at the time. A decent radio/cassette, a rev counter, seatbelts in the back, headlamps with wipers, go faster stripes, wheeltrims and a massive tool kit!

However - and I still remember the morning in question to this day - my mother crashed it on her way home from work early one morning (she worked nights). So car, still not even registered was trashed. I remember travelling with my Dad getting it towed back to the dealers. 6 weeks later, a little before Xmas, we got it back (still not registered lol), all fixed up. Or so it seemed...

Thats when a litany of problems started. The ignition caught fire one day. The doors had to be tied with ropes as the locks all failed. The bonnet started dis-colouring and rust was developing all around where it was repaired. Car was only 6 months old and it was falling to bits. My Dad was raging and I remember he eventually travelled up to Lada HQ in Dublin to meet face to face with the boss man. Long story short, they eventually agreed to take the car back off him and gave him most of his money back.

So with cash back on the hip and stung by the Lada experience, what did he do? After trying out a few other cars (mostly 2nd hand as he could only afford new if it were Lada)... he went and bought another Lada

The 2nd one actually never gave any (or certainly very little) trouble over 3 years and 60-70k odd miles!

I actually have fond memories of the car and the first time I ever drove a car was on Achill Island beach in a Lada

Gravelly

JoeA3 wrote: »

My Dad had not one.... but two of them

I remember it quite well. In 1987 he ordered a brand new Riva 1300SL Saloon - in white... long long before white was in vogue like it is today! He took delivery around mid-late October that year and as was common at the time, he didn't register it... so "FOR REG" was scribbled on the front and back. It had kit and equipment fitted that was not common in run of the mill cars at the time. A decent radio/cassette, a rev counter, seatbelts in the back, headlamps with wipers, go faster stripes, wheeltrims and a massive tool kit!

However - and I still remember the morning in question to this day - my mother crashed it on her way home from work early one morning (she worked nights). So car, still not even registered was trashed. I remember travelling with my Dad getting it towed back to the dealers. 6 weeks later, a little before Xmas, we got it back (still not registered lol), all fixed up. Or so it seemed...

Thats when a litany of problems started. The ignition caught fire one day. The doors had to be tied with ropes as the locks all failed. The bonnet started dis-colouring and rust was developing all around where it was repaired. Car was only 6 months old and it was falling to bits. My Dad was raging and I remember he eventually travelled up to Lada HQ in Dublin to meet face to face with the boss man. Long story short, they eventually agreed to take the car back off him and gave him most of his money back.

So with cash back on the hip and stung by the Lada experience, what did he do? After trying out a few other cars (mostly 2nd hand as he could only afford new if it were Lada)... he went and bought another Lada

The 2nd one actually never gave any (or certainly very little) trouble over 3 years and 60-70k odd miles!

I actually have fond memories of the car and the first time I ever drove a car was on Achill Island beach in a Lada

Brilliant story!

I remember the Lada ads in the paper boasting about the headlight wipers and rev counter when such things were the preserve of Merc drivers.

riemann

punisher5112 wrote: »

Look at YouTube crash videos from likes of Russia and see how well they hold up in any crash....

Not good.

Look at any old car in a crash.

Not great.

Del2005

There was zero quality control and since they were built in a communist country no incentive to do a good job. So you could get a mediocre one or a bad one, very rarely did you get a good one.

When the Russian's came over over to buy them all back they'd spend the whole voyage back building a few good ones from the boat load they had.

JoeA3

Exactly yeah lol. I remember thinking the headlamp wipers were sooooo cool! And yes, the car was generally very agricultural, but to us it was a brand new car. It had a new car smell lol. Brand new cars were a rare enough sight back then and the competition - Escorts, Corollas and the likes weren't much to be excited about. I would still credit the Lada's Dad had as the cars that started my general interest in motoring... weirdly enough.

I was probably far too young to realise it was actually an ancient old Fiat dressed up to look like a new car...

One major complaint he used to have with it was economy. It was thirsty - low 30's mpg probably. I can nearly get that in a 300bhp Golf today

CJhaughey

The Niva was and still is a pretty decent off road vehicle, its very dated now but I think still sold in some markets.

JoeA3

I vaguely recall them being priced at somewhere around 6k (punts). Imagine - a brand new car for 6 grand. The competition - Corollas, Escorts, Sunny's, Lancers...were obviously all more modern - but cost at least 3-4k more and were generally much less well equipped (no headlamp washers :pac:)

Gravelly

CJhaughey wrote: »

The Niva was and still is a pretty decent off road vehicle, its very dated now but I think still sold in some markets.

Is it? Wow - would love to get hold of one as a weekend fun mud plugger!

Cortina_MK_IV

What's the difference between a Lada Riva and a Jehovah's witness? You can close the door on a Jehovah's witness.

goochy

dad had a new one for 3 years - he still jokes about how I hid when in it so people wouldn't spot me.

The Backwards Man

The jokes about them in the cold are a bit stupid though, great yokes for starting in freezing conditions.

737max

still not built well. The Swede they got in to build/design the new Vesta couldn't work around the Russian work practices i.e. having to bribe people for sub standard sub-components and everyone that matters is happy now that he is fired.
The Vesta looks like a good Dacia Logan/Sandero competitor but it will not be built as well as a Dacia due to institutional problems in Russia.

colm_mcm

CJhaughey wrote: »

The Niva was and still is a pretty decent off road vehicle, its very dated now but I think still sold in some markets.

Yeah they've even brought out a 2wd urban model and a 5 door version now!

mikeecho

Dacia is the modern equivilant of a lada.

Ppl still buy buckets of male cow excrement and think that they are the canine testeis, because they have a 172 reg.

lway

Cortina_MK_IV wrote: »

What's the difference between a Lada Riva and a Jehovah's witness? You can close the door on a Jehovah's witness.

What do you call a Lada with two exhausts? - A Wheelbarrow.
Why do Lada's have heated rear windows ? -To keep your hands warm while you push.

Just two others off the top of my head, never sat in one but a friend in school's Dad had one and I thought they were an ugly looking yoke.

Gravelly

A kid is walking down the road when a car pulls up beside him.

The window winds down and a middle-aged man peers out and says "Come into the car and I'll take you for a drive."

The kid refuses and walks on.

The car follows him and pulls up again.

"C'mon" says the driver "Hop in and I'll give you a packet of Smarties".

Again the kid refuses and walks away.

The car follows him and pulls up beside him again.

The driver steps out and says, "If you come for a drive I'll give you all the sweets you want".

The kid turns around and says, "Look Dad, you bought the bloody Lada, now you deal with it!"

Del2005

mikeecho wrote: »

Dacia is the modern equivilant of a lada.

Ppl still buy buckets of male cow excrement and think that they are the canine testeis, because they have a 172 reg.

Don't here of many reliablilty issues with Dacia. Here of loads of problems with BMW. Who's buying dog vehicles?

JoeA3

As undesirable as Dacia are I don't think its fair to compare them to Lada. Lada Riva's were based on 1960's designs - which were coming up on 30 years old in the late 1980's, so even then they were ancient. I don't think any Dacia is based on a 30-year-old design.

Lada's were very much of their time and served a market of the day - when a lot of people didn't otherwise have the means to buy a new car (long before PCP's and the likes).

Who else remembers "FSO"?. They were a Polish / Czech car along the same lines as Lada Riva - only worse.

Then in the early '90's, a Malaysian outfit - Proton - came along and were quite popular for 2-3 years. Bizarrely they shared the Lada dealership / distribution chain which couldn't have helped them reputation wise. Their car was based on the previous gen Lancer. They were more comparable to today's Dacia's and the likes imo.

HONKEY TONK

mikeecho wrote: »

Dacia is the modern equivilant of a lada.

Ppl still buy buckets of male cow excrement and think that they are the canine testeis, because they have a 172 reg.

Can you go into more details about this?

or is it a made up general statement?

spiggotpaddy

They really were a piece of crap. I had an 87D riva 1300 in white.
The good stuff :
cheap really cheap. £700 for a three year old with low mileage.
The jokes. Park it anywhere. Erm that's it.
The bad stuff:
The door locks broke on mine, and probably everybody else's.
Driving down the road one day and the metal frame of the seat snapped. ( had to weld it)
I was getting about 20 mpg, I replaced the carb and got about 20 mpg.
Used to randomly stall at traffic lights if you didn't blip the throttle, giving the impression to other drivers you were looking for a race.
Worse acceleration than a moped.
The accelerator pedal was about 3 inches higher than the brake.
Starter died, handbrake snapped, headlight fell out and it was heavy basturd to push.

JohnBoy26

zilog_jones

JoeA3 wrote: »

As undesirable as Dacia are I don't think its fair to compare them to Lada. Lada Riva's were based on 1960's designs - which were coming up on 30 years old in the late 1980's, so even then they were ancient. I don't think any Dacia is based on a 30-year-old design.

Dacia used to be the Romanian equivalent, but making essentially the Renault 12 (new in '69) until 2004: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacia_1300
Not sure if they were ever sold in Ireland, but were available in the UK during the '80s.

Who else remembers "FSO"?. They were a Polish / Czech car along the same lines as Lada Riva - only worse.

FSO were Polish. In the mid '90s they became part of Daewoo and built the Lanos, Matiz and some other models - I don't know if the RHD models we got came from there though.

There were also the pre-VW Skodas, like the Estelle (rear-engine yoke); and the Favorit which was relatively modern and competent in comparison to Lada.

Yugo (Zastava) was another budget Eastern European brand. Again, not sure if they sold them here but were fairly common in the UK in the '80s.

Then in the early '90's, a Malaysian outfit - Proton - came along and were quite popular for 2-3 years. Bizarrely they shared the Lada dealership / distribution chain which couldn't have helped them reputation wise. Their car was based on the previous gen Lancer. They were more comparable to today's Dacia's and the likes imo.

Proton are still around, and were selling cars in the UK until about 5 years ago - I think they had trouble meeting more recent EU emissions standards. Perodua are also from Malaysia, mostly using old Daihatsu technology - they still exist in the UK.

Gravelly

JohnBoy26 wrote: »

From back when Top Gear was a car show.

Titzon Toast

Gravelly wrote: »

From back when Top Gear was a car show.

Thursday nights at half eight. The good old days.

Doltanian

I'd say for their day they were ahead of the modern day Renault, Dacia, Peugeot or Citroen, all modern day heaps of absolute junkbox garbage, especially Renault.

mikeecho

HONKEY TONK wrote: »

Can you go into more details about this?

or is it a made up general statement?

It's A generalised statement..

That doesn't make it wrong.

mikeecho

Find&replace, lada/Hyundai






A bloke was driving up the motorway in his Lada.

Suddenly there is a pop and a bang and the Lada starts to loose speed quickly so he pulls off to the hard shoulder.

A few minutes later a Porsche pulls up in front of them and a bloke jumps out.

"Do you want a tow mate?" he says, "Yes please" the Lada driver replies.

"Ok, but if I go too fast put your indicator on."

So the two men set off and after about ten minutes a Ferrari pulls up alongside the Porsche and they start to race, forgetting the poor Lada behind.

Finally they take an exit to a little village and zoom past a little pub with a man standing outside it with his pint in his hand.

This bloke runs inside to his friends and blurts out;

"You'll never guess what I have just seen!

I saw a Ferrari and Porsche racing at 200mph - and a Lada indicating to overtake!"



What do you call a Lada at the top of a hill?

A miracle.



What do you call several Ladas at the top of a hill?

A scrapheap (aka junkyard).



What do you call 100 Ladas at the top of a hill?

A car factory.



What do you call a Lada driver who says he has a speeding ticket?

A liar.



What is the similarity between a Lada and a bathtub?

You cannot step out of either one in a public place.



What's the difference between a Lada and a sheep?

It's less embarrassing being caught getting out the back of a sheep.



What's the difference between a Lada and a golf ball?

You can drive a golf ball 200 metres.



What is the similarity between a Lada and a magic wand?

They both only work in the adventures.



Man buys a Lada but after only one day of ownership returns it to the garage.

"It's no good mate, the car's no good for me" says the man

"Why not?" asks the car dealer.

"See that steep hill over there?" says the man pointing

"Well it will only get up to seventy five up there!"

"That's not bad really sir, for a Lada especially. I can't see a problem with that"

"Trouble is" said the man, "I live at ninety five!"



What do you call a Lada with a sunroof?

A rubbish bin.



What do you call a convertible Lada?

A skip (aka dumpster)



How many people in a Lada?

One. The other three are pushing.



What do you call the shock absorbers on a Lada?

Passengers.



How do you overtake a Lada?

Walk.



What is the difference between a Lada and the flu?

You can get rid of the flu.



How do you know if your Lada is environmental friendly?

It doesn't start.



How can you tell if your Lada is of Russian manufacture?

It can run on vodka.



What does the trip counter in the Lada say when it is passing 10,000 miles?

"Game Over"



What's the definition of an optimist?

The owner of a Lada with an alarm system.

or, The owner of a Lada with a radar detector.

or, The owner of a Lada with a trailer hitch.



Somewhere in the middle of Spain, a Lada is driving along and meets a donkey.

The donkey, never having seen a Lada before, asks: "What are you?"

The Lada: "I am a car. What are you?"

The donkey: "Hahahaha... I'm a horse."



What do you call a Lada with twin exhaust pipes?

A wheelbarrow.



What is a must-have before driving a Lada?

Life insurance



What's the difference between a Lada and tickets for an Oasis concert?

Oasis tickets go fast!



Why do Ladas have a rear wash-wipe?

To remove the flies that crash into them.



Why do Ladas need two spare wheels?

So you can cycle home.



Why do Ladas have heated rear windows?

To keep your hands warm whilst pushing them.


In Russian "lada" means swan, the name was chosen as the vehicle is basically an ugly duckling - and another nation had already claimed the name Turkey.


A hard working Russian, we'll call him Ivan, after years of saving, has amassed enough roubles to buy the car of his dreams – a Lada Niva.
Like most things in the Soviet Union, there's a long waiting list, and after paying over his money he's told his Niva will be ready in about two years time. Two months later Ivan phones Sergei again to check on progress. Sergei tells him the factory is running on schedule and the expected delivery date remains unchanged.
Sergei is by now intrigued by Ivan's regular enquires about the progress of his Niva, and asks why this is so. Ivan sighs; "You know how it is. Everything you have to wait. Go on a list. Join a line. I have to know when the Niva is arriving so I can book it into a garage to be repaired."

Redderneck

Drove a Niva as a company car when working over there. Loved it. Cue hysterical laughter from other lads at my grade who were crawling over broken glass to take delivery of Freelanders and Sportages. Never once let me down. The only incident was where I let it down. The Sportages were by comparison a far more comfortable and stylish place to sit while you waited for the tow truck. The Freelander wasn't even that. Unmitigated bucket of sh1te. Plus every goon for miles around had you pegged as an expat.

Handled temperatures from +39C to below -40C with windchill factored in. Cracking utilitarian workhorse. The rest of the range were muck mind you.

Paudee

That donkey joke is quality.

Atlantic Dawn

Here's the modern day one with Putin giving it the once over, I'd assume this is the best one off the production line when they knew himself was going to inspect it. The reassuringly familiar creaking noise from the boot when you open it and the work needed to help the starter motor ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FprS5DJnfF0

punisher5112

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Here's the modern day one with Putin giving it the once over, I'd assume this is the best one off the production line when they knew himself was going to inspect it. The reassuringly familiar creaking noise from the boot when you open it and the work needed to help the starter motor ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnH7YGav9xk

Video disabled....

TrailerBob

^^^ one of the funniest things I've seen in a while!




In fairness the Lada Riva was a poorly built Fiat 124, by communists.. comparing it to a corolla, sunny or escort of the same period is rather pointless. Build it at half the price, expect half the car. The Niva is a capable little 4x4, a bit like a vitara or sj413. A neighbour of ours had one in the late 80s. Noisy and uncomfortable, but it worked well

dmc17

Remember my aunt having one of these years ago when they were the butt of all jokes. We were in national school at the time and coming to home time one evening, looked out the window and spotted it outside. She had been sent to collect us :eek:
Myself and the brother hid behind the wall for ages until eventually she left and then we walked home

colm_mcm

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Here's the modern day one with Putin giving it the once over, I'd assume this is the best one off the production line when they knew himself was going to inspect it. The reassuringly familiar creaking noise from the boot when you open it and the work needed to help the starter motor ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FprS5DJnfF0

This one is funny too
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vPQMA5tkwEM

There's another one where he's trying to close the back door and it won't close

JohnBoy26

Doltanian wrote: »

I'd say for their day they were ahead of the modern day Renault, Dacia, Peugeot or Citroen, all modern day heaps of absolute junkbox garbage, especially Renault.

Sorry but no, just no