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Nivas have often been used on those banger ralies and covered many 1000's of miles. They crude and simple cars. They were never supposed to be comfortable they are just tools designed to one job well and well it does indeed.
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As i said im only arguing one point. your review states - Simple, basic 4x4 with *decent* off-road ability.
whereas the landrover gets - Superb off road and an icon.
thats untrue. the niva is incredible off road. it was better spec'd than landrovers when it was released in 78.
if anybody reading doubts this google it.
Edited by ned c on 11/10/2009 at 20:52
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OK, Altea Ego, despite my dreadful spelling error, I meant Northern citadel, how do you think that the Angles managed to prevent the Scots from invading the soft underbelly of the UK for so many years. That is, until the sly devils discovered the process of politics and democracy.
However, that's a whole different story.
The truth is that we had legions of Lada Nivas, as designed and developed by the Romans, lined up to the South of Hadrian's Wall. This strategy scared the Scots who only had chariots, horses and woad.
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You can still get Nivas today.
They're called Suzuki Jimnys!
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And goes anywhere as all my 'P' taking 'friends' are finding out much to the detriment of their underwear!!!!
MD
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Ventured from the grassy fields yet, Martin ?
Still on road tyres I presume.
It is silly what these little buggies can do without knobblies ;-)
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The Niva's capabilities never failed to surprise me.
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Re "You can still get Nivas today"
I believe you can go one better and order a genuine new Lada Niva, since Lada (possibly uniquely among car makers) claim that they will still build any model from their back catalogue, dating back to 1966, if you really want them to!
I saw a Niva the other day.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 12/10/2009 at 00:34
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Now wheels - have we just found the perfect car for your off road needs? :-)
Just kidding, but for a car that just does what it says on the tin I bet it's pretty hard to beat!
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Now Wheels should get one on a 24 hr test and put it through it's paces. Wash it and send it back. Pleasantly surprised methinks.
MD in sunny Devon.
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can I get one in diesel??
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can I get one in diesel??
Would you notice any difference in the noise coming from the engine?
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Lots of Nivas still around this part of SW France. You could certainly buy a new one until recently - the Honda dealer in Brive-la-Gaillarde sold them as a sideline! - but I don't think you can any more. The Lada dealer in Limoges closed not long ago.
I did a press road test on one in about 1990 and came to same sort of conclusions as above - crude but capable. I wish I had filed everything I poured out in those days.
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they are available in diesel, a 1.9 Peugeot engine.
so are we moving anywhere towards getting the review amended, or is that possble?
Edited by ned c on 12/10/2009 at 15:39
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You can still buy them brand new here in Sweden. Only available with a petrol engine, and the dealer adds dinitrol rust proofing and extra soundproofing as standard. Also a radio.
They cost 9999 kronor (about £8500) with a 2 year warranty.
They're still very popular in Finland.
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You can still get them new, here is a link to AvtoVAZ who actually build the things:
www.lada-auto.ru/cgi-bin/models.pl
Sorry, it's in Russian!
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The Niva was a legend off road. Help someone. Did they have a centre Diff lock or am I dreaming.
MD
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>>Sorry, it's in Russian!>>
Actually it's not - you can switch to English in some sections (click on News in the left hand menu or bottom of this page: www.lada-auto.ru/index.xml ).
It's quite interesting in parts.
See: www.lada-auto.ru/pr_eng.xml to make it easier.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 12/10/2009 at 22:26
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I thought this car would do well in the UK if it had a retail price of £6k.
www.lada-auto.ru/cgi-bin/models.pl?model_id=3617&b...h
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It reminds me of a Fiesta from the early part of the decade.
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Yep very very similar in design. I always thought the Lada Samara Saloon looked just like a Jetta too.
A very interesting review from Autocar and Motor about the Lada Riva from 1993
tinyurl.com/yhzuexo
Amazingly it is quite positive, after reading that I almost wanted one until I remember how bad my dads was! Still you have to remember the porverty spec cars which were on the market back in 1993.
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I thought this car would do well in the UK if it had a retail price of £6k.
Rattle, that's the Lada Kalina, a more suitable price would be six quid. It's a dreadful car and the butt of the sort of jokes in Russia that Skoda was subjected to in the UK in the 80s. You will find most Russians would rather have a 15 year old Golf than a new Lada.
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada_Niva
Scroll down to the Chevrolet Niva section. The Lada Niva's successor, based on most of the original mechanicals. This is the car they should export, but for some bizarre reason still don't.
It's hugely popular in Russia, my mate there is a keen hunter and drives through all sorts of terrain in all seasons, swears it's the best off road vehicle he's ever experienced. Including Land Rovers.
Still shouldn't be allowed in Chelsea, though. :-)
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DOES THIS SECTION HAVE ANY BEARING AT ALL ON REVIEWS?
please excuse me.
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>>please excuse me.>>
If we knew what you are going on about, then we'll answer the question.
A review is an overall look at something which has been studied previously.
That is what this thread has provided. See the following for the various definitions of review:
www.thefreedictionary.com/review
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DOES THIS SECTION HAVE ANY BEARING AT ALL ON REVIEWS?
The Road Tests and Car-by-Car-Breakdown entries are written by Honest John. This forum is for us plebs to discuss things, which might include Road Tests/CBCB stuff, but doesn't usually. Does that help?
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If the review's only got one thing wrong, I fail to see why you're making such a fuss about it.
We are after all talking about a car which for all its acknowledged virtues was very much a minority interest in the UK, and furthermore is rare enough to be a curiosity, in fact I've started seeing the odd one at classic car rallies.
As you'll guess by my screen name I frequently have to defend my motorcycle of choice against a battery of preconceived opinions, most of them in my opinion way off the mark. It doesn't bother me any more. Perhaps you should try the same approach.
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very zen of you Harleyman, if a little defeatist. the problem is though the review makes little of the one thing the niva does exceptionally well.
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the review makes little of the one thing the niva does exceptionally well.
You could try contacting the person who can change the review, ie. Honest John:
letters@honestjohn.co.uk
Edited by Focus {P} on 14/10/2009 at 11:18
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many thanks Focus P, wlldo .
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The latest incarnation of the Niva is really very good. Fitted with a 1.7 engine and Bosch Sequential Injection, it's a lot smoother, quieter, faster and more flexible and economical than earlier versions, and is very practical as an everyday vehicle, as well as still being truly excellent off-road. Reliability is extremely good but, like anything else, that does depend on how it is looked after. Spares are cheap, good quality, and readily available from the UK dealer.
New ones can be bought for £7800 for the basic model (like mine), or £8500 for the same version, but with LPG fitted. The newer Chevy Niva is not readily available over here as it costs a fair bit more!
Another advantage is that the majority of parts are interchangeable across the range, regardless of age - not many you can say that about, and a definite plus point in my book!
Mine was bought new in 2003, and I'm quite happy to say that I intend keeping it for at least another four years, having originally got it with the intention of keeping it for ten years.
It's been quite extensively modified and has proved to be very capable both on and off-road.
It'll do for me!
Regards,
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Nice revieuw Hoodoo,looks like a sound and solid car to me ,spoke to a russian mate on a cargo ship a while ago.He spoke good english lives in st petersburg,drives the Niva no complaines good for the russian winters.
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