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> We had a Lada 1200 when I was a kid. Mid/late 1970s. The car was a 1:1 copy of the Fiat 127 if I remember correctly. Ladas were common over here until the la
by jabl 11mo ago
> We had a Lada 1200 when I was a kid. Mid/late 1970s. The car was a 1:1 copy of the Fiat 127 if I remember correctly.
Ladas were common over here until the late 80'ies. They all but disappeared during the 1990'ies. They weren't exactly known for quality compared to Western cars, but they were cheap, and easy to fix by yourself if you were so inclined.
And yes, the story behind the Lada was that the Soviets made a deal with Fiat to acquire an obsolete factory. So the entire factory was dismantled and shipped to the USSR. And then they just kept producing the same model, with extremely minor changes, for decades.
- usrnm 11mo ago> And then they just kept producing the same model, with extremely minor changes, for decades. That's not true, though. The first models were, practically, Fiats, but then they diverged and the second generation (produced in the 80s) had significant changes. Niva had nothing to do with Fiat from day 1, it was developed internally
- prmoustache 11mo agoThe Niva was actually a very modern car when it was released. I think it was one of the first unibodied AWD.
- darkwater 11mo agoI'm not sure when the Niva was initially made but I have memories of rusted Nivas from the late 80s to early '90s already.
- prmoustache 11mo agoIt was released in 1977 and afaik is still sold under the "niva legend" name in several countries while the "niva" name is also used for the rebranding of some GM based models. It is not the car you'd want to commute on, or drive in highways but it is a super decent offroader. I'd probably choose the Suzuki Jimny over a brand new Niva Legend though.
- jabl 11mo ago> I'd probably choose the Suzuki Jimny over a brand new Niva Legend though. Semi-offtopic, but what decent 'proper' off-road vehicles are available on the market these days? Seems many (most?) of the 'traditional' brands like Jeep and Land Rover as well as most pick-up trucks have long since switched to the 'luxury SUV/truck' market rather than actual off-road vehicles.
- usrnm 11mo agoI recently came back from a safari in Africa and the standard vehicle for it is a Toyota J70.
- prmoustache 11mo ago> 'traditional' brands like Jeep and Land Rover Well that ship has sailed long ago no? I am 45y old and since I was a kid I have always seen them more as urban toys than anything despute their real off road capabilities. To me traditional off-road vehicles brands are more like Toyota, Isuzu, Santana, Nissan and Mitsubishi. These are the ones you really see off the road frequently.