Lada 2111

The Samara had been a reasonably good car for the price paid. The Niva is a genuine true blood off roader better than many out there. But what is this ?

I wanted to spare some money two yeas ago, instead of spending it all on a car, I wanted to stow away some dough for a nice holiday. So I walked into a Lada dealer thinking that the USSR had collapsed and the mentality and philosophy for manufacturing had changed.

I did see it had changed. But for worse...

Looks and Body :
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The new body design is not very exciting. It is not very modern either. As I listened to the gentleman who seemed to be really in love with his job, I learnt the car was actually designed back in 1992 but wasn't produced until 1997.

"Oh well, better late than never" I thought. I was terribly wrong for a change !

The body build is ridden with countless errors along numerous evidence of shoddy and "couldn't care less" style haphazard assembly and workmanship.

The bonnet of the metallic gold colored sedan (you guys call it "saloon") was so unevenly mounted that while one side had a gap of almost 2 cm.'s, the paint on the other side of the bonnet and adjoining fender was damaged because the gap which was supposed to be there wasn't and the two body parts were scraping against eachother. Horrible !!!

The wing mirrors proved to be "semi-fixed" where they do have a knob to adjust (same of the Samara) but they move but simply do not adjust decently.

The windshield does not give the impression it is seated and fitted correctly on the A pillars and roof. It worries that it may seep / leak of rain and snow water; worse yet, it may fly away at a high speed.

Now let us dwell here for a moment and be fair : It IS a fast car for it's appearance and general quality. I managed to squeeze out a 200 km/h on the highway. Let us take into account that a Russian speedo has an error margin of 20% (I actually expect no further than 10%) that is a whopping 180 km/h for a 1.5 liter injected engine at 77 Hp. Impressive...

The rear end lamps are ugly for the sedan, ho-hum for the station wagon (you guys again call it with a different name: "estate" ) and an absoloute misfit for the hatchback. (Heeeyy we found a body style name in common at last !! )
Tch tch tch... Niet harasho... ("Not good" in Russian)

The rear wheel well is ridiculously narrow and low for the rear fenders. The rear fender is so broad and they still wedged the tyres into a minimal opening. Why ?? To shred tyres under heavy loads ? Or to help the car appear uglier than it is ?

The wheel well-tyre clearance and axle-body clearance is incredibly small. You may hear the distinctive scrape of the tyres and the nerve wracking thud of the axle against the underside of the body if you have 2 people in the backseat.

The exhaust system is jammed into this tiny gap and odds are you may end up ripping away a portion of the pipe; rupturing the pipe or alike. I can say the best solution is to fix Shelby Cobra style (or Dodge Viper) side tubes in place of them if you can stand the bystanders and passers by laughing their brains out at you.

Interior :
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The usual Lada quality shows.

Seats are inexplicably soft. This is a killer on the long drive.

The steering wheel is nothing but the Samara wheel with a half black phony chrome stylistic viking ship logo. The wiper and turn indicator arms, shiftstick, handbrake leve are directly from the Samara.

The controls are annoying. It is a mix up of different styles and gives the feeling as though it is a Frankenstein monster made up of several parts from corpses :

* The illumination switches come fom the Citroen BX. (Lined up around the gauge cluster hood)

* The heating and ventilation controls are a mixture of the Samara (fan speed knob) and the Niva (directional and heat control sliders)

* The Dashboard is again the same material used on the Samara. But the ventilation ports and nozzles are disgusting ! You can clearly see the grey and dirty white colored "veins" in the black plastic they are made of.

It clearly shows that the recycled (or extremely low quality) plastic in a molten state ready for injection into the mould which is supposed to give it the shape was not decently mixed and homogenised.

At the end of the day, you end up looking at plastic parts which remind you of chocolate mosaic cakes all the time. (Not good if you need to watch you weight)

* The electric window controls are placed quite comfortably. (Even Mercedes still places them at the most annoying place possible, next to the shiftstick or stereo)

* The ventilation fan power is high as usual for a Lada. No aircon available though...

* The rear bench STILL folds in whole...

* Need I mention the squeeks, rattles, "jiggy-jiggies" and "jaggy-jaggies" ?

Engine and Mechanics :
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"Please refer to my review of the Lada Samara... "
I need to say... Nothing different...

Handling :
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Better than the Samara by means of directional stability. However the sedan has severe understeer.
That short wheelbase and poor cornering is a weird blend...

Turn Ons :
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Not much

Turn Offs :
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Need I say more ?

Conclusion :
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I would rather pay less and buy a second hand Samara. At least it is cheaper and a bit better looking than this...

Happy motoring...