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We found a second-hand Lada Riva Estate 1.4 at, of all places, a BMW dealer (that's some trade in). The car was three years old at the time (F regsitered) and only had 24,000 miles on the clock. It was £1,000. Seemed like a good deal. Hmmmmm....
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The ... Read review
Advantages: It's 'tall'. You can see over the top of most cars Disadvantages: Everything else
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We found a second-hand Lada Riva Estate 1.4 at, of all places, a BMW dealer (that's some trade in). The car was three years old at the time (F regsitered) and only had 24,000 miles on the clock. It was £1,000. Seemed like a good deal. Hmmmmm....
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The Details
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As mentioned, the Lada Riva I owned was an estate car. It had a small engine ... ...£1000.
The Lada Riva was a 'tall' car. Not as tall as a van, SUV or MVP but taller than most passenger cars. This was nice, since I could see over the tops of most other cars - handy in traffic to see when we could go. If the car would go.
It took unleaded, as mentioned above. Although the car was petrol-greedy, at least the petrol was cheaper.
A standard service was fairly cheap, as the engine was so ... more
Background - or, How Did I End Up With This? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I originally learned to drive in Oregon. I learned to drive an automatic transmission, and the test was ridiculously easy (just drive for a bit, really). I never owned a car in the States, and rarely drove.
I moved to the UK. Being either sensible or a coward, depending on your point of view, I decided to start from scratch. After all, cars here are by and large manual transmissions...you drive on the left side of the road...roundabouts - all these things scared me.
I passed my test after two instructors (the first died...but I wasn't driving at the time) and two tests (that saga deserves an essay of its own sometime).
After a while, it was clear I needed a car. I had an infant in a large pushchair - the bus just wasn't practical for me.
We found a second-hand Lada Riva Estate 1.4 at, of all places, a BMW dealer (that's some trade in). The car was three years old at the time (F regsitered) and only had 24,000 miles on the clock. It was £1,000. Seemed like a good deal. Hmmmmm....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Details ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As mentioned, the Lada Riva I owned was an estate car. It had a small engine for the size of the car, and had a four speed manual transmission. It took unleaded petrol, which was only just becoming popular at the time.
Its maximum speed under normal driving conditions was around 60ish, although (and this IS true), I did get it to 90 on the M40. Downhill. With the wind behind me. As a digression, that WAS fun - watching the drivers' of posher cars (i.e. everyone else) mouths drop open from sheer amazement and disbelief.
It had a radio cassette (although I had to use tweezers to get the tapes out of the cassette player). That was pretty much it for features. I was lucky it had four wheels and an engine (of sorts).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Good ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well...it WAS cheap - but I came to realise that it was overpriced even at £1000.
The Lada Riva was a 'tall' car. Not as tall as a van, SUV or MVP but taller than most passenger cars. This was nice, since I could see over the tops of most other cars - handy in traffic to see when we could go. If the car would go.
It took unleaded, as mentioned above. Although the car was petrol-greedy, at least the petrol was cheaper.
A standard service was fairly cheap, as the engine was so simple - there were no electronics to speak of in the car - a hobbyist could service it (my husband, who knows a bit about cars but isn't obsessive, did minor service on it). HOWEVER, things did go wrong a lot...but that belongs in the next section.
Visibility was good - the rear pillars were small, thus few blind spots. Being an estate car, the back of the car was pretty much at the back window, so I knew where the back of the car was when reversing.
The boot was ROOMY. This was absolutely crucial in the days when my daughter was small and still required enough equipement to aid a small nation. Or so it seemed at the time. I could get her pushchair, shopping, an extra pushchair and all the other bumf you have to carry around when travelling with a small child into the rear baggage space without a problem. Of course, the boot DID have a rather annoying problem...but I'll get to that shortly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Bad ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hmmm...where to begin. Let's start with the smaller stuff.
The thingies (do they have a name?) that hold the rear boot door open didn't work. I had to prop the hatch open with a golf umbrella.
You could take the key out of the ignition and the engine would continue to run. Also, if you didn't turn off the ignition in exactly the right way (it took a knack), the radio would lose all of its pre-set stations. And the clock would go.
The front passenger window had lost its windy thing. The rear driver-side window went down on its own. To raise it, I had to open the door, put one hand on the inside and the other on the outside and pull it up. It came down during driving. Never mind - no-one ever tried to steal the car. I was rather hoping someone would...I left notes begging someone to. No, I didn't. I made that bit up. :)
The interior fan belt (the fan that allows you to demist your windows) finally gave up the ghost, and I was told it would be a fortune to replace. For a while, I could get it going Tardis style - just bang on the dash. Hard. After a bit, even that stopped working. On the subject of de-misting, both the rear screen defogger and the rear screen wiper died as well. I had the wiper fixed, but the demister was a lost cause - it would have cost more to have the window replaced than the car was worth.
Moving onto more serious problems, the alternator never worked properly - even when we had it replaced. I went through three batteries in around the five years I owned the car. If the car was left undriven for more than a few days, the battery would be as flat as the proverbial pancake.
The car badly needed a fifth gear. After about 40 miles an hour, you could no longer hear the radio, because the engine was very LOUD. The whole car shook during motorway driving. Fuel consumption was terrible, partly, I suspect, as a result of the lack of fifth gear. The fuel tank was tiny though - I spent around £20 filling it if memory serves. But keep in mind, this was back in around 1995ish. I spent a fair amount of time in petrol station forecourts.
The engine (1.4) was tiny and badly underpowered for a car of its size, meaning it did 0-60 in around...oh...three days. The Lada was a TANK. It also drove like one - there was no power steering, so I gained some pretty impressive muscles driving that car. The turning circle was poor, although it was a rare event indeed when I could muster the strength to turn the wheel to full lock.
The clutch cables needed regular replacement, and the gears were stiff. It had an old fashioned gear stick - just a stick with a knob at the end. Reverse was a bugger to get to - it required some force.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Ugly ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The car, really. It was an ugly off-white. It was an ugly car. It had ugly brown poo coloured plastic seats. I couldn't wear shorts in the car in the summer (and me in shorts really IS ugly), since the seat would burn my legs. No status symbol, this car!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Slightly Amusing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The instruction booklet contained such nuggets of useful information such as: "Do not attempt to iron the seatbelts." Damn! And I do like freshly pressed seatbelts with a nice sharp crease down the middle.
"Do not drink the petrol; it is poisonous." There goes my evenings' entertainment out the window (that, if you recall, didn't shut properly anyway).
I did NOT make those up!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The End Result, or, How I Finally Got Rid of This Heap-o-Junk ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finally, the car wouldn't go - the alternator had completely packed up. Even if I could have started it, it wouldn't have stopped. The brakes were non-functional. By this time, any repairs would have cost far more than the car was worth.
Have you ever seen those small ads in local papers that say 'CARS WANTED FOR CASH - any car considered?' The lie. People wanted ME to pay so that they could take the Lada away.
I sent an email around work - £10 CAR! No-one wanted it. Finally, a mate of my boss, who runs a garage, took it away for me, for free. Remember, because of the lack of working brakes, it needed a solid tow bar. I asked what happened to it.
Apparently, it was donated to a local fire station so that they could set it alight and practise putting car fires out. A fitting end, I felt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Comic Relief - Lada Jokes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A man walks into a garage and says, "can I have a windscreen wiper for my Lada?". The mechanic replies "sure, fair exchange".
What do you call a Lada with two exhausts? A wheelbarrow.
What do you call a Lada with a sunroof? A skip.
Oh, how I laughed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BUYER BEWARE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't buy this car!
Thank you for your kind attention, now go and enjoy driving a PROPER car!
Advantages: It was solid and reliable Disadvantages: Are you serious?
...low mileage, ten year old Lada Riva 1500 Estate that they don't need anymore, and are prepared to sell to Dave for £150. There's an interesting/amusing story behind it, but that's for another day, (although I may add it later upon request). Iain is mercifully unaware of this. One Sunday afternoon in the August of 1991, Dave and his wife disappear in the car and when she returns, he does not. Iain is upstairs, probably reading a book, as that's the ... ...that didn't, however, as the Lada Riva Estate featured a black vinyl roof which caught the sun and overheated the car beautifully. Especially the nice, er I mean HUGE, plastic steering wheel. The only other place I have seen a steering wheel that size was on a bus. On the plus side, it meant that you had something to hang on to should anything go wrong. And, believe me, you were expecting EVERYTHING to go wrong at pretty much any second. Extras? ...
Soho_Black 15.09.2002
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Lada Riva
Advantages: Die Hard Car Disadvantages: Well, Its a Lada.
...jest) you will find a Lada Riva, or its variant, or indeed, a Lada Riva Chasis, with things welded to it, driving around at full pelt.
The Engine Rev counter only needs 2 settings for display, Engine off, and Full Revs, as Ive certainly never seen a Lada of any description operating under differing circumstances.
Lada is the trademark of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer.. It was chosen for exports over the domestic Zhiguli brand, but since the ... ...Russian market as well. Lada made its name in Western Europe selling the Lada Riva as an economy car in large quantities during the 1980s, but subsequent models have not enjoyed the same success as the Riva.
It was marketed as the Lada Nova in some (but not all) European countries, and as the Lada 1500 and Lada Signet in Canada. In Brazil it was sold as the Lada Laika. The Lada Riva is the second most built single vehicle design in the world, at ...
gt5952 20.11.2007
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Lada Riva
Advantages: Can't be beat for reverse snobism Disadvantages: Everybody thinks you are a total lunatic (this is NOT viewed as a disadvantage by me)
...the next best, a 1988 Lada Riva 1200L saloon with flames painted on.
The car has a blistering array of base equipment, which includes, but is not limited to the follwoing goodies:
- Space.
The other day I had a ride in a new BMW 1-class for ten minutes, after which I had to stretch for half an hour and my knee still hurts. Compared to this, in a Lada you feel like honey, I shrunk the passengers. The Lada also has the better haptics inside. While ... ...bottom, the Lada interior at least has the ambience of a second class compartment of Southwest Trains.
- Entertainment System Consisting of passengers singing the Internationale.
- Central Locking
You can reach all door lock knobs while comfortly sitting in the driver's seat.
- Roof
Keeps rain from entering the car.
- Floor
Keeps splash water from entering the car.
- Doors
Keep nosey views from entering the car.
- Lamps
Can be switched ...
krazykriz 30.06.2007
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Lada Riva
Advantages: Very cheap; practical estate Disadvantages: Crude; uncomfortable; thirsty; noisy
Value Needs to be both clean and cheap to be worth considering; rusty heaps are worth nothing nowadays. Costs Heavy body and ancient engine mean poor fuel economy; cheap insurance; very easy for DIY maintenance. Reliability Tough old design is simplicity itself; will slog on for years with minimal attention. Driving The Riva’s weakest point: stiff steering; ponderous cornering; heavy clutch, awkward pedal positioning. Performance Slow and lumbering ... ...reached motorway speeds. Comfort Jolting ride; high noise levels; seating hard and trim basic; interior space is adequate on saloon, generous on estate. Image An antistyle statement; the estate earns grudging respect amongst the thrifty as a loadlugging workhorse.
Safety No modern safety features - try not to crash it. Security Offers little resistance to thieves - but they're probably all busy nicking decent cars… CarCheck Body: Rust; tailgate ...
Bluemonkey 09.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: helpful Review of Lada Riva
Value for Money
Road Handling
Comfort
Fuel consumption
Looks
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Advantages: Economical, reasonably comfortable, some nifty gadgets Disadvantages: I've been experiencing electrical faults; big blind spots
Background
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For me, driving is simply a method of getting from A to B. I don’t especially enjoy driving, and will happily be driven. Driving my husband around is a NIGHTMARE – he’s the world’s worst passenger seat driver. But I digress.
My first car was an F-reg LadaRiva estate. It was a heap-o-junk. Anything after that had to be a bonus.
Once we disposed of the Lada (which is a story in itself for another time and place), both my husband and I drove an F-reg Nissan Bluebird Turbo. It was blockish (we are talking 1988 make here), but quick off the mark and reasonably reliable (although we did have to do ‘things’ to the turbo – including replacing it once). However, once it had seen 154,000 miles, it was clearly time to put it out to grass.
So a replacement ...
Advantages: Frugal, cheep to run and look after, entertaining handling Disadvantages: RUST, RUST and MORE RUST.
YUGO, I GO, CAR DON'T GO.........
This is a review of my first car........I purcased this from a Ford dealer 3 months after passing my test. March 1992........It cost me £350 was a 1985 'C' in white and had a centre plastic console with none working radio!!
The Yugo I had was the 45 model which was 903cc version (The Yugo 60 was a 1.3) although in practice there was little difference in performance.....
A history leason for those not sure. Yugo was the brand name for the company called Zastava based in Serbia (relevant later on!) the 45,55 etc were based on the FIAT 127 greasy bits with a mildish re-shape. (They shouldn't have bothered the 127 is far better looking) they also made the 311 and 511 based on the Fiat 126 (think LADARiva) with the oddest rear end treatment........
Anyway, the car......
As I've said it was ...
catwill74 10.08.2007
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Ciao members have rated this car review on average: very helpful Review of Yugo 60
