Watch out Skoda!

It seems the russians have got their act together and have actually designed some nice Lada's.

http://www.vaz.ru/v1117.htm
http://www.vaz.ru/v1118.htm

I also understand that Lada may soon start selling these cars in the UK, I think their engines will be GM sourced rather than Mosvich based.

This car looks very much like the new VW Golf from the front and side, but sadly at the back it looks like a Daewoo. I reckon these would do quite well if they sold for around £6000-£7000

Lets just pray to god they don't export these into the UK though unless they are priced at £2000.

http://www.vaz.ru/v2105.htm

This interior is identical to my dads old 1984 Lada Riva apart from the steering wheel . The Escort MK4 is more modern this peice junk in every way. I guess it just shows how poor the average rusians must be if they still buy 1964 FIAT 124's in dressed in early 80's clothes. At least the Hindustan has all the charms of a Morriss Oxford.

http://www.vaz.ru/imgs/cars/2104-3b.jpg

 

They look pretty good. I would say the interiors look better than some of the competition although one can't judge the quality of the materials from the photos. As you say, the price will need to be right in order to tempt people. It worked for Daewoo and they now produce some quite decent cars for the money.

I see Rover are reducing the price of their Indian built City Rover. Trouble is they are reducing it to £6000 from £7000 so it's still £1000 more than most people would consider paying for one.

 

That lada does rather smack of cityrover to me. And topgear had a good laugh at it last night.

I think my next car will be a subaru.

 

Sorry AT, but that car looks truly awful. Definitely up there in the nastiness stakes with a Kia Rio. Not a patch on any modern Skoda from what I can see there.

 

Bloody awful things Ladas, I've been unfortunate enough to have been in a Riva estate and a Samara...absolutely shocking things.

The 'new' models may be more modern, but thats not saying much really...I expect build quality and materials used to be shoddy, regardless of any merit of the design. I foresee near vertical depreciation as well for them....

As for Isaacs next car being a subaru, well if you can get a legacy go for it, went for a drive with my dad in his at the weekend, had the AWD doing its thing where as with FWD we'd be in the hedge though my dads driving calmed down when using the onboard trip computer he discovered the average mpg for the journey was into single figures

 

Unfortunately the new shape (which is what I want) really is out of reach, but seen some good deals on s/h old-shape outbacks, so I'm thinking about a 2.5 outback (the roads around my new place are pretty shocking, and steep/muddy/snow, etc). Will have to see what finances allow once the fallout from house buying is over.

 

But the Skoda Febria may cost £8000 where the equaliant Lada may cost £6000 and I have a strong feeling the engines will be made by GM.

Build quality is a concern but if they have some kind of western production facilities I can't see why they can't be upto at least Korean standards. My biggest concern about these is the ride, as I remmeber from my dads old Lada the ride was really shockingly awful. My dad paid £800 his Lada and it last 6 years with very little trouble until the end when it was scrapped off.

 

Whats the difference between a Lada estate and a wooly awd sheep?


Farmers dont like to be seen climbing out of the back of a Lada estate

 

I used to have a Lada Niva - grand fun off-road with serious chunky looks, but with very little in the way of reliability to recommend it...

And as for the Subaru AWDs, think about a Skoda 4wd turbo estate.. I was looking into the Subarus but discovered they had bad fuel economy, and very high servicing costs... I bought the 4wd Skoda, which has 150bhp, more room than the Subarus (even the Lagacy!), are chipable to 210bhp with ease and cost much less... Not only that it's reliable and fine for duff roads (we live on top of a mountain in the Welsh Borders - it copes well with thick mud and ice)

 

The new legacy 2.0 does 37mpg combined, 47 motorway so that's not at all bad economy. And the last VAG car I drove (Audi A4) was distinctly unimpressive to drive, although it was nicely built. However, it's increasingly looking like I can't afford it, so just stick with the mitsubishi...

 

How is the house move and survey going Isaac. Hope all is well

 

In progress... not as fast as I'd like, but few things are.

 

Has the survey been done yet, that's the worst and slowest part, together with any niggling that comes as a result

 

all very true Leonard,a remapped 4x4 Octavia is a great car for the money,but a bog standard Impreza would leave it for dead.Its simply a matter of buying criteria,for outright speed,traction and handling,the Scoob is in a different league,but when if running costs are important its hard to ignore to Skodas (i went from an Impreza to an Octavia for these very same reasons)

 

A bog standard Impreza? A 1.6? Would leave a remapped Octy 4x4 for dead? I dont think so

 

The 1.6 has long since been dropped. Basic is a 2.0 now. However, it's the legacy that I like. The impreza is rather an immature car imo, and the insurance cost reflects that, plus I don't want to lose my teeth from the ride.

Skodas are fine cars now. However, I like my japanese cars (although not a fan of honda other than the new accord).

 

I saw this lada thing on top gear and almost fell of me seat laughing, ok so its a little better than the boxes on wheels they used to make, but still 10 years behind everyone else, I supose they'll do well when they're sold at discount stores like Lidles for £9.99.

 

You're missing the point, these cars may still look old fashioned but they were first introduced in the Russian motor show in 1999. They are going to be cut price cars and sell for around £6000. That is the same price as the CityRover but the Lada is much bigger and probably no worsly built. The engines have always been tough, even in the old Riva's you could easily get 100,000 miles out of them although you will have to shift clutchless the last 30,000 miles as a new clutch costs 20000 times more than the car will be worth.

There is a reason the Lada Riva is the second biggest selling car in the world after the VW Beatle.

As longs as they have sorted the rust problem out even if they don't drive that well £6k for a new car with full electrics can't be bad, plus you get the same amount of space as a Ford Focus.

 

What's wrong with them ? I thought they were very well built and reliable. Have been considering shortlisting a Civic Type-R to replace my cr*p Shitroen C3 (want to make the most of being single before settling down kicks in and the car's replaced with a bus!)

 

Batfink - nothing as such. It's just that the accord is the only honda that does what I want. The civic is too small, the HRV and CRV pointless, Jazz is too too small, S2000 is too impractical (and if I had budget for a second "fun" car, it would be a caterham or westfield), the Legend is a poor buy compared to Lexus, etc.