My Car of Memory Lada (Lada Riva)

Member Name: seoj

Product:	Lada Riva
Date:	01/12/03 (543 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No one wants to nick it, You join a special `club', You hear lots of Lada jokes

Disadvantages: Repairs cost more than the car!, You hear lots of Lada jokes

My first car was a Lada Riva - it was a lovely distinctive beige colour - fashion cred nil points! My sister got a Lada at the same time - but hers was an estate (I was a little envious). However, my Lada was reliable and got me about.

I remember the steering was extremely heavy - a bit like driving a tank - my arm muscles developed nicely. Other down sides to having a Lada were the obvious lack of cred. At the time I worked with young people. I remember I had some small blue cushions on the back seat (from my boyfriends scrapped Honda). If I gave any young men a lift in my car - if they dared to get in - they would hide their faces behind the cushions., to avoid being spotted by anyone they knew. Also I remember it was very cold in my car - you felt the seasons - although it handled well in the ice and snow (face it it was made for Russian weather!) - my breath often threw out a cloud of haze.

These minuses were outweighed by the pluses. Due to it's sort of lego land look the Lada gave me the confidence to "have a go" machanics. Well I was under the thought that my little Russian car was probably designed to be fixed with a few spring clips and a roll of gaffer tape (carried in my tool kit in the boot). Also it was NEVER broken into or tampered with. As I lived in a high car crime area this was the best bonus around. I often visited the most notorious areas of the city due to work. I never lost one ounce of concern over wether my car was being broken into while I worked (often late into the night). Since then I have had 2 major break ins to my car at work and 2 other break ins.

Another plus was the strength of the body work - amazing. I had a run in with a taxi cab - I won't go into the details. But to say I hit the cab as I pulled out of a junction. The taxi cab received a dent in the side and a few scratches - while I was left with hardly a mark. Then my boyfriend backed out into the road and a `boy r

acer' in his dad's escort hit him. I heard the screech and smash from inside the house! I went out to inspect the dameage to my baby! Lada had a small dent in the rear bumper - Escort had the whole of the front ripped off with ligths smashed all over the floor!!!! Oooops I don't think daddy would be pleased!

My Lada went every where with me - we travelled the length of England. It's final trip was it's greatest swan song. It took us down to Glastonbury Festival. I had vowed to run my Lada into the ground - rather than spend wads of cash in keeping it giong - it only cost me £150 after all. It was a hot summer. We had a pass to drive into the site being with the performers. The luxury of parking next to your tent. We filled the boot with larger - the intention was to sell some to get some cash - I think we sold about 6 cans in the end - it was far too hot to carry cans around to sit and sell and miss out on all the music and views!

Lada was in a sorry state - a little rattley when it ran. I didn't know what was up with it and wasn't about to find out. I had to keep stopping all the way there and back to fill it up with oil. On our return I took it into a garage to be told that the timing chain had stretched, broken then ripped a hole in the engine side. There was no hope to revive my baby - it would cost more than the purchase price. I rang a few palces and she went for scrap. I remember at the time wishing I'd spent more thought getting rid of my Lada. There was a programme on not long afterwards about how Rusia was paying upto £150 per car to ship them from the UK to Russia for spares. I felt a little ripped off by the £25 I got from the scrappers - but in the back of my mind I hoped they had really ripped me off, and sent her home to Russia where she belonged.

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