1997 Lada Samara from North America - Comments

I think lada is a great car to own! Unfortunately, I am in San Francisco and not able to get it here. I have been looking for a good condition 2105,2106 or 2107 RWD. If you know a place I can buy it in Canada please email me alex@junosource.com.

Thank you.

Hello.

I live in Toronto and I am looking to buy a Lada in Canada. I know that there are a number of them in Quebec. I will go anywhere in Canada to get one it does not have to be in running condition. If you or someone you know is selling one please let me know via e-mail at djokanovic@trebnet.com.

HI FRIENDS:

I'm from Mexico, but I live in Canada, last year in my country the Ladas was sold, but was imposible, so I feel so sad. But now I know that in Canada there are ladas, it's cool. I don't know if sell them here, if anybody know I want to buy one. Thank you.

My email: eden1945@hotmail.com

I think that the Niva is the best car off road in the world.

To the Russian guys. I think there is a huge difference between Ladas made for the domestic market (Russia) and imported ones (Canada and Europe). I never owned one (thank God) but I read about them a lot and originally I'm from Russia too, although I live in USA now. My father used to own a 2104 station wagon when we lived in Russia. The 2108 and 2109 and the updated versions are considered pretty bad cars in their home country which are often modified by the youth to race with foreign makes. They are I'm sure much more inferior in construction and level of assembly to their exported brethren because Lada didn't want other countries to think their cars are junk. Which is why you see the Canadians saying how great and reliable Ladas are given proper maintenance and the Russians saying how horrible and unreliable those cars are.

Also, just to make it clear, you cannot buy these cars in USA legally, only in Canada. They will not pass US emissions and safety tests without a large amount of modifications worth many times the original cost of the car. Only when they're 25 years or older, there might be a possibility of actually importing them into USA for driving on the street.

To people seeking old Ladas in USA, I saw some on eBay, they do sell once in a while, but those are going to be the 2101 series from 70s - early 80s. They're over 25 years old and considered antiques by now.

I don`t think ALL Russians think that their cars are "horrible and unreliable" at all. I have a suspicion that this type of rhetoric emanates mainly from those "Russians" who have abandoned their country and culture, and chosen to live in other countries - such as the U.S.A.

We had Lada here in rural Nova Scotia back in the 80's and they were crude. However, they were easy to work on and fun to beat around the country in. They rusted quite badly, and there are virtually none left around here now. I don't think that anyone rustproofed them back then.

If it came down to a cheap economy car face-off, I'd probably take a Lada, if rust hadn't taken it first. They don't like salt on the roads very much. The Samara, whatever it's faults, is still leagues better than the Fiat 128-er, the Signet, that was exported to Canada before it. Reliability, dependability, simplicity, all thanks to the double-checks that the vehicles got when they were exported.

As you can see (I drive a Corolla), there are a numerous reasons why people buy this particular car, and not the other one. I liked Ladas a lot in the eighties. I was only in my teens then, but (in Belgium) they were a part of the street image at the time.

I don't like the recent model's styling, but simplicity (especially in electronics) is a brilliant thing. A Lada is a tremendous choice if you drive around town till even a 14,000 miles a year. It doesn't have the gizmos, or the 'image' (who cares about THAT?. Beemer drivers?), but it gets you anywhere, anytime and above all, very low cost. I was curious to read about Lada in here. And I am positively surprised.

Hey all.

My father used to have a 92' 1.5 Samara, bought new, and here is the negatives we have witnessed:

- There is ALWAYS a problem with electricity (shaky fuses)

- Not-very-reliable air conditioning. We even sometime swapped it for some Toyota one or something like that, but it didn't work that well either.

- The interior is not sturdy at all, very cheap, to the extend that all the dash board and front interior (which contains and holds the dashboard as well) have been broken easily because of some "road holes" in ONE 30 min. trip!

However, after nearly 18 years, the engine still works beautifully, it accelerates very well, of course not that fast, but still it saved its status from the purchases day, very very smooth.

The ride is tough, though I think this may make a bit of problem, as sometimes it affects the smoothness of the car.

Adam.