1978 Moskvitch 427 Estate from UK and Ireland - Comments

I had a puncture in 1981.

Great car. If I could find another, I would buy it.

I have a Moskvich 427, currently undergoing a rebuild. Fantastic car, how many other 19 year olds do you know with a Moskvich in the UK?

Is it a joke? Then it's not funny. A car CANNOT go 189000 miles and 20+ years without a break or problem at all. Even if you avoided telling about changing such things like shock absorbers, clutch etc, which die out sooner or later in every car, due to their construction, about regulating carburettor etc, I still cannot believe your car had not any break for this great time at all. I live in Russia and I know Moskviches well. They are knot Rolls-Royce and MB's competitives in fields of reliability and durability. They are not at all, so to speak. Please tell more about your car's life, because such articles can deceive people. Or was it a joke? Anyway, I'm surprised that these cars have their fans and appreciators in the west.

I ran a Moskvich 412 saloon from 1972 til1993, It NEVER let me down. I changed a lower steering joint for a British one which collapsed after 100 miles. I adjusted??? and replaced the original. Fantastic cars.

The commentator who "lives in Russia", and tells us that he "knows Moskvitches well", seems surprised that the car can be so reliable. Does he not understand that conscientious and regular maintenance of any vehicle will guarantee its reliability and longevity? I`ve seen plenty of M.B.`s that have been abused by their thoughtless owners, and become totally unreliable. A car is really only as good as the owner behind it- and let`s face it: there are a lot of bad owners out there. They are usually the ones making all the critical noise!

I had this car as my first car. I actually still have it, but it is now covered in plastic, sitting in a shed until I have time and money to get it running again.

It is a strange car. It has great suspension. The ride is about the same as in my Volvo 740.

The problems with this car: It is extremely noisy.

The exhaust has rusted off, and it was not easy to find a replacement.

The gearbox cannot stand high-speeds. I was in a hurry once, and had to drive 120 km/h for 2 hours straight. At the end, I came home, but my gearbox had locked up in 4th gear and some parts had grounded off.

It has no power steering, but because of the big wheel, it steers quite easy.

The brakes aren't really powerful.

The engine itself can handle a lot and is easy to maintain. Very good accessible parts!

When I was a student: this thing was really a good attention-attention seeker. It stood out between all the Fiat Punto's and VW Golf's other students drove. Yet, on the highway, I never managed to keep up with them.

The engine overheats easily on the highway in the summer!

Also, it needs 1 liter of oil every 1000 km's. (That was according to the manual!!! Mine needed 1 liter every 800 km's)

Not the wonder-car described above! It needs a lot of maintenance, and even then, it is almost undriveable by current standards (my sister drove it once and never wanted to do that again).

Good car. I like it.

Hi, I am living in Ukraine at the moment and there are thousands of Moskvich on the roads here and they seem to run forever.

Have a great Moskvich Key Ring with Manufacturers Logo in Centre if anyone interested.

Mail me bickerstonehall@yahoo.com.

John.

Moskvich 427.

Bought 1972 and licensed every year.

When new, the brakes were very powerful, but now maybe the servo is not so good, rather noisy, uses very little oil, but was never driven really fast and was always well maintained.

Front brake balancing at the MOT is a bit of a problem though.

I wonder what the price would be in the UK?

Stewart.

In the early 1970s, my mother decided we needed a car to run us (4 children) around East Anglia during the school holidays, she eventually found a Moscovich 412 estate (with the 2 piece tail gate) which was duly purchased for 170GBP with a new battery as the clincher on the deal. This car (now christened "Natasha") went all over East Anglia in the holidays, then was used as the main car for the farm afterwards when she got a car with a new job. It was on the road for at least 5 years when due to the lack of spares for the MOT test (rubber bushings were the biggest problem to obtain in the pre-Internet days) and the acquisition of an old rover P6, meant that Natasha was retired to the farm, but come harvest time she shone, loaded with barrels of oils, diesel and grease and tools (and sometimes a 3m combine knife tied to the roof rack) she was driven over the fields each morning to service our venerable combine, often being called on to jump start the combine after we ad completed the daily servicing (good thing we got that new battery!!).

After 12-13 years of faithful service in 1985 my father moved farm to Scotland, and we had a sale, and unfortunately Natasha went under the hammer for 35GBP to some traveling people who were in the scrap trade. but only 135GBP depreciation over 12 years and all that fun what more can you ask. I have since worked with agricultural spare parts in the CIS for the last 12 years and have seen many Mosckoviches (some a lot more heavily loaded than ours was) and even hailed a few as taxis.

My parents still feel that it was the best 170GBP they spent on four wheels, and I would love to buy one again to join my P6 in splendid retirement.