Glove box fell apart within weeks.
Window regulator on drivers door failed. 'Fixed' by jamming the window up.
After repairing the regulator, the adhesive used to mount the drop glass to the regulator wire failed, the drop glass dropped into the door and shattered.
Trim awful.
Heater control failed, though the heater was superb.
Cam chain tensioner a bane.
Quietening block on the cam chain run fell into the sump!
Clutch partially failed at 90000 miles, I just clutchless shifted most of the time after that.
Original exhaust went at 92000 miles.
Rust.
More rust, primarily on the tops of the front wings.
Calipers eventually seized at 98000 miles. Doddle to fix.
Front tyre wear excessive.
Handles atrociously until you get the knack, which is to treat the thing with utter contempt. Easy to drive quickly when you gain confidence, but wallowy.
Good brakes, superb lights.
Steering very heavy and vague.
Brakes heavy.
The most reliable car I have ever owned. It never let me down!.
Mechanically sound, cosmetic disaster.
I had a 1985 Riva 1200 bought 2nd hand in 1989 with worn timing chain, bald tyre and tatty vinyl roof. Fitted new chain but somehow reversed all the timings so plug 1 became 4, however it worked perfectly. The interior fell apart, cardboard door panels were the worst ever seen in a car. The medieval emission control also failed so the car lost any power it had, I simply removed all of it from the induction system and every thing was OK again. This was the 2nd Lada after a 1981 original 1200 model which was an excellent car and only died after it was run into and the value precluded a repair, both were really reliable in all honesty and could run when others wouldn't.
Good old Lada Rivas! I've had five - the first was badly written off after a big five car smash, but it still drove for two months until the insurers paid out... I replaced it and after years of use sold that Riva for a profit to a Russian, who took a transporter full of them back to Russia, the third one went the same way, and the fourth and fifth covered huge mileages with home maintenance, until fashionable girlfriends refused to go in them!!
These cars are built mechanically tough for atrocious conditions and rough roads, but the interiors fall apart and panels rust. I loved the fabulous headlights, proper bumpers, simplicity and the sheer hilarity of scaring the bejesus out of boy racers - especially in my old 1500 estate!!
A great introduction to driving - the 3" of steering slack gave no change of direction then bang over the kerb; brake pedal with - nothing, nothing, nothing - SCREEEEEECHOFRUBBER - WoooAAAH - sideways; gas pedal with so much slack - nothing, nothing, nothing - 6000rpm ROOOOAAARRRR; clutch off a bus. Nothing was done for you electrically - you had to learn how to deal with anything - particularly your tight parking technique with the ten tonne steering.
I have had some cars, but nothing like this - I am still on the lookout for another low mileage minter to relive all of the above. My wife will not let one near the house.
If you can drive a Lada Riva proper quick against a modern car and keep perfect control, you can drive ANYTHING. This demands technique unknown in modern cars - they don't bite, Ladas do!! (not because of the power, but because of the lack of any precise controls, coupled with antique design, communist manufacture and hard slippery compound rubber tyres designed for tracks)
In this haze of nostalgia, I have forgotten about, for example, the 20mpg and the fact I had to keep a suitcase behind my seat on three of the five Rivas, as the seatbacks had snapped.
Hideous; for all the right reasons, but damn fine as it demands skill and makes you learn car control.
I have covered 100,000+ (hard!) miles in Rivas - never managed to break down once. Good old daft Riva.
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