IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: Lada Riva (VAZ 2105)

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Lada Riva - VAZ 2105

We’ve never had a Lada on IDRIVEACLASSIC before, so this is something a bit different and exciting!

If you’re watching this from the UK you’ll know this car as the Lada Riva but if you’re abroad, you may know this as the Lada Kalinka, Lada Laika, Dennis Signet or the VAZ-2105. As the car progressed through its lifecycle, it became known as the Lada Classic.

So I guess for everyone moaning this isn’t a classic, it technically is on all accounts I suppose!

Before VAZ launched the Riva, it had launched the 2101 - which was the first car they’d ever Brought to market and like a lot of budding car manufacturers, looked to others in the market for a car they could essentially jazz up and re-badge for their appropriate target audience.

Which is where Fiat came in. The 124 had won European car of the year in 1967 and VAZ worked with Fiat under license and adapted the 124 to fit the needs of the Russian driver. The new car - the 2101 - was given upgrades including aluminium brake drums to rear, a suspension which could withstand Russian terrain, a body made of heavier steel and reinforced chassis in key stress points and a new engine designed by NAMI which sported an overhead camshaft design not used on the Fiat.

However if you’re watching in Italy and you never saw this car, it’s no surprise, because part of the agreement was that VAZ wouldn’t sell these early Ladas in Italy to protect Fiat sales.

So how does this all relate to the Lada we are testing today?

Well, on the back of the runaway success of the 2101, the Riva we are testing here today was launched and for most parts, there aren’t an enormous amount of differences.

There were a few updates including a revamp of the 1.3 engine and the old overhead camshaft design once driven by chain now being driven by toothed belt drive, but things like the aluminium alloy drum brakes, which could be a bit of a pain when warm and suddenly ineffective, stayed firmly on the car.

The only other significant update was a change In the early 90s to single point fuel injection and catalytic converter - but it wasn’t done to keep up with other manufacturers - but simply as a box ticking exercise to meet emissions legislation

Now I know you may be sat at home thinking, this is ridiculous that a car so basic was selling so well and even coming to market like this in 1980, but consider the home audience and it all makes a bit more sense.

the car at launch in 1980 was born into a world where your average Russian may have to wait over a year for a new car - so buyers were at a point where simply owning a car was a massive privilege - so buyers were a lot less choosy and spoilt for choice than other European markets.

But it wasn’t just popular in Russia and over 18 million Lada Riva sold across the world in everywhere from their home territory of Russia to the UK, to Egypt to New Zealand. In fact, it’s worth mentioning the deal with New Zealand, the cars were actually sold and distributed by the New Zealand dairy board and were weirdly swapped for deliveries of mutton and butter to the Soviet Union - a deal that went on as a late as 1990.

When it launched in the UK in 1983, you could’ve picked a 1300GL or the Riva 1200L and in the UK, the car did relatively well and by 1986 had sold 20,000 cars and by 1988, had sold 30,000.

The cars, wherever you bought them globally, were only ever available with a 4 or 5 speed manual box.

Now there are lots of different variants across the the world in terms of how these cars came to market - which really proves the versatility of the car but also leaves me in a position to tell you that I cannot simply list them all here!

So despite cheap car competition coming in from various other manufacturers across the world, the Riva continued to sell - albeit slower as the 90s progressed as more cheap car options became available. The only reason the cars stopped selling in 2007 in the UK was simply due to emissions and VAZ deciding to withdraw rather than modify the cars.

The Riva was possibly one of the world’s most loved cars and ceased production in April 2011 and the estate variant stopped being sold in Egypt in 2015.

Now that we’ve talked a little about the car, let’s meet the owner Steve.

PS. I know the numberplates shouldn’t be black and white - but it’s not my car to mess around with - so they were present for video and filming.

Видео IDRIVEACLASSIC reviews: Lada Riva (VAZ 2105) канала idriveaclassic