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Any other new 4 wheel drives in the pipeline ?


Mo Murphy

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  • 4 months later...

I owned two Niva's in the dim and distant past. There were not many about in the UK back then, the first, complete with a wiring loom who's colour codes appeared to be hand painted , seemed to corrode and dissolve before your very eyes was a decent enough thing Offroad but pretty dire day to day onroad. The second was a much better drive all-round but still had trim that seemed to be vacuum formed out of recycled yoghurt pots. I think I still have the pukka hardcover Russian repair manual around somewhere.

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I actually like that! I don't know why I never really thought of it before. After that video I'd definitely consider it as a sensible option for access to LEZ etc, cheap with a modern(ish) engine but none of the gizmos that I hate in just about all other modern cars. And it certainly has character! Just slap on some Ladoga stickers and I'd be on my happy way. 😀

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On 6/27/2021 at 11:00 PM, Happyoldgit said:

I owned two Niva's in the dim and distant past. There were not many about in the UK back then, the first, complete with a wiring loom who's colour codes appeared to be hand painted , seemed to corrode and dissolve before your very eyes was a decent enough thing Offroad but pretty dire day to day onroad. The second was a much better drive all-round but still had trim that seemed to be vacuum formed out of recycled yoghurt pots. I think I still have the pukka hardcover Russian repair manual around somewhere.

I didnt realise they still made them ! I nearly bought one new in early 1990s. I had driven a battered old one off road only and was impressed with its capability, so thought it would be OK. Then I test drove the new one at a dealer. It was so harsh and vibratory that I changed my mind, also the interior was much as Happyoldgit describes 😄

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3 hours ago, smallfry said:

I didnt realise they still made them ! I nearly bought one new in early 1990s. I had driven a battered old one off road only and was impressed with its capability, so thought it would be OK. Then I test drove the new one at a dealer. It was so harsh and vibratory that I changed my mind, also the interior was much as Happyoldgit describes 😄

They had an issue with balancing of prop shafts which the better dealers corrected before delivery. The Cossacks seemed to be slightly better inspected, but the build was always a little approximate!

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3 hours ago, jeremy996 said:

They had an issue with balancing of prop shafts which the better dealers corrected before delivery. The Cossacks seemed to be slightly better inspected, but the build was always a little approximate!

IIRC The transfer box was / is mounted by two bolts into bushed brackets bolted to the floorpan, one each side of the transmission tunnel at what seemed like the point of balance of the box. The bushed brackets were shimmed and it was these that had a lot to do with transmission vibration. My first Niva [LHD] was initially quite harsh but messing about adding and subtracting shim plates of various thicknesses helped the manners a lot. I eventually fitted a set of aggressive 700x16 directional tyres which sang like a banshee on road but made the vehicle ace in the muck. The second Niva [RHD], in a strange fawn / beige colour, was much better adjusted from the off so I spent far less time faffing with that one.   

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My Dad commented on them when he was out in Azerbaijan for a couple of years - loads of them about, not surprisingly. They were very capable off road and as long as you didn't mind much of the interior falling off they were robust, long lived and cheap to run and maintain. More surprising was where the Azeris could get with a bog standard Lada Riva...

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On 6/30/2021 at 1:09 PM, smallfry said:

I didnt realise they still made them ! I nearly bought one new in early 1990s. I had driven a battered old one off road only and was impressed with its capability, so thought it would be OK. Then I test drove the new one at a dealer. It was so harsh and vibratory that I changed my mind, also the interior was much as Happyoldgit describes 😄

They still hold their value it seems, we had one rock up at the overland show for sale at £6500 😳

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