ernie":dj72i6dc said:
I went to work in Georgia {old Russian state}in September 2008 --January 2009. I was there as part of the European mission after the Russians invaded. I drove a Armour Plated Toyota landcruiser weighing in at a 4.5 tonnes, again i was not native to the driving there :roll: :roll: ..by god you do "switch on" and match it.."eat or be eaten". Driving in the capital Tbilisi its like a place station game, load you up and press the pedal :shock: :shock: and go.The lada niva could go any where, but that also down to wreckless quality of driving. These cars would speed on by without a care in the world -20 degrees. Even the Swedish team i worked along side had the Mecedes "G" wagon, and they struggled at times. I got talking to a local guy, and through is very good English he explained to me that lada's are very basic and if you have a basic "agricultural" mechanics background{which most of the industry/work is farming} you can work on them very easily.
Hope this helps
Ernie
I agree, machines with basic mechanics are always preferable, that is why every car I have liked, the Series One Land- Rover and the VW transporter have been basic but repair easily and anywhere mechanics, often with the minimum of tools. I don't care what manufacturers say about the increasing electronics in cars, for me they are a pain in the ass, as they take the repair power away from me into the hands of so called specialists and there increased costs and distrust of the machine.
The other thing of course that there is with basic machines, is what's called seat of the pants driving, with a driver having a direct connection to the transmission, the steering and suspension, without damping from servo controlled this that and the other, one gets to know just how far one can push a basic machine.
My old VW air cooled van, I learned by seat of the pants driving, that I could sling it around a corner and lift the rear wheel and the thing was still good to drive, and predictable. Apparently, it looked shocking to an observer seeing a rear wheel lift off the ground, but from a driver's point of view, it was fine, and a testimony to the good but ancient design and weight distribution of the old Vee dubs, a very well balanced vehicle.
I would have a Niva in a heartbeat despite my Pal's problems with the Cossacks, like I said once a thing is a few years old the niggles tend to have worked themselves out, so an older machine is always more preferable. To me, an ideal vehicle, would be the VW Synchro, the early ones, a well balanced van with independant suspension and 4wd when it detected loss of traction, the old Audi Quattro transmission put to a better use.
