I brought a Lada Niva!

[jaycey001]

Ive been in the market for a reliable, long distance cruiser for some time and had narrowed my search down to a Discovery Tdi or even a Dacia of some description. I live in Southern Spain so needed something that would be reliable for driving back to England in several times a year (I know you are now checking the title of this thread, dont worry its not a glitch in the forums 🤣)

So I was browsing Wallapop and facebook market place, which seems to be my only pass time at the moment, and up came a 1992 Lada Niva with 52,000 Km on the clock and it had a Snorkel fitted!! So I immediately contacted the owner and arranged to view it the following week. I had assumed the vehicle was in Granada province as per my search criteria but on investigating realized it was closer to Madrid than Granada and was a good 6 hour drive away, across mountain passes, incredibly steep inclines, hair pin bends and sheer drops.

Regardless, a friend agreed to drive me there and we headed off to view my future reliable pan-European cruiser. The boot of his 1997 Pushrod Fiesta was filled with spares, tools, tow ropes, jump leads, spares and camping gear (just encase)  and we headed off. Even in the passenger front seat I felt travel sick driving along the mountain passes and after a few hours I longed to be behind the wheel of the Lada so I at least could focus on driving and not if I was about to vomit over the mountain side.

We passed through many tiny Spanish towns and farming communities and eventually arrived in a village in Ciudad Real and saw the Lada parked at the road side, without a Snorkel, just a hole in the bonnet where it should have been. Good start I thought!

The Lada had about 3 foot of thick dried mud stuck to every surface which made rust checking impossible, I went to check the oil but the seller didnt know where the dip stick was and when I found it there was no trace of oil in the sump at all, on date checking the tires it was obvious they were the original Ukrainian rubber and well cracked with unknown inner tubes, the drivers door window didnt wind down, but the screw driver wedged in to hold it up was included in the sale, Bargain!

I went to start it and when it burst into life the seller made a surprised and relived sound as if he wasnt expecting it to start. All good signs of a bargain I thought and after traveling all that way I knew it would be impossible to negotiate the price, which it was. On a short test drive the cabin filled with petrol fumes and crawled along at a leisurely and very noisy  pace.

Obviously, as any Autoshiter would do I handed over a big bundle of cash with a smile and jumped in ready for the 200km drive home. As the seller counted his cash he commented that driving it was "Pure Joy" he then loaded me up with free Coca Cola (possibly anticipating a breakdown and didnt want me dyeing of dehydration in 40C heat!)

First stop was a petrol station and filled it to the brim for a total of 29 euro we then headed off across the mountains, the fuel gauge swung erratically along with the oil pressure gauge around every turn  and after 2 hours behind the wheel I knew I had a gem of a car, driving it is like a cross between my old 89 O Series Petrol Sherpa van and a 300tdi Defender, just a collection of all the worse bits of both of them! The steering is vague to say the least and on tight bends you turn the wheel and it seems nothing happens until a few seconds later when it eventually bites and flings you in the direction you want to go, the breaks are non existent but the gearing is so low all you need to do is come off the accelerator and your crawling along.

Another hour or two later we decided to find a camp site, which led us into a national park, with ridiculous 12% inclines which included a hair pin at the top and every time I had to get up one of these hills I would need 1st or 2nd gear and every so often the engine would miss and feel like it was about to cut out, by then I would have a huge line of traffic behind me, when going down the hills the huge line of traffic would back right off as the exhaust popped and banged due to over fueling. Even my mate who I was following could smell the un-burnt fuel coming off the car.  Another feature is that when you go above 80km/h the wing mirrors self fold allowing for more aerodynamics - those clever Russians knew what they were doing!

Finally at the campsite I sat and drank many beers while my body recovered from the trip.

The next day early in the morning we had the most difficult part of the drive across the main mountain range, the car started first time and despite doing about 12mpg and being severely out of tune it got me home, a total of 270km in the end.

On inspection the snorkel was in the boot and ready to fit (apparently it kept falling off, hence why it was removed)  and since getting all the mud off it is in very good solid condition and the millage seems genuine, the only real problem was that the clutch fluid reservoir was empty and the flexi hoses so corroded you could fit a euro coin in the cracks.

Its now with my mechanic and is being converted to electronic ignition, weber carb, full service etc etc and come April I plan to drive it back to England - I will update on how that goes 😅

Here are a few pics:

[motorpunk]

Loving that!

The drive to England will be a ball-breaker 😁

[loserone]

That's awesome.  

[Minimad5]

Niva 🤩

Brilliant buy !!

[big_al_granvia]

there is chod and then there is this. proper 7.5 carat chod

[jaycey001]

Lada Niva = Always broken but never broken down  (Hopefully!)

[Rust Collector]

That's mega! I've been after one of these for ages, the only way to get one at sensible money seems to be to buy one on the continent and drive it back. I'll be watching this with interest, as I'm keen to see what it's like getting an EU car imported into the UK now that we're not in the bloc... Either way, well done on purchasing such a fine motor!

[Dave_Q]

Only on Autoshite would this be a compliment:

Quote

 I knew I had a gem of a car, driving it is like a cross between my old 89 O Series Petrol Sherpa van and a 300tdi Defender, just a collection of all the worse bits of both of them!

 

[bunglebus]

Fantastic!

[steveo3002]

nice one

[Tadhg Tiogar]

2 hours ago, jaycey001 said:

.... driving it is like a cross between my old 89 O Series Petrol Sherpa van and a 300tdi Defender, just a collection of all the worse bits of both of them!...

There's always something tasty in the Lada.

[ProgRocker]

Muy bueno! 

[St.Jude]

Well bought, well driven, 10/10 would read the first post again.

Good job!

[DodgeRover]

5 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

That's mega! I've been after one of these for ages, the only way to get one at sensible money seems to be to buy one on the continent and drive it back. I'll be watching this with interest, as I'm keen to see what it's like getting an EU car imported into the UK now that we're not in the bloc... Either way, well done on purchasing such a fine motor!

Just the same as it was previously when buying from outside Europe, do a NOVA declaration, pay the tax and vat and register.

[DavidB]

Brought it where though?

[Dave_Q]

Brought it where though?

From near Madrid back to Granada

[Low Horatio gearbox]

Top chod. 

[somewhatfoolish]

10 hours ago, jaycey001 said:

Ive been in the market for a reliable, long distance cruiser for some time...

...something that would be reliable for driving back to England in several times a year (I know you are now checking the title of this thread, dont worry its not a glitch in the forums 🤣)

OP buys Lada Niva. You are on the right forum.

[Matty]

10 hours ago, motorpunk said:

Loving that!

The drive to England will be a ball-breaker 😁

Paging @Sir Chocolate Teapot 🤣

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

3 hours ago, DavidB said:

Brought it where though?

From near Madrid back to Granada

Not in Madrid next to a Granada?

[DavidB]

3 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

5 hours ago, DavidB said:

Brought it where though?

From near Madrid back to Granada

Ah, that's a good bruy, well brought.

[Rust Collector]

7 hours ago, DodgeRover said:

Just the same as it was previously when buying from outside Europe, do a NOVA declaration, pay the tax and vat and register.

Can you take it straight through with you though or does it have to sit in customs until you’ve paid the customs fees? The Japanese stuff I used to bring in couldn’t leave the port until you had the NOVA. I’m hoping it’s different on the tunnel/ferries.

[outlaw118]

Not all heroes wear capes etc.

You absolute LEGEND.

[DodgeRover]

9 hours ago, Rust Collector said:

Can you take it straight through with you though or does it have to sit in customs until you’ve paid the customs fees? The Japanese stuff I used to bring in couldn’t leave the port until you had the NOVA. I’m hoping it’s different on the tunnel/ferries.

Should be fine just to drive straight in and declare the Nova once it is here. I know of a few come in on trailers due to covid and German restrictions on travel and they had no issue.

[warch]

God I admire anyone who, when tasked with finding a comfortable means of crossing continents goes out and buys an elderly Soviet 4x4 instead. 
 

I myself spent years dailying a Series II Landrover and was the terror of the HGV community especially on motorways thanks to the old girl’s 50mph operational cruising speed. I was probably* referred to as Los Diabolos Verde.

[egg]

Did you put some oil in it on the way home?

Great stuff. 

[sutty2006]

You’re winning!!! 

[Remspoor]

That experience of purchasing a second-hand vehicle in Spain is typical. Adverts placed are not exactly truthful. Parts can be removed before purchase. Cars can have debt or fines against them which are passed onto the new owner.

When selling I have experienced that shows  the (possible) purchaser never reads the advert correctly either.