It looks like America likes old Soviet cars and thinks them to be retro. Look at this Lada Niva 4×4 with a 1981 4-cylinder Fiat Spider engine, for example. This ‘Made in USSR’ SUV was put up for e-bay auction for 6 thousand grands! An the price may go up!
The story sounds like a hoax. If it is not, the seller is loco. Restoration of the F124 would make sense, putting its engine into rotten Niva does not.
It’s too rusty, and the gearbox is oiled!
lol, Same can be said for the overpriced American export cars in Russia!
Niva is not a SUV, it is a real offroader. Not a toy for juppies, but a workhorse, where the terrain requires a robust and tough car for a reasonable price.
True, if you know how to fix it on the road. A friend of mine who is a forester, was a Niva user for years, but he was able to fix his car when it’s broke. True, it wasn’t hard, cause it’s really simple for those, who has simple know-how.
New Lada Niva’s were imported to Canada until the late ’90s. I’m guessing that’s the route this one came to the States by. Not a great example, nor a good price.
Funny that today’s Russian market Niva’s are made by joint venture GM-AvtoVAZ and badged as the Chevrolet Niva. How the world has changed…
Almost bought one of these about 20-25 years ago. The only thing that stopped me was not being able to get it into reverse!! I had to get the dealer to walk over to where I was and help me push it backwards to get it back to the showroom. He ended up parking it in the back, waiting for some much needed attention.
Ha, ha! I have a similar story – a friend of mine got “Seek the dealer immediaately!” warning while test-driving Renault, which then refused to start and had to be towed back to the dealer´s.
“Put it in H”
Is this from the Simpsons? I loved that old episode!
I used to had a niva… once I rolled over and the panels didn’t even bent!
Strong, ugly and hard on the ass too.
niva is actually one of the best in ever suv’s in the world
I wouldn’t pay fifty cents for that thing.
the Niva concept was excellent but the build quality and poor engine made it poor value
the niva was a good car if you got rid of the russian engine and mounted an abarth Fiat 16V engine in it.
The first unibody allroader in Hystory
one of the best offroaders….. (wait for it) ….. IN THE WORLD
Hey this is being sold in my state! Washington State! neat. I’d like to own one of these but not at 6k for how much Rust is crawling all over that. I’ll stick with my vw bus
Agreed, there is WAY too much rust on it for the asking price. Also another thing is that the particular Fiat engine is the same engine which was used in the Yugo branded Zastavas which were sold in the US in the 80′s. It’s an interference engine which means that if you don’t change the timing belt regularly, you run the risk of completely ruining the engine when the timing belt breaks. –The pistons will impact the valves without the timing belt, and will bend, and possibly snap the valve stems, and ruin the pistons and cylinders in the process.
No, this is not Yugo engine, it is DOHC. Timing belt change is part of regular maintenance and unless the owner is a monkey, the probability of its snapping is nil. Fiat also makes non-interference FIRE 8V engines used since mid 80s in Uno, then Punto etc.
my father drove lada riva. she never let him down.she have cool little washer on car lights. she sold her to bunch of gyspes 12 years ago,that was sad day… I just love when russians try to put some “make up” on car and sell it to usa.
Total junk, it appears to leak oil from every flat sealing surface and the sheet metal has no anti-corrosion inhibitors.
Clearly it is evident to why the USSR failed and now Russia is going back to a centrally controlled government ran by KGB communist.
Germany is prospering and engineering marvels of the world.
We have Lada Niva 1.7i version. Its 11 years old and I love it. Its really great in off roads,and good car for hunters.Have better perfrormance in off roads,than the expensive western toys.
Strange combination this car is… the dashboard (and look at the steering wheel!) are way too new for an old 1600 Niva. Not original, don’t buy this one. I drive a 1.7i and the parts are cheap.
It may well be a newer model that’s been backdated. It’s virtually impossible to personally import a car newer than 25 years old to the US.