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THE RELIABILITY OF THE EASTERN CARS...
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...as known, the reliability of these cars is not very good, but in several circumstances these cars seems used of twenty years, not new! Indeed, a premise is necessary: the price of these cars. The table below shows the prices of several national-production's models in Russia:
Model |
Minimum price, $ |
Max price, $ |
|
Lada "Oka" |
1775 $ |
2575 $ |
|
Lada "Zhighuli" |
2660 $ |
3830 $ |
|
Lada "Samara" |
3850 $ |
7140 $ |
|
Lada 110 |
5020 $ |
7510 $ |
|
Lada 111 |
5700 $ |
8780 $ |
|
Lada 112 |
5840 $ |
8830 $ |
|
Lada "Nadeshka" |
7160 $ |
7850 $ |
|
Moskvitch "Sviatagor" |
2480 $ |
3240 $ |
|
Moskvich "Knyaz Vladimir" |
4515 $ |
--- |
|
GAZ-3102 "Volga" |
4750 $ |
8160 $ |
|
GAZ-3110 "Volga" |
3900 $ |
6650 $ |
|
GAZ "3111" |
8500 $ |
11000$ |
|
GAZ-2217 "Sobol" |
5810 $ |
11540 $ |
|
IZH-2126 "ODA" |
2225 $ |
2355 $ |
|
IZH-2717 Pick-up |
2375 $ |
2560 $ |
|
UAZ "469" |
2360 $ |
3670 $ |
|
UAZ "Simbir" 3160 |
7070 $ |
12070 $ |
|
LuAZ "Volin" |
2000 $ |
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What means this? This means that the less expensive model, the little Lada "Oka", has a price, in Russia, similar to half Fiat "Panda" in Italy!!! One Lada "110" costs less than a Daewoo Matiz. These prices seems ridicolous for the Western markets, but the medium wage of a Russian citizen is 1800 roubles per month, and a Lada costs between 17.000 and 35.000 roubles! Another comparison: the Renault "19", produced under license in Russia, costs more than 8000 dollars; one "Volga", instead, bigger than the Renault 19 about dimensions and displacement, costs the half of the French car. This means that several Western cars (or produced out of the Russia) are simply unapproachable for the great part of the Russians!
How goes the LADA (and the terrible "110")
For example, the Lada "110", apparently better than other Eastern cars (although not enthusiasting...), it's a real source of troubles! My French friend Adriano (of Italian origin), ex-owner of a Lada 110, has realized a very interesting site about the problems of this car. This is a list of the problems occurred during ONE YEAR (!!!):
The alternator catched on FIRE during the driving;
Difficoltous engine start, because of the sensor that injects too many fuel;
Tendence to steering to the right; after 10 balancing of the wheels and the replacing of the Russian tyres, the car goes...to the left;
Loss of the radiator liquid, because of tube locking fragile and badly assembled;
Noisy left washer-wiper, moreover it goes on the coachwork during the working;
Several failures of fuses;
Fuel loss from the
Failure of the tachhometer after 200 km (!);
Door locks blocked with the cold weather, making difficoltous to enter in the car;
Water and dust infiltrations from the joint of the doors;
Luggage-van cover bended with only three books on it!
Engine overheating, caused by problems of the radiator fan;
Fuel indicator unusable; steering to the right, the hand goes to the right (and vice versa...);
Really "immobilizer" anti-theft system: it operates suddenly during the DRIVING...;
Several squeaks from the dashboard;
Very fragil internal plastic: the wisher-wiper lever has breacked and it's remained in the hand of the driver!!!
Defectous starter engine;
Defectous rims already after 1000 km;
Oil loss from the carter of the engine.
After all these problems, my friend sold the car after 4900 KM!!!! And this is a page taken from the French review "L' Automobile Magazine"...
...the title means "it has a value even lower than his price". There's no need to comment. It seems that this car is a real disaster, even worser than the previous models realized during the Soviet era. Moreover, the 16V version has failures of the camshafts, and the gearbox can break, causing the blocking of the front wheels and the loss of control of the vehicle. During the test of another review, besides the immediate failure of the tachometer and the engine overheating, the headlights suddenly switched off with the impact of the garage's ramp...working again with a fist of the driver on the dashboard!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The "Niva", paradoxically because of the more dated project, is a bit more reliable...but obviously it's not like a Ford Focus or Mercedes! The early version had several problems on the 4x4 drive (especially the noise), caused by the excessive tolerance of the components. With the following versions, this problem was reduced. Still now, there are several burns of the engine head (typical of the old Fiat engines). Obviously, the rust is a good tradition of the Lada (also the "110", although the use of galvanized steel foils, has still problems of this type...), and the "Niva" is particularly sensible! Moreover, the version powered by the Peugeot diesel engine had problems of compatibility between the French engine and the original Russian gearbox. But, at least, the "Niva", although the numerouses problems, is a little legend for the 4x4 enthusiasts...the "110", instead, is only a disaster, and, moreover, it's a car withouth the personality of the Niva!
The Moskvitchs are considered by some people as the worst cars of the world! Indipendently from the personal opinions (sometime excessive, although not totally baseless...), also these cars have a low quality. In the 1998, during a travel in Prague, i have seen one Moskvitch "2141" (it was the only Moskvitch i seen in the Czech Republic): it was in terrible conditions. Enormous holes in the coachwork caused by the rust, decolorized paint, rims totally destroyed by the rust...although also a Fiat Panda (the early versions) can reach the same conditions of coachwork! Surely, it was a badly maintained exemplar, but i never seen a similar level of rust on a Western car. As typical lacks, i heard that the Moskvitch "2141" has a poor stability on the road, because of the too advanced engine position (placed ahead of the front axle) and of the poor quality of tyres and shock absorbers. My friend Adriano owned a "2141" for a few time: he replaced the front brakes after 2000 km. Also the Renault-powered versions have problems: the engine, assembled in Argentina, can have failures of the gearbox. On an exemplar tested by a Russian review, the steering wheel was mounted loosen!!!
The GAZ "Volga", the Mercedes of the Russians during the years of the Soviet Union, is a peaceful and big beast, with 5 meters of lenght and 1,6 tons of weight! These cars, if well assembled in factory and constantly maintained, are enough reliable, although some problem of overheating and some voice which tells that the crankcase has the tendence to the deformation after 100.000 km, because of the poor quality of the aluminium.
Anyway, the old and slow 2500 cc. engine (with eight valves and camshaft in the crankcase) is enough reliable...but the new 16V version (always of Russian project) is a real torture!!! The Russian magazine "Autoreview" tested an exemplar of GAZ "Volga 3110" with the new multi-valve engine: in 8000 km, two engines were replaced (!!!!!!), because of a destroyed piston on the first engine, and of the failure of the head's joint on the second engine. Moreover, during nine months, the car had the failure of all the shock-absorbers, failure of two gears in the tranfer box, the dangerous burst of the fuel pipelines (!) because of the excessive pression in the circuit, loss of oil from the steering box, alternator burned, even a loss of fuel in the luggage van!!! Moreover, there were other "minor" defects: the tool for the replacing of the wheel was broke with a ridicolous pression, the tyres destroyed after a "tug" at the high speeds (140 km/h...), or the early signs of the rust on the coachwork!!! All these reparations have a total price of 40.000 roubles: the price of the car is 5000 roubles....no comment!!!!!!!
Come vanno le... FSO "Polonez"
My friend Adriano have owned also three FSO "Polonez", the national car in Poland. This car has still an engine derived from the Fiat 1500 of the '50s! It was imported also in Italy and France. The first exemplar owned by my friend, with Peugeot diesel engine, was fundamentally good (although with some failure of the electric part; for example, the power windows, of very old Fiat origin); the second (with the original engine) had the loss from the head of the engine, the third had the engine burned, although caused by the badly installed GPL system. Moreover, the dealer was unprovided of technical manuals and of the equipment for the diagnosis of the injection...The "typical" lacks of this car are the bad stability (because of the rear wheel drive, but especially because of the leaf springs!), and the fuel consumption: 12 l/100 km for the 1600...but this is normal, considering the age of the project!
The modern Skoda are very modern and reliable cars, but the old types (with the rear engine) were enough "problematic"... Personal (or, better, parental) experience: in the late '70s, my uncle bought a Skoda "105", cheap like a Fiat "126", but with slightly better performance and a wider internal space. Unfortunate decision! The engine immediately lost a lot of oil: a congenital lack, so the mechanic wrapped the low carter of the engine with a piece of sponge, tightened by a cord!! There were other mechanical troubles, but one day, a defectous lock caused the opening of the passenger door during a curve, and my cousin risked to be hurled out of the car! After this event, my uncle decided to sell immediately the terrible Czech car. To tell the truth, the old Skoda were not the most defectous Eastern cars, there were also well-working exemplars...but often the "eastern construction" caused these problems!
How goes the...OLTCIT (aka Citroen "Axel")
The Oltcit is a Romanian car, exported for some year in several countries as Citroen "Axel" (in facts, the look was similar to the "Visa", and the engine was the flat-four -air-cooled- of the "GSA"). In the mid-'80s, this car was tested by the Italian review "Quattroruote": 100.000 km with the cowl "sealed". The car passed the tested triumphally, and the review emphasized the little French-Romanian car (that was a flop in Italy). It's very strange: the following list -taken from www.carsurvey.org - features the problems of an Oltcit's owner (and the list was reduced...):
Oil radiator changed at 20000km.
Engine rebuilt four times so far.
Suspension changed every 10000km.
Door locks replaced countless times.
All ignition components need replacing every 5-10000km.
Unbelievably bad paint; after 10 years, more than half of the body was replaced with new parts because of rust.
Probably, the cars for the export (with the Citroen brand) were better assembled in comparison with the Oltcits, the versions for the Eastern market...but the exemplar of the unfortunate Romanian owner seems another car in comparison with the exemplar of "Quattroruote"!
The ZAZ is considered even by the Russian people as one of the worst cars, even in comparison with other national models! The ZAZ "Tavria" (up) was imported in France for two years, and the import was stopped because of countless problems. Moreover, there is a terrible defect: in case of front collision, because of the defectous pivots, the cowl can pass through the windshield, wounding mortally the driver. A defect of this sort, in a Western country, can cause a scandal and the disaster for an automotive factory. In Russia, instead, only recently (2001) the pivots of the cowl have been modified...after over ten years of production!!! Unfortunately, the Russian driver pays the price of these carelessnesses.
If you have an Eastern car, you can write to michcuoc@tin.it, telling of the problems of your car. You will contribute to the growth of this page!
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