Lada Niva

The Lada Niva is a 3/5-door Compact SUV / 2-door pickup truck / 2-door chassis cab / 3-door pickup truck-based van / 3-door box van / 2-door ambulance / 2-door police SUV from Lada, built from 1977, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. Under the bonnet: Petrol engine.

Where it came from

The Lada Niva Legend, formerly called the Lada Niva, VAZ-2121, VAZ-2131, and Lada 4×4 (Russian: ВАЗ-2121, ВАЗ-2131, Лада Нива), is a series of four-wheel drive, small (hatchback), and compact (wagon and pickup) off-road cars designed and produced by AvtoVAZ since 1977. Initially aimed at the rural market, later models also targeted urban users. The three- and later five-door 4×4 hatchbacks were sold under the Lada marque in many markets, and have been in continuous production since 1977. In the 1990s, three- and five-door wagons on a 50 cm (20 in) longer wheelbase and an extra-long wheelbase pick-up were added to the range. After the original Land Rover and its successor, the Land Rover Defender, were discontinued in 2016, the Niva became the longest-production-run off-road light vehicle still manufactured in its original form.

By the end of 2020, an estimated 650,000 Lada Nivas had been sold globally. The Lada Niva is the world's first mass-produced off-road vehicle with a unibody construction (fully integrated body and frame). It is the predecessor of current crossover SUVs, most of which are built similarly. In August 2020, Lada took over production of the 2003 Chevrolet Niva and rebranded it the "new" Lada Niva. In December 2020, the new Niva was further rebranded as the Lada Niva Travel, while the old model was renamed Lada Niva Legend in January 2021.

Under the skin

Power comes from Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 1,150 kg. It shifts through a 4-speed manual (1977–1993) / 5-speed manual (1993–present). The layout matters: drive goes to all four wheels, which is what lets the power be used on a wet road. The wheelbase is 2200 mm (hatchback) / 2700 mm (wagon) / 2700 mm (pickup). These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

Its family tree is legible: its successor was the Lada Niva Travel; assembly was at Tolyatti. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the BMW 7 Series, the Toyota Supra, the Ford Fiesta — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Lada catalogue sit the LADA Granta and the LADA Kalina.

What it costs now

MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Lada Niva has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.