It’s now been a while since Land Rover unwrapped the radically reinvented new Defender, but the original car’s loyal fans are no doubt still raging about how far removed this futuristic off-roader is from its bare-bones namesake.
It’s the same story with the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, the Toyota Land Cruiser and even the Suzuki Jimny: where have all the utilitarian and unapologetically functional 4x4s gone?
Our salvation comes from the East.
The 2021 Lada Niva has an 88mph top speed
Yes, it’s the Lada Niva, and yes, they really do still make them.
But the marque’s owner, Renault, will usher in a new-generation Niva in 2023 to replace the aggressively agrarian current car, which has been on sale essentially unchanged since 1977.
So now is the time to act if you need one of these machines in your life.
If you’re a fan of utilitarian chic, the Lada Niva is for you
The shiny ’21-plate car shown here was supplied by long-time importer Mark Key, of Blackheath in London.
He configures Nivas for customers, with options such as air conditioning, colour-coded bumpers, privacy glass and even camouflage paint, but a base car with steel wheels and keep-fit windows is just £17,595.
Our test car was specified in bourgeois ‘Luxe’ trim, which is much like a new Range Rover in that it has electric windows and alloys, but rather unlike one in pretty much every other respect.
Power comes courtesy of a 1690cc four-cylinder engine with 82bhp
Power – all 82bhp of it – comes via a naturally aspirated 1.7-litre four-pot petrol engine, which makes up for in noise what it lacks in pace or frugality, and is sent to both axles by way of a hilariously long-throw five-speed manual gearbox.
The Niva has a propensity to lean in corners and bounce over undulations, but you might also detect a hint of the ‘best 4x4 by far’ in its agility on the rough stuff.
The Lada is exceedingly good fun down a muddy track: there are no parking sensors, LED headlights or glitzy chrome trim to damage here.
The cabin might be of the back-to-basics variety, but it is when you’re off-road and fording rivers that this Lada Niva comes into its own
And because it sits a full 205mm from the ground and weighs only 1200kg, it has no trouble scampering over deep ruts, pulling up rocky outcrops or even fording decent-sized rivers.
It’s the journey home that will highlight the Lada’s shortcomings.
Its distant cousin, the Dacia Duster, feels nigh-on decadent in comparison: the Niva’s seats are unforgivingly rigid, the analogue gauges are comically simplistic, the dashboard is drab and the kit list reads like a brochure from the 1980s.
There’s not even a radio to drown out the tyre roar.
You don’t need to worry about damaging posh trim when you go adventuring in the Lada Niva
But like so many compromised cult classics, the Niva will win you over by sheer virtue of its accessibility and honesty.
You’ll make friends in the supermarket car park and be let out at every junction on the way back, such is its universal appeal, and if anything were to break, chances are you could fix it on your driveway.
Just try that with your new Defender.
Images: Luc Lacey
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