Машины

[marixxa.livejournal.com]

I have a quick question that hopefully someone can answer so I can get my homework done ;)

What kind of cars are «Пежо» and «Лада» ? I bet they'll turn out to be really obvious!

Comments

[vorobeika.livejournal.com]

«Пежо» = Peugeot
«Лада» = Lada (the other name is "Zhiguli")

[marixxa.livejournal.com]

where are Lada cars made?

[vorobeika.livejournal.com]

in Russia :)

[marixxa.livejournal.com]

haha, okay! I don't know how I was supposed to know that, but now I do. thanks :P

[lima-pcp.livejournal.com]

Don't forget Volga... Bolra.. I don't have cyrillic fonts installed on my computer.

A few years back, Volga attempted to get into the U.S. market starting in Texas and Oklahoma, if I recall correctly. Their pitch was that the body stampings in the factory hadn't been updated all that much in 50 years, leaving the cars with a very retro look. And they could be had starting in the low thousands...

It didn't go anywhere, even at those prices...

[awelon.livejournal.com]

In case you are curious as to what Ladas look like, I believe these are some: http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a397/UkrainePics/123_IMG_1574_q001_028.jpg

I took the photo while in Ukraine last year...there was a big Lada factory or shop or something just around the corner from my apartment.

[ex-tritopor.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, in Russia... It's a worldwide worst car!

[marixxa.livejournal.com]

oh my gosh, those are so cute! i want one!

[marixxa.livejournal.com]

fyi, i use translit.ru to type cyrillic. and i wish i could have a funny retro russian car!

[awelon.livejournal.com]

haha, I thought that too when I was there, but I've heard lots of comments about them being bad cars! That didn't stop me taking photos of them though... ;-)

Apparently Ladas were in the UK for a bit as well. There's a photo of a newer model at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada.

[megilla.livejournal.com]

Those on picture are the first LADA 2101 model. It is a 100% copy of FIAT 124 - the Car of the year 1966 in Europe. It was quite good for that time. Soviet governmanet made a decision to build new car plant for passenger cars. The whole plant moved from Italy with production line and staff. Later, on the threshold of Moscow Olympic games in 1980 another model of FIAT became the prototype of LADA 2106. Mention should be made that 'LADA' is the export brand of this cars, internal name is Жигули [zhigul'i]. There is some difference in quality of export and internal ones. Customers made their best to buy export version.
First cars were good, but as time goes by engineering tools had been worn out and russian ones were not so good as it needs. Quality dramaticly fell. Some minor changes had been made in prototypes and called as new models: 2103, 2104, 2105, 2107. But that didn't mean anything really new. The same old car with another seats, mirrors and headlights. Later, AFAIR in 1987, a 'new' hatchback released - LADA 2108. New engine, new form, new philosophy... for 1975 year probably. But it was very popular in USSR and later in Russia. It was 3-doors (left, right, back) car and later 5-doors version had been released, named LADA 2109. This cars are still widespread in Russia. So the old ones are.
Unfortunately all this cars are obsolet. They are very dangerous in crashes. No passive protection besides belts. No ABS, no airbages, very weak body design causing lots of deathes in crashes with head-on collisions.

[awelon.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the explanation! Like I said, I don't really know anything at all about cars, so that was interesting.

I've heard some pretty awful reports about car crashes that likely involved the older cars.

[funny-uncle.livejournal.com]

Several minor auto-related corrections.

LADA 2101 is not 100% copy of FIAt-124.

There were made changes in brakes, suspension, engine is redesigned.

Lada is an internal name as well as Zhuguli.

LADA 2107 is direct descendant of 2101, it is still produced, and as I remember it was the best selling model in Russia in the last year (about 150 000 sold).

[aka-lacerda.livejournal.com]

Actually name "Lada" was only for export in begining, and became internal later (however I don't remember if LADA was written in Russian (like ЛАДА) on any badge of a car). The decision to change the name was made because of the word 'Gigolo' which sounds alike.