Lada 4x4 Urban
Who knew Lada was still going? 20 million Ladas have been built since AvtoVAZ was founded in the Soviet Union in 1966, and in the 1990s more than 130,000 Ladas were registered in the UK. The cars were famous for being cheap but in no way cheerful.
The Russian brand was bought by Renault in 2017, however, and while its modern range is largely uninspiring, one modern Lada looks truly brilliant: the Lada 4x4 urban.
It’s a weird mash-up of old and new (the wheel size says new car, the thickness of the A-pillar says old car that you wouldn’t want to roll), but we absolutely adore it. Granted, the official sales pitch is a little utilitarian, with sentences like “number one in the list of options for the city is an air conditioner”, but it has a 60PS engine, four wheels, four-wheel-drive and an “interior lamp”. Basic, but brilliant.
Lada 4x4 Urban specification
Engine and transmission
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1.7-litre straight-four, five-speed manual, four-wheel-drive
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Power/torque
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62PS (61bhp) @ 5,000rpm/129Nm (94lb ft) @ 4,000rpm
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0-62mph
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17.0 seconds
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Top speed
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88mph
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