Back in 1993 we had a Lada and strangely it was quite a reliable car. At the time we had no inkling of their reputation.Maybe there is hope for those poor Lada owners that would like to change cars.
Back in the '70s I had a Fiat 124, the car on which the Lada is based - the bodywork was thin steel which flexed and rusted quickly but all the mechanicals were very robust and more advanced than British cars of the era - Lada used thicker steel for all the body panels to cope with the rigours of Russian weather so was probably a better all-round car than many when it was introduced.Back in 1993 we had a Lada and strangely it was quite a reliable car. At the time we had no inkling of their reputation.