Ladas weigh NOTHING.

"gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
10/28/2014 at 21:54 • Filed to: None

Well not quite. Out of curiosity I rolled my '96 Niva 1.7i across a scale today. 690kg on the front axle, 650 on the rear, for a combined mass of 1330kg. Mass in kg because Canada so metric. 1520/1430/2930 lbs. That's with about 220 lbs of me in the front seat, 15lbs of groceries in the passenger footwell, an empty back seat, and maybe 200lbs of tools/recovery equipment in the back. That's good for an empty weight of ~2500lbs, with a 4x4 drivetrain. That's 51.5/48.5 f/r.

No wonder this thing changes direction so much more nicely than my Jeep did... My '91 Comanche, 4.0 auto 4x4, long wheel base, weighed about 1200lbs more with more or less the same load on the same scale about a year ago. And had a 62% front weight bias.

I'm a nerd and I like stats. :) Also, I'm aware that the Lada's front/rear weights don't add up to the total. The scale in question isn't highly precise and is intended for full tractor-trailer weights and not single axle tiny things. So that I came in within 0.7% is pretty nice.

I'm working on a full write-up/review about my Lada, which I was intending as my intro to Oppo, but Denver insisted he wanted to see something today, so here is something. Also, potato picture of the Lada after I got it street legal this summer.

I guess, yeah, it's not anywhere near as big, so it shouldn't surprise me that it barely weighs more than half of the Jeep.

DISCUSSION (25)

Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 21:58

Has it been reliable for you?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 21:58

Opponaut Biturbo228 has a Niva as well, but he has a lot of fucked up things. Cool fucked up things, but still.

 > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD
10/28/2014 at 21:59

I bet it was as reliable as Soviet reliability can be.

Laird Andrew Neby Bradleigh > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:01

Ahh.. the Niva, one of my dream cars :) It's a bit heavy though, My DD is less than 1000kg :P Ford Fiesta (third gen).

Denver Is Stuck In The 90s > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:02

Kinja'd!!!

Man, I love this thing. Its stupid cool. Cars that make you love them for no logical reason at all make me happy.

PetarVN, GLI Guy, now with stupid power > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:05

My uncle in Serbia has an '02 1.7i as a winter beater! :D

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:08

With a mass of 1330kg, that Lada weighs 13,047.3 N!

Birddog > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:10

Putin's Lada?

I kid..

If I ever get lucky and cash in on the Redneck 401k, a Niva is the first purchase.

Luc - The Acadian Oppo > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:13

What part of Canada? Is that a Manitoba plate I see? I'm in Edmonton

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Iheartmy365kHonda - Car enthusiasts do like FWD
10/28/2014 at 22:19

I've only had it since June and I've only put about 3500 km on it, so it's hard to say. It hasn't exactly been properly taken care of, but it's not in the worst shape. It has some common-to-all-Niva issues, and I've dealt with a bunch of stuff that had likely been neglected for a while, as with any used vehicle purchase. You'll unfortunately have to wait to find out more...

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Luc - The Acadian Oppo
10/28/2014 at 22:20

It is in fact a 'Toba plate, although I just moved (back) to Saskatoon.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
10/28/2014 at 22:21

Yup. LOL. Can't ever quote a weight in kg... and I refuse to use kgf because that's just weird.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:22

Use standard.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire
10/28/2014 at 22:25

Scale is metric.

thebigbossyboss > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:25

I live in Canada. Question...what is a kg?

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > thebigbossyboss
10/28/2014 at 22:31

Er... kilogram? Not sure if trick question... kgf= kilogram-force. Also known as kilopond (kp. Thanks, Wikipedia) One kgf is effectively the weight of one kg on Earth. Again, they're weird.

thebigbossyboss > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:33

What is the weight of a kilogram off earth.

Someone in Kanata had a Lada I used to see. Fun indeed.

Jedidiah > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/28/2014 at 22:42

It's a cool looking thing. So many questions.

Is it about the size of a Suzuki Samurai?

Are the axles strong? Ring gear size?

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > thebigbossyboss
10/28/2014 at 22:49

Depends on where you are and what gravity's like... The exact definition of a kgf is the gravitational force acting on one kilogram in standard gravity, where standard gravity is the universally accepted nominal acceleration of an object in a vacuum due to gravity.
Is this actually going somewhere?

I've only ever seen a few other Ladas, a 2102 in Oshawa, and a couple Nivas in Edmonton. Also a Samara in very excellent shape in a wrecking yard in Brandon, MB. Looked like it had been driven to its spot and parked.

Tohru > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/29/2014 at 00:14

My '97 Ford Escort was right around 2400 pounds with a 2.0L and front-wheel drive.

That little Niva is light as hell.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > Jedidiah
10/29/2014 at 01:06

Don't know how many I can answer. It'd have to say it's a little smaller than a Samurai, but I'd need to park the two beside each other. As far as axle strength goes, I haven't heard of issues, but then it's only got a 90 horse motor (if that...) Rear looks beefy enough, but it's got IFS so the front is hard to tell. Haven't had the diff covers off (both diffs have drain plugs from the factory) so I can't comment on ring gear size, and would have to look it up. Same for ratio.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/29/2014 at 05:56

I love these little Ladas :) I've got one too, although it's a bit of a rustbucket and not roadworthy at the moment. Great fun to tool around fields in though :) I must get it on the road at some point...

Kinja'd!!!

Sanettika > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/29/2014 at 07:20

I would LOVE to get my hands on one of these little cars. So many fun memories of barreling down the highways (?) around Khabarovsk in them, watching vodka bottles flying out of the driver's side window as they were emptied. Russian times were best times, in many ways. I'm looking forward to hearing more about this little beauty!

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
10/29/2014 at 13:53

Yours... um... looks less rusty than mine...

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee
10/29/2014 at 14:15

'Looks' being the operative word here :)

It's not actually that bad, but we blew the steering box while driving it, replaced that then blew the front diff. That's been replaced and we're currently waiting for the rear diff to blow :S

Kickass little car though :)