boroda... I had some interesting conversation with russian. Like you he really doesn't know much about cars tho. He does own one here but..
As for the fiat 124... saying that it is robust and built like anything russian is....
an insult to anything russian. the fiat is one of the worst cars every built... rivaled only by french cars for being crap.. Any American kid could turn one into an urepairable scrap heap in a week.
Did I tell you I don't drive?

Did I tell that Lada 2101-06 are robust?
I said that it can be fixed "with a hammer, plyers and some help of ebony mother".
It is very repairable, at least in vital parts, not stuff like rear lights. And it has to be repairable because it whoopee breaks!
OTOH: it was indeed a best European car of 1967. It have won a competition with Honda and Renault IIRC. Hehe in fact Honda and Fiat were equal, but a link between Fiat and Italian Communist party made a deal.
Another thought: here you have 15 millions of "classic" Ladas, and 10 millions of other cars, 1000 different models. Guess what spare parts, repair works and other stuff will be cheaper and availible all the way from Brest to Vladovostok? Ladas win

Loving cars as I do... the russian way of doing cars leaves me less than thrilled.
Did you see GAZ-66? UAZ-469? They can be used to tow your "humvees" from the places where they get stuck in mud.
Comfort is not an issue. Performance is not an issue. Getting from point A to point B is a problem. It is solved. That's it.
As for performance.. russian versions of things often lack what I call "performance" the Ural motorcycle is a copy of the BMW.. it is a 750 that the russians copied in 1946 and developed on their own... it is robust and cheap but... It is sadly lacking in "performance" by any measure of the word except dependability.
lazs
I wonder who buys Urals in the US for $5000+ (!!!).
What I want to say is: leave every business to those who do it better. Luxury cars to Germans. Cheap reliable consumer cars to Japanese. Tanks - for Russians. Also - supersonic jets that can operate from grass airfields
