Find of the Week: 1997 Lada Niva 1.7

Russian cars didn't always get a whole lot of credit. Especially when they were Soviet cars. At that point, they were more likely to be the butt of the joke than they were to be in on it. But that didn't mean that the cars were necessarily bad. They were just different. More focused on utility than on flash, which was probably the opposite of the focus of domestic automakers for most of the 20th century. One of those more utilitarian vehicles was this, our autoTRADER Find of the Week this week, a 1997 Lada Niva.

You might be wondering why on earth someone would have imported a late 90's Lada into Canada. Well, the answer might surprise you. You could purchase a brand new Lada, in Canada, from a dealer, all the way up until 1998. The company started with the 2106 way back in 1979, badged as the Signet. And they continued to sell around 10,000 cars a year here all the way until they left in 1998. It's not clear exactly why they left the market then, though increasing competition from more modern cheap cars from Hyundai likely contributed. As did the requirement for OBD II diagnostics. Oh yeah, and the parent company owing billions in unpaid taxes back home.

Lada is actually a brand of Volzhsky Avtomobilny Zavod, which translates as Volga Automobile Plant. The company, now part of Renault and known as AvtoVAZ, was founded with some help from Fiat in the late 1960s. It was a collaboration between the Italian and Soviet governments. The idea, as with most government-owned autos, was to build a "people's car," like Volkswagen's Beetle or the Citroen 2CV.

The relationship with Fiat meant that most of their people's cars were mostly the Italian brand mechanically. Their first model, the VAZ-2101, was a rebadged Fiat 124. The cars were sold at home under the VAZ brand, and as Ladas when exported.

Development on the Niva started way back in 1971. Then-Premier Alexei Kosygin was said to have given the automaker the task of building a vehicle for rural areas. Sedans don't really handle dirt tracks all that well. It was the first time the company designed a car that wasn't a Fiat underneath. The first one didn't even get a real roof or even doors, but that prototype was deemed a little too utilitarian. You really do need doors in a Russian (or Canadian) winter.

Testing of the new off-roader took place in the Ural mountains, Siberia, and the deserts of Kazakhstan. It was put up against military vehicles, and even Land Rovers. It was light weight, had four-wheel drive with a low-range transfer case and center differential lock. It could climb a 58 percent slope, ford 60 cm of water, and 100 cm of snow. All systems were go and the production model was revealed in 1977.

Improvements were slow to come over the years. Electronic ignition, for example, didn't arrive until 1993. But it was the simplicity that was the main draw. Fix it with what you had in the shed, then drive it anywhere with little concern. If this was a sports car, that lightweight, bare-bones nature means it would probably still be praised as one of the greats, but off-roaders usually don't get that much attention. Yet.

This Lada Niva 17i, for sale in Toronto, is one of the last to be brought to Canada, but it's far from the last year this trucklet was built. That's right, you can actually still buy a brand new one today in some markets, though it's gotten a name change to Lada 4x4. That means that parts are still available, though you might need a translator.

In 1997, this truck came with a 1.7L four. That means 80 hp from the little engine, and a five-speed manual transmission. It's not a lot of power, but remember the Niva tips the scales at just about 1,200 kg. So it's enough power.

The owner says the car is spotless, and it certainly looks cleaner than any other Niva we've seen in the last year. It has upgrades like wheels and tires, a brush guard and roof rack, and even a new sound system. Which you'll probably need because these don't exactly come loaded with sound deadening. It also has just over 103,000 km showing on the odometer.

It's a quick little off-roader. One that you probably won't see another example of no matter where you take it. Maybe it was the butt of some probably undeserved jokes back in 1997, but with SUVs the next big thing, there probably won't be anybody laughing now. If you like that idea, then this 1997 Lada Niva may be the one for you.