Suzuki Jimny v Lada Niva | Flex comparison and tug-of-war | CarAdvice

How far have we really come? The 2020 Suzuki Jimny squares off against the 1988 Lada Niva to see which pint-sized 4X4 performs best on a RTI (Ramp Travel Index) test, and a tug of war!

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[mooremob]

I had a Lada Niva in the mid 90s in Tasmania and went to Bluestone Bay only one track in and it was amazing going down, while in the bay 2 LW discoverys came down and the owners were quite shocked to find me there, asking was there an easier way in.
They couldn't believe that I had come down the same track. They had taken near enough an hour to get down, they quite honestly didn't believe me that I came down the same track.
Going back up was amazing as well.
Well done Niva.

[Kaynert]

Niva, best made car ever. A simple car for every life situation. The Lada got all what you really need in a car. This was a really cool and interesting test, nice! Really love the old 1600. i buyed myself a new brand new Niva back in 2016 as a daily. I‘m still happy with it and it makes a lot of fun.

[Oilskin]

Thanks for this, was tossing up between these two vehicles

[stormtrooper]

1:15 A grave mistake that is stuck almost as a myth among western journalists.
Lada Niva is not based on Fiat components nor it has anything remotely close with that! Sigh!
It was completely ingenious soviet design top to bottom, with the only exception being the engine block, but even that was in the end so thoroughly reworked that the Lada's 1600 engine has nothing to do with Fiat's 1500s engine!

[unpluggedkiwi]

I have owned three Lada Niva's. One of the most underrated 4WD's ever. One of mine was fitted with Firestone 6.50x16 SAT's. Gave it over 11inches of clearance under the rear diff. Owned one of them while living in Australia for a while. On one trip north of Sydney, was being followed by a Toyota Troopie fitted with a turbo, front and rear ARB lockers and BFG Mud Terrains. My Lada had road tyres. Troopie got stuck trying to follow me.

[AristotelisMitsiou]

Never thought I'd see a Lada on this channel! What a nice surprise

[PatrickRich]

"Solid axles tend to be less flexible than independant setups". Since when? The jimny just happens to have the least flexible solid axle design ever. P.s. rti scores are done with a 20 degree ramp, not 10, for anyone who wants to use these numbers as a comparison with any other published rti scores.

[FourLowAdventures]

I know nothing about the Lada Niva but in regards to the Jimny you have to disconnect the sway bar if you want it to flex, otherwise when one wheel travels upwards so does the other. I've done many tests of this on different obstacles and the difference between the amount of wheel lift on uneven terrain is huge.

[clooperman]

Lada Niva, a good design let down by patchy build quality, with front and rear lockers would probably out perform more modern 4x4s.

[greyman]

Jimny is awesome. Had a 2000 Jimny and I loved it, sadly the chassy started to rust very badly because the previous owner. I still miss it!

[larutadelniva]

I have a niva...great offroad and i find it very acceptable in city...the only problem is a bit high on fuel

[tombulli]

Lada Niva is a great car ... Just one problem, the cylinder head gasket is due at around 62100 emails! Rust ... The Lada also has to be cared for with loving care ...
I only have Suzuki Jimny FJ. and I am very happy with it. less electronics than the new GJ. The FJ (predecessor) also has old school technology! ;)
Greetings from Germany ;)

[fishingwiththomas]

Great video. The old Niva is very capable. Had some fun in the late 80's on the old Russian tractor tyres on Melbourne tramlines :-)

[mikedrop]

This is the hard hitting journalism we are here for. Obviously you guys didn't have any fun with this one lol.

[HeKuTK]

Lol you can still buy Lada Niva brand new top of the range for 10K and the Suzuki... so expensive.
And yeah there’s a mistake, Niva was launched in USSR, not Russia.

[Prestonesfpv]

I had a niva back in 95, sweet little offroader

[GT-chwd]

Do you still have the Lada Nina? I remember that thing before the old SAU days!

[davidcollins]

Solid axles are less flexible?! That's the whole point of a solid axle. Jimny just has less suspension travel in stock form, but you will definitely get more flex than you ever could in an IFS with an upgrade.

[singlecell]

If they had a right hand drive model I would buy one now

[huntarama]

Mmmm the question I would ask is did you engage the Lada niva, s standard centre diff lock in the tough of war