Lada? Making a comeback you say? I'll let you into a little secret here. I like Ladas. As a teenager I used to make Skoda jokes but never repeated the comical quips that hurt my favourite Russian brand (well, favourite until I discovered another Russian that made talking to girls easier).

It all started back in the nineties when I learnt to drive in a Lada Niva. Pottering around an abandoned car hospital park, I was at an age where the non assisted steering really demanded that Gladitorial Scottish bloke to turn up and ask if the contenders were ready.

A Lada whatnow? "Was that the boxy one or the boxy but Fiat-y one?" I hear you ask.
For a brief rundown of the models to help the picture, that was the 4x4. The Riva was 'the one Lotus fettled on Top Gear' and the Samara was the other one that was reasonable at its job but mind-numbingly dull; otherwise known as the Lada-Leona-Lewis.
The Niva was tough, boxy and slow. However at the time we lived on one of those streets just on the brink of where the gritters can be arsed to go. 

Occasionally in the depths of winter we would be lucky enough to have a Mr Plough come around to help us out of the snow, but by this point it was usually too late and everyone had already resorted to turkey burgers for lunch. Our milkman however was the local hero; when his trusty float didn't fancy the cold he used to fire up the Series II Defender and just deliver the milk anyway. Frozen milk, but milk nonetheless.
One snowy day, his faithful Landie became stuck and couldn't get anywhere. My Dad however, armed with the Niva (and, presumably, a belly full of black tea) happily trundled down the road. I can't remember where he needed to go so urgently, but judging by what seems to be programmed into my brain from birth, I guess it was probably nowhere. 

I also fondly remember the days when the Lombard RAC Rally used to lay its plastic bedsheets down at Chatsworth House, a location that was less than an hour away. It was November, the parking was in a sloped field, and a large majority of car enthusiasts in attendance liked to drive RWD cars. Can you guess who helped out the tow cars? It was an unstoppable hunk of force. As was, of course, the heater. If you design something for a Russian winter, no matter how much of a balls-up you make of it, the chances are it is going to be overengineered for a British winter. 

Surely it wasn't all happy times and demonic off-roading skills? Well no, it wasn't exactly a saint of reliability. We had three Nivas in total, two of which liked to give up the ghost randomly, even when en route home from the showroom (nearly new). One however proved almost faultless and never skipped a beat; that is the car we should all remember most fondly.

One day an enthusiastic young lady drove her (Mk3) Fiesta into the rear quarter of the first Niva. Since Lada had chosen to specify some leftover sections of railway line as bumper beams, they could take a hell of a hit and just shrug it off. There was a six inch dent on the corner beside The Beam, but little else worth mentioning. The Fiesta, being a few years old, was a write off.

On one occasion (whilst I was still practising hill starts) we had a Riva hire car. This was a revelation, with more feedback than I had ever experienced before through the steering thanks to front wheels unhindered by driveshafts. This very nearly led to a bizarre affliction for Rivas, I may even have turned into one of those strange people that only ever buys weird Eastern European cars. You know the sort, blokes that only ever drink foreign tea and are still confused by how you can get a model ship inside a glass bottle.I didn't take this photo but bloody love it... so please forgive me.
Luckily, I made it through, but having never driven another compact RWD saloon due to my young age, it was the best car yet and they make sense again now. Forget paying £15k for an old Mk1 Escort to turn into a track car, you can get a front-engined, RWD Riva for chocolate buttons and have the most unassuming project in the world (if you can find one). 
So think twice before laughing at the Lada louts, for about £500 you could go off-roading in one on Saturday, then pull off lurid tailslides on a track on Sunday in t'other.

Ready? 1,2,3 Go...