Car Moon

It’s been over two decades since the collapse of communism in the former USSR and the introduction of capitalism to what is now Russia. However, a relic from the past, a car that was introduced back in 1982 (actually even older if you count the vehicle upon which it was based on), is still quite popular with the locals.

The car we ‘re talking about is the Lada 2107 which along with the 2104 and the 2105 versions are Russia’s second best-selling cars, only behind Lada’s much newer Kalina hatchback.

If there was ever a lucky driver, it’s the Russian owner of this compact-sized silver sedan, which may or may not be a Lada. The protagonist of the video clip shot from an in-car camera went to hell and back again, when he foolishly attempted to overtake a vehicle without taking into consideration the situation ahead of him. Read more »

“What do you call a Lada that starts the first time? A novelty!” This is only one of numerous joke about Lada’s cars and their reliability but to the misfortune of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the joke turned out to be true during an official presentation of the troubled automaker’s new Granta small sedan.

The 58-year-old prime minister attended the unveiling of Lada’s budget model at the headquarters of its car manufacturer Avtovaz in the Volga River city of Tolyatti. In his usual confident style, Putin approached the car for a first look. The troubles started right from the beginning as one of the men accompanying the prime minister had a hard time opening the vehicle’s boot.

Then, in a marketing fail comparable only to Volvo’s unbelievable crash incident last year, Putin entered the car to take it for a test drive. He tried to start it once. He failed. He tried a second time, nothing. The same thing happened three more times until finally, the Lada came into life. Luckily for us, the entire incident was captured on film. Watch the video right after the jump.

Former Russian President and now Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is doing his best to remain in the spotlight. After his country decided to back the Renault F1 team, by branding it with Lada advertisements, Mr. Putin was invited to drive the R30 Formula One racer at a special event held in St. Petersburg. Video after the break.

Michael Bay, you need to be taking notes, because this fan-made Transformers short film is epically cool. Created by 21-year old Alexander Vladimirovich Semenov from Russia, the film doesn't use little white trash GM robots or the ridonkulous SR-71 pirate grandpa; instead, it stars a cool old VAZ 2106...I think...and some dinky little cell phone robots.

Here's what you get for having far too much time on your hands; a five-door hatchback (or is the Sportback?) Lada turned into something that tries to look like a Ford Mustang. Truth to be said, the Ukrainian owner of the Ladastang went to great lengths to make the car almost indistinguishable from a conventional Lada, but the result is hardly exciting... More painful pictures after the break.

In what could very well be the first documented crash of Mercedes-Benz's $200,000 Gullwing supercar, an SLS AMG had an unfortunate close encounter of the wrong kind with a humble yet destructive, Lada 112 'fastback', somewhere in Moscow.

From the videos of the incident we found on the net, it is revealed that a black Nissan Murano crossover was also somehow involved in the crash.

Interestingly, the license plate number of the car tells us that the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Gullwing was a press / demo car used in many photo shoots and videos in Russia (see the last clip after the jump).

Remember all the classic Lada jokes of the 80s and 90s of the sort that one could crank out endlessly because the patterns are so reliable? Jokes like these: "What do you call a classic Skoda? A Lada" and "What do you call the shock absorbers on a Lada? Passengers".

Well, even though a partnership between Renault's F1 division and Lada sounds like a good foundation for a new joke, it isn't. Seriously now, Renault announced today a sponsorship deal with Russia's AvtoVAZ that will see branding from Lada on the chassis of the Renault F1 Team R30 race cars during the 2010 season.