"It does distress me that a story that begins with the gorgeous, almost feminine Fiat 124 is going to end with the world's most derided car, a car with a face that only a Russian shot putter's mother could love. It's gonna go out with a pathetic whimper."
- James May on the Riva
The Lada / VAZ-2105, 2104 and 2107, collectively marketed as Lada Riva for right-hand drive models (in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand), the Lada Nova in Germany, and by multiple other names and markets, is a series of compact sedans of the Zhiguli line-up (Fiat 124-based cars), built by Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ (formerly VAZ). Introduced in 1979 in the Soviet Union, and progressively introduced to Western European and global markets from the early 1980s, under the Lada brand, they were sold as saloons (2105 and 2107), and estate (2104) versions.
Today they are generally referred to as the Lada Classic series, being derived from the original Fiat 124 platform which has been the now-iconic mainstay of the AvtoVAZ lineup since the company's foundation in the late 1960s. Russian production at the company's main plant at Tolyatti ended in September 2012.
Apperances[]
- In Apocalypse Clarkson, Jeremy Clarkson tears the 2105 variant of the Riva in half using two dump trucks.
- In Series 1, Episode 8 of Top Gear, the 2105 variant of the Riva is tuned by Lotus.
- In Series 4, Episode 10, the Estate (2104) variant of the Riva is used in the Long Jump segment, representing Russia. The Riva Estate made the longest jump, at 10.85 metres.
- In Series 12, Episode 6, Clarkson reviewed the 2107 variant of the Riva as part of a segment about communist cars. Later, James May drives the Riva in a race against Clarkson, who's driving a Morris Marina.
- In Series 1, Episode 1 of James May's Cars of the People, May reviewed the Lada Riva, discussing its origin as a rebranded Fiat 124 and taking it for a test drive in Russia.
- In Unscripted, May converts the Riva into a fire engine. During his brief stint as a fireman, May puts out a staged fire in a bin and sprays water on someone's barbecue grill. Later, May asks Richard Hammond and Clarkson to stage a bush fire, but the fire grows to be too big to put out by the time May arrives, and May runs out of supplies to put out the fire with before a plane belonging to the Croatian fire brigade arrives and puts out the fire, along with destroying May's fire engine in the process.