Avtovaz Lada Samara - 2 (diecast 1:43, Hongwell)

This is Lada Samara 115. The model is in scale 1:43 made by Hongwell for Bauer. The model has working suspension and opening front doors. Sadly on my model one of the rearview mirrors is missing.

With the start of the production of the four-door sedan VAZ-21099 in 1990, cars called Lada Samara could rightfully be considered a family. Yes, there was clearly a lack of a station wagon in the range of bodies, but both in the USSR and in foreign markets they appreciated the "multi-door" and three-volume versions of the Sputnik of the eighth model.

But time is relentless: five years after the start of production of the base model, both the "nine" and even the "ninety-ninth" did not look so fresh and effective anymore. The situation was not saved by long wings, a high panel, or a more powerful 1.5-liter engine - by the beginning of the 90s, the automotive fashion made an interesting turn - the transition from angular shapes and sharp lines to a smoother and more relaxed design.

For the sake of aerodynamics, the bodies began to float, and the transitions between volumes and planes, on the contrary, lost their obvious expression. Against the background of Sputnik's newest classmates like Volkswagen Golf III, Opel Astra F, Ford Escort V or Peugeot 306, the angular "chisel" looked, to put it mildly, out of date.

By that time, VAZ had experience in updating rear-wheel drive cars - both as part of cooperation with Fiat on the 2103 model, and in a deeper modernization, as a result of which the fifth Zhiguli family appeared. Yes, and world experience suggested that it is still too early to send a model that has been produced for only five years to retirement, but it would not hurt to slightly retouch and rejuvenate its appearance by that time.

Updating the front-wheel drive first-born would have helped the
Volzhsky Automobile Plant wait for a really new model Vaz - 2110,
which was being intensively developed in Togliatti by that time.
However, it became obvious that the launch of the Vaz - 2110 would be
mastered at best in 1996, and before that time you would not get far
on Samara alone, model 1984.

They tried to refresh the "chisel" with the help of foreign partners, but neither the numerous dealer variations on the theme, nor the so-called Samara Baltic, produced in Finland at the Valmet plant, looked much more modern than the usual VAZ - 2109. The angular body needed not only and not so much various overlays and "body kits" as required a radical revision of the front and rear parts - again, following all the laws of the genre adopted in the automotive world as part of the restyling of a particular model.

The roof, floor, sides and doors could not be touched. In fact, the designer Vladislav Ivanovich Pashko, who had previously created the appearance of the first Sputnik together with Viktor Kryazhev, had freedom of creativity only in front and behind, and in the middle the old car had to "remain". Roughly the same scheme in the USSR was updated not only Zhiguli, but also other models - for example, Moskvich (412> 2140) and Volga (24> 3102).

Head optics in a fashionable manner in the early nineties "squinted" - the headlights have noticeably decreased in height, and the "turn signals" began to go to the side of the wing. The hood has also become a much more massive part, because it has noticeably added in length, almost reaching the bumper. Due to this, the front of the Samara-2 visually seems lower than that of the first generation car, although the wings do not differ in base points on the body. A seemingly small increase in overall length and a decrease in headlights really made the front end more dynamic, modern and attractive.

True, at the same time, the Russian car began to remarkably resemble the first generation Ford Scorpio, which was the Car of the Year 1986 - that is, it appeared exactly a year after the release of the VAZ – 2108.

Be that as it may, the decision on the front end involved a change in almost all the front elements - the hood, fenders, headlights and radiator grille. The bumper has also become completely different - in contrast to the "unkillable" unpainted part of the first Samara, it was made of a different material and in the body color. And if, thanks to the "tinting" of the bumpers, the car added to its attractiveness, then the unexpectedly high fragility of bumpers and other plastic could hardly please the new owners of Samara-2.


However, first things first. If updating the front part required minimal changes in the welding equipment, then with the stern everything was far from being so rosy. Even at the time of work on the
VAZ - 2108, the designers discovered that some additional two degrees in the slope of the rear window would greatly reduce its contamination, and at the same time would reduce the coefficient of aerodynamic drag of the body, with which Sputnik was not doing very well.


That is why, as part of the work on updating Samara, the designers planned to use new parts - a roof panel raised by 10 mm without a rear spoiler-"hump", an overhead trunk door with an opening to the bumper, new taillights and (of course!) The rear bumper itself.

Indeed, precisely because of the high ground clearance and not the best streamlining at high speeds, Samara was distinguished by an enviable appetite for fuel, and its maximum speed did not greatly exceed the indicator of brick-like Zhiguli. At the same time, the distribution of lift forces along the axes of Samara of the first generation was very good: the results of aerodynamic tests showed that at a speed of 144 km / h, the rear wheels of the VAZ-2108 pressed against the road with a force of 158 N, and the front wheels were unloaded with a force of 152 N. For comparison: the front end of the Audi TT sports coupe of the first generation at the same speed lifted off the surface with a force of 163 N, and the stern in the version without a spoiler “took off” with a force of 337 N off the road! Therefore, the task of the designers was further complicated by the fact that the "chisel" had to be made not only more modern in appearance, but also at least not to worsen its aerodynamic performance.

That is why, in 1993, VAZ designers worked on the appearance of a new model in Dmitrov - right in ... a wind tunnel! Having dismantled the standard elements of the usual "nine" and "ninety-ninth", Togliatti specialists worked directly "live" - they molded bumpers and door sills from plasticine, as well as door moldings.

It was thanks to the purge that they managed to achieve an excellent result with little blood - the drag coefficient decreased from 0.453 to 0.429 (for hatchbacks - from 0.463 to 0.445), and the distribution of lift forces along the axes of the four-door sedan became more even. At the same time, the front part of the future VAZ-2115 took off from the ground with less force than on the VAZ-21099 sedan (141 N and 216 N, respectively), and the feed, thanks to the presence of a neat spoiler, began to "soar" not so willingly - 146 N at Samara- 2 versus 197 N on the VAZ-21099.

Of course, the speed of 144 km / h at which the measurements are taken can hardly be considered a cruising speed for the Togliatti subcompact and Russian roads. However, much more favorable aerodynamics and even distribution of lift forces along the axles had a beneficial effect on the stability and controllability of the car even at lower speeds - 100-120 km / h, which the owners of such cars usually drove. In other words, after the update Samara should have better "stick to the road" - this apt definition fully conveys the quality for which drivers love
many foreign cars with good aerodynamics.

On the sedan, almost all the necessary changes were implemented: the four-door car with the index 2115 acquired not only a new "face" and side linings, but also original stern parts - a boot lid, rear panel, fenders, lights and a bumper. Thanks to this, the second-generation sedan visually differs markedly from the VAZ-21099. True, an increase in the overall length of the body with an unchanged wheelbase somewhat violated the proportions, and from the point of view of "purity of style" the previous model looked more organic.

Alas, only the sedan got the new feed, while the hatchbacks had to confine themselves to only a different bumper and spoiler on the tailgate, since other changes would require new stamps for the roof and sidewall, which on the "chisels" is made as a whole with the rear wing. At the same time, neither the taillights, nor the trunk lid, nor the rear panel were changed.

Therefore, the loading height of the two-volume booms remains the same - and at the same time is very high. So in terms of ease of loading, the updated sedan turned out to be a cut above the VAZ-2114/2113. And if we consider that the volume of the luggage compartment (427 liters) of the sedan also significantly exceeds the performance of hatchbacks, it is not surprising that the car eventually gained fame as the most spacious and practical Samara-2.

But in the interior of Samara-2, in comparison with the usual "chisel", much has been achieved. On the one hand, budget constraints prevented the introduction of new front seats, but a real gem has appeared in the cabin - a new dashboard.

Externally, the "europanel" resembles the interior of the VW Golf MKIII - in contrast to the "low" and "high", it is characterized by a massive instrument panel, which is slightly turned towards the driver and smoothly passes into the central tunnel.

Even the factory workers themselves admit that the level of elaboration and ergonomics of the dashboard Samara-2 surpassed not only the interiors of the Vaz – 2108 and Vaz - 2109, but also the newest at that time VAZ-2110!

In addition to a beautiful and comfortable panel, the interior also received a functional VDO instrument cluster with internal illumination and liquid crystal displays. In addition, new door trims
appeared in the cabin, which were stylistically linked to the new dashboard. Another innovation is the electrically operated front window lifters.

True, the listed innovations in the cabin went only to the "multi-door" versions, while the three-door hatchback with the VAZ-2113 index was content with only a new panel, and the door
upholstery with mechanical "oars" remained the same. But it is very important that all models have a steering column height adjustment, and in a fairly wide range. Thanks to this, both tall and short drivers could sit behind the wheel of the updated front-wheel drive quite comfortably, although the characteristic feature of the car in the form of a steering wheel that is strongly extended into the interior has not gone anywhere. Separately about the headlights. Since the head optics of Samara-2 had to be greatly reduced in height, a different technological solution for the reflector was required. Of course, it would be logical to put the lens, as it was done on the top ten. Alas, something went wrong, and in Samara they limited themselves to only a plastic homofocal reflector of low and high beam with a conventional two-filament H4 lamp with a power of 60/55 W.

In the process of working on new optics together with the Avtosvet plant from the city of Kirzhach, the designers faced the problem of overheating of the reflector and insufficient stability of the
lighting characteristics during the operation of the headlight, which was solved over time by switching to thermosetting plastic.

Alas, practice has shown that after switching to new optics, Samara became "blind" - even the most expensive and high-quality lamps cannot compensate for the innate "myopia" of headlights, which, due to the small physical dimensions of the optical element, do not have the best lighting qualities. Each of these technical solutions (reflector or small dimensions) has the right to life. However, with the small dimensions of the body, the headlamp needs a lens, and the classic reflector requires certain dimensions to provide the desired characteristics of the light beam.
When working on the Samara-2 headlights at VAZ, they limited themselves to the fact that the headlight fit into the parameters and tolerances for homologation as head optics.

Technically, Samara-2 was no different from the later "chisels" of the first generation: a 1.5-liter eight-valve VAZ-2111 engine with distributed fuel injection and the usual "five-stage".
At the same time, the very first commercial samples of the VAZ-2115, released in pilot production in the period from 1997 to 2000, were often equipped with the usual VAZ-21083 carburetor engine.

The launch of the facelift version into serial production was not easy for the plant. As soon as the production of VAZ-2115 sedans began in the OPP, the August 1998 crisis broke out, which pushed the launch of the VAZ-2114 hatchback to 2001, and the three-door VAZ-2113 hatchback was launched into series only in 2005.

Even while working on a project to update Samara, the designers planned to release a "youth" modification of the three-door with a 16-valve engine called Sprint - a kind of Russian analogue of German hot hatches with the GTI index.

Alas, it didn’t work: right up to the cessation of production, the Samara-2 was produced with the usual eight-valve. True, since January 2007, a 1.6-liter unit has appeared under the hood of Samara instead of the "poltorashka" 2111 - exactly the same as on Kalina. And since 2011, the engine has received the so-called "e-gas" - a throttle valve devoid of a mechanical connection with the accelerator pedal. At the same time, the Togliatti company "Super-Auto" produced in small batches "heated" versions of hatchbacks with a 16-valve 21124 engine and a Priora chassis.

The modernized Samara was liked by the motorists of the CIS and quickly found its buyer, whose portrait and age could be very different - from "young and hot" to sedate uncles and aunts with tens of years of driving experience behind them.

The VAZ-2115 sedan was produced until the end of 2012, the three-door with an index of 2113 was discontinued in June 2013, and the five-door VAZ-2114 hatchback lasted the longest on the conveyor. Only on December 24, 2013 in Togliatti the last "fourteenth" white was collected.

Thus, the era of the "chisel" ended exactly 29 years after the first Vaz – 2108 rolled off the Togliatti conveyor on December 22, 1984, belonging to 2,000 copies of the "pilot" consignment, which entered Soviet auto shops in January 1985. ...