How I bought a new Lada Vesta SV Cross and drove 1500 km at a time. Owner's review with photo

October 13, 2017 Lada.Online 166 159 24

Recently, AVTOVAZ presented two versions of the Lada Vesta station wagon. Although these two cars are very similar, they have a number of distinctive features. We decided to put the Lada Vesta SW (a simple station wagon) against the “cross”, compare these two modifications and find the main differences.

Differences in technical characteristics

The larger body dimensions of the cross-version are due to the presence of the original body kit.

Differences in suspension:

• Lada Vesta SW - the rear springs of the station wagon (compared to the sedan) were increased by 9 mm.
• Lada Vesta SW Cross - different shock absorbers and springs, different suspension settings. The track is 14 mm wider.

Lada Vesta Cross: now a sedan! What for?

The sedan standing on tiptoes with a plastic body kit and vulnerable 17-inch wheels looks interesting. But the cross-sales rate of West with different bodies suggests that the station wagon is gaining momentum - and the four-door Vesta Cross will only help this: I still don’t understand why it is needed.

It wasn't even necessary to travel. In terms of chassis, the cross sedan is no different from the SW Cross station wagon, and together they are stiffer than the usual West. They notice more short waves and shake a little more at the junctions.

Handling, unlike ride quality, was not affected. Despite the additional 25 mm of ground clearance, Vesta Cross is precise and clear, pleases with competent chassis tuning, corners without stubbornness and loads the steering wheel with a pleasant reactive action. Even the non-switchable stabilization system is not a hindrance: it allows for small slips, and if everything is done correctly and smoothly, the electronics will not slow down. What is your Porsche, honestly.

West does not and will not have a normal automatic transmission, so I really wanted to try the AMT robot with an updated control program. It now has a creeping mode for traffic jams: now, to go, you just need to release the brake pedal. But, alas, all test sedans had 1.8 engines (122 hp) and manual transmission.

The unit with index 21179 now has a new fuel rail - they say that the problem with traction failures that plagued the SW Cross, which was in our comparative test and “fitting”, was precisely because of it. With the cross-sedans I drove, everything was almost normal - except for some failures when accelerating from the lowest revs. Maybe now we should work with the incoming air? After all, the area of ​​the air filter and the entire intake tract of the 1.6 and 1.8 engines are the same. I am sure that if you choose a larger filter and correct the labyrinth of pipes, the difference in power will increase.

The interior of the Cross can be red or more classic, with dark seat upholstery and graphite inserts on the doors

In the meantime, you pay more attention to the difference in appetite. The most economical colleagues were able to travel on one tank from Sochi to Rostov-on-Don, showing a consumption of about 10 l/100 km. Considering that almost half of the route was in the mountains, it seems to be not bad. But the serpentine road to Dzhubga was almost completely clogged - and it was rarely possible to accelerate to at least 70 km/h. And my Vesta, busy filming videos for the Autoreview YouTube channel, did not even reach Krasnodar with an average consumption of 14 liters. The 1.6 engine would not be such a glutton.

However, all this was known before. And my current main discovery is that Vesta Cross does not move when hung diagonally! I sneak up the mountain along a rocky road with deep ruts and stop at the first bend. A wheel hanging in the air rotates, risking a cut from a protruding rock, but a loaded one doesn’t even twitch. What's up, because before we noted a competent imitation of a differential lock!

All Crosses have disc rear brakes: the unit is taken from the Lada Sport models

I’m trying another Vesta - I already know that you can’t judge everyone by one car. But everything is the same: you can only take an obstacle by moving. It’s good, of course, that the bumpers are raised higher than usual, but the 17-inch wheels are scary. But VAZ experts claim that no changes were made to the electronics operating program, and this is a one-time failure.

An alarm bell, however. If this continues, Vesta may lose her driving foundation!

And then the pleasant little things that the sedan received after the station wagon: the rear interior lighting, the button on the trunk lid and the electric lock on the gas tank flap will not improve the situation. It’s a pity that we haven’t gotten to the mirrors that vibrate at speed, the useless windshield wiper blades and the too-deep cigarette lighter socket in which my usual mobile charger doesn’t work.

Under the metal engine boot the ground is as much as 21 cm

Am I being picky? But the Cross version is not cheap - from 764 thousand rubles for a sedan with a 1.6 engine and a manual transmission to 860 thousand when choosing a 1.8 engine and an AMT robot. This is 50-60 thousand rubles more expensive than a regular sedan in the same Lux configuration. And I can’t think of anything to overpay for. And considering that these 17-inch wheels unexpectedly made the previously quiet ownership of a Vesta criminal (in the winter they were stolen from several Crosses at once, and the cars’ wings were cut to turn off the alarm), I would stick with a regular car. And definitely with a station wagon: 734 thousand rubles for a Luxury with a 1.6 engine. Here it’s enough just to open the fifth door, look at the neat trunk with organizers, at the convenient transformation - and continue to change the statistics in favor of the five-door. So far, 42% of Vest buyers choose these, but by the end of the year there will be more than half of them.

Well, if you definitely want a sedan and preferably a special one, then wait until August-September, when Vesta Sport appears. Yes, it will be more expensive than the Cross, but it should also be much more interesting to drive.

What is the difference between station wagons and trim levels?

Additional options that only Lada Vesta SW Cross has:

• Original off-road body kit.
• Body color "Mars" (orange, 130).
• Interior color (orange trim).
• Decorative exhaust pipe nozzle.

Model design

The first glance at a book is always at its cover; you don’t judge the book by it, but you can judge the owner of the car with almost 100% confidence by its design. In their new models, VAZ maintains style. Still the same bias towards sports, which is not surprising, because SW stands for “SportWagon”, all the same stylish X-shaped patterns. But AvtoVAZ nevertheless made a difference between the Lada Vesta SW and the Lada Vesta SW Cross. In terms of body design, we are more impressed by the Vesta Cross, firstly, the color of the Lada Vesta SV Cross is “Mars”, in other words, metallic orange. But more significant is the black plastic body kit; this part protects the most vulnerable spot of the car from scratches, and subsequently, from rotting. A decorative exhaust tip makes the car more sporty and aggressive, while the regular Lada Vesta SW does not look so menacing and daring. Looking at the Vesta SW Cross, you can immediately see that it is for off-road use, which is not too different from what we call roads; its driver is a lover of active recreation in almost extreme places with his family or a group of friends. While the driver of the Vesta SW is also no stranger, but instead of off-road, he relies on any road, but the road, and his passion is not conquering hard-to-reach areas, but active recreation in the country and, of course, barbecues.

Price difference

Station wagon cost:

• Lada Vesta SW from 639,900 to 804,900 rubles.
• Lada Vesta SW Cross from 755,900 to 847,900 rubles.

Having an amount of about 760 thousand rubles, the buyer begins to think about which of the two station wagons is better to buy:

• Lada Vesta SW 1.8L with manual transmission in the Luxe Multimedia package for 761,900 rubles.
• Lada Vesta SW Cross 1.6l with manual transmission in Luxe configuration for 755,900 rubles.

A regular station wagon will have:

• More powerful engine.
• Multimedia system with navigation 7".
• Rear view camera.

A regular station wagon will not have:

• Original body kit.
• Body color "Mars".
• Orange interior trim.
• Exhaust pipe nozzle.
• Increased ground clearance.
• A different suspension (different from the sedan).
• Alloy wheels R17 (will be R16).

Children's engine sores

Lada Vesta is a Russian car, people usually listen to it and sniff it.

Many car enthusiasts are alarmed by the sound of the engine

at idle and sometimes in warm-up mode. The problem is pronounced and is accompanied by a characteristic chirping or ringing sound - the hydraulic compensators are knocking. The problem has been going on since the priors on the 126 engine. It is difficult to say whether this is a symptom of some kind of problem, or a design flaw in the engine. Which migrated to the Lada Vesta from the Lada Kalina, Lada Granta and Priora. This 16 valve engine with a capacity of 106 horsepower was installed on many AvtoVAZ models. For the Lada Vesta, a similar engine is available in a modernized form. It does not have a large list of significant alterations, although it is worth noting that it is adapted to Euro 5 standards. The engine, due to its environmental friendliness, has become sensitive to fuel quality. You should not experiment with questionable fuel as there have been precedents when problems with valves arose. Disassembly of the engine shows that low-quality fuel simply cannot be digested, which causes big problems with valve sticking and scuffing. The speed to one hundred west takes more than 11 seconds, this is not a good or bad average result. 6-8 liters per 100 km. quite bearable for a long journey.

A modern engine has electronics and many problems are associated with it:

— there are more and more complaints about unstable idling;

— revolutions float;

— sometimes the idle speed jumps.

Chassis

Another source of intrusive knocks and clunks when driving is the suspension . This problem is systemic. Creaks when crossing speed bumps appear due to a strong twist of the stabilizer joints, about which the manufacturer, with a certain amount of cunning, stated that this was supposedly the fault of the brutal Russian roads.

Over time, AvtoVAZ introduced more durable and elastic vulcanized bushings.

Often the cause of knocking in the front of the car was the stabilizer struts due to play in the ball joint. Over time, AvtoVAZ eliminated this problem by changing the shape of the liner body. The squeaks that occur when turning the wheels were also promptly eliminated. In the first models, knocking was also heard from the rear due to the poor design of the shock absorber support. Subsequently it was made softer. Read about Technical characteristics of Lada Vesta in numbers

There are complaints from drivers about spontaneous turning of the steering wheel while driving, which most likely occurs due to the operation of the electric power steering.