Well, my experience says Lada (for me always Zhiguli) is a car for every use. Saw one that crossed two-thirds of the long axis of Baikal, on the Baikal, when it was frozen of course. The newer models (like the one Pato had) had also quite good power, not so bad consumption, and apart from the terrible looks and turning radius (shirokaya strana rodnaya) approaching that of MIG at Mach-1
quite fun to drive. Although, instead of power steering it had a mini-fittness gym for the driver installed.