Lada Samara and Skoda Favorit!

The Skoda Favorit came before a car that a school assistant at my elementary school had, from around 1996 and probably well into the 2000s. It looked a lot like the Favorit. This was Volkswagen’s big investment in Skoda, but they sure didn’t bother spending money to make Skoda as tough as a VW. My teacher actually bought a Felicia, made from '96 to '01, but it wasn’t any better. He bragged about paying an extra 40 grand for a Volkswagen engine instead of a Skoda one, but that didn’t help much. After just 3-4 years, that car was already falling apart, and by the early 2000s, I was seeing these rusted out everywhere.

The Skoda Favorit, though, has a more classic look and was built until '95. I reckon it’d work just fine as a country cruiser. I remember a guy—his folks knew my folks from the orienteering scene—driving a Lada Samara back in the late '90s. That was the last time I ever knew someone who drove one. Not long after, in '99, Lada quit selling in Norway.

At the end, Lada tried marketing the Samara under a new name: “Lada Samara Baltic” instead of “Samara Tolyatti.” But like my uncle said when we saw one in Rauland around October '05, “It’s the same damn thing.” That car, by the way, was held together with a wooden stick propping up the trunk lid because the hydraulics were busted.

Lada was done in Norway by '99 after some tax changes made them too expensive. Asian cars had been cheaper and better for a long time already. I still saw a few Ladas around in the 2000s—an old couple drove a white Samara in Høvik from about '06 to '09. And in '06, I spotted a pristine Lada 2101 (or was it a 2103 or 2106?) rolling through downtown Odda. I like to think it belonged to some retired factory worker, who only took it out for groceries on Saturdays and church on Sundays, spending the rest of the week polishing it.

Lada’s best days in Norway are long gone. But if you import one of the last models, you could still cruise around in it for a few years. Just don’t forget—if you got a Lada 2101 or 2102, you best keep it as a summer ride and take real good care of it!