Test drive GAZ 22 1962-1970 station wagon

"Barguzin" against "Hope" ...

Barguzin against hope ...
and what came of it.
Previously, there were simply no mini-wenes in Russia. It was believed that there is no need for them. But years have passed, and the situation has changed, a need has appeared, and after it, demand. This fall, VAZ 2120 Hope went on the road - the first domestic mini -ven (ZR, 1999, No. 7). Let's try to compare it with another domestic novelty of the same class Barguzin - GAZ 2217-104 in seven -seater design. Of course, the latter can be attributed to the mini-wans with a stretch: after all, this is a full-fledged minibus, even with a low roof. But for the consumer, the difference between them is small: both machines can be controlled by a driver’s license of category V.
Are we already familiar with you?
So, her name is hope. Own names are better than boring alphanumeric indexes, and the future is undoubtedly behind them (by the way, even experts are confused in the factory numbers).
 
Outwardly, Nadezhda a little reminiscent of the unheard of Nissan Serena, which was distorted in a crooked mirror, frankly, not the most stylish mini-van. Rounded sidewalls with the only substete, devoid of any dynamics silhouette, narrow, deeply drowned in niches of the wheels - yes, the profile is not very ... And the FAS pumped up - two different -caliber headlights in the color of the body of the clamps make the front of the car comical, similar to the Neanderthal in the Neanderthal in the Neanderthal. glasses. Huge tanning arcs and four eyes. The prototypes, I remember, also met block framents, but, apparently, they decided to save on a small-scale car. Well, not the beauty is our hope that you can do!
 
Against such a background, even faceless Barguzin is almost a dope - although you will take a lot from a car, whose genealogy from a cargo van? A pseudo -shuttered cladding, low roof and plastic overlays on the thresholds - the entire ceremonial costume. Nevertheless, if ordinary sable with a high roof seems poster, then Barguzin is almost proportional.
 
Nevertheless, it is better to consider the VAZ and GAZ cars from afar - nearby too noticeable low quality and inaccurate docking of plastic parts of the body. But if the matte gray plastic of Barguzin successfully hides defects, then painted bumpers and a lattice of hope give themselves out with their heads.
 
WHAT'S IN A NAME? You are evaluated by my volume!
And this is true: there is no need to argue about appearance, when the main advantage of these machines is a spacious salon. Of course, they cannot be directly compared - Barguzin is much more hoping for dimensions, especially height and width. But both cars must meet the declared indicators - to provide six passengers (not counting the driver) with a sufficient space for a comfortable trip over long distances.
 
Barguzin is ahead of passenger capacity. Despite the small length, GAZ 2217 is quite capable of transporting ten: its internal width easily allows you to install four chairs in a number. However, for greater comfort - Barguzin is like a luxury version of Sobol - wider seats with armrests are installed here, and only three of them fit in a row. Unlike the standard layout for mini -wen (seats one after another), a compartment is organized in the Barguzin - two chairs stand backwards, and a small folding table is placed between them, alas, quite talkative on the move. Instead of a standard double seat, a single one with folding armrests is placed to the right of the driver. A person will easily be placed anywhere even the most impressive complexion, moreover, it will simply be inconvenient to drive a driver below 170 cm tall below 170 cm.
 
But with the transformation of the salon - trouble. The only possible layout is laid down by the manufacturer. It is impossible to change her by moving the seats - they are tight to the floor. The partition is half the height of the main salon separates it from the driver's compartment - you can only go to the salon from the front seats along the street, although there is enough space to make the passage. But in any situation, an impressive trunk remains, the advantages of which are not able to overshadow even a full -fledged stock of 215/65R16 lying on the floor.
 
In the hope of a place is much smaller, and in order to get to the third row of seats, you need to fold the back of the right chair in the middle row, move it forward, and since the doorway is notable, and also fold yourself. The middle row of seats moves back and forth for about 120 mm, but a person of even medium height will not be able to use it in the front position: there is simply nowhere to put his legs. Moreover, the extreme passengers do not have enough space for the head - with a modest growth of 175 cm, they have to support the ceiling. With the average row of seats pushed back, everything falls into place - even the space above the head is enough, but between the back of the middle and the rear seat pillow and the fist will not pass. What to say about the passenger. In other words, with seven chairs, the hope is still a five-seater car, if you don’t resort to something like a 2+5 layout, almost losing the trunk.
 
Did the designers be mistaken? Even a two-two student will not do this. Most likely, in the drawings, the salon was combined very tightly, and in real life, the tolerances formed, as they say, in the wrong direction. However, those who are going to buy a car are not interesting.
 
The real transformation of the salon also turned out to be lower than the calculated, but for another reason. Having fixed the middle row in the rear position a couple of times, it was not possible to return it back either by force or cunning. The mechanism of locking as if died. The fate of the back door of the back door turned out to be similar - after checking the hardness of the body (a single rear wheel arrive for an elevation of 200 mm), he refused to obey and demanded the participation of two testers: one pulled by the lever, and the second pressed the door in the castle area, compensating for the skew. In fairness, we note that there are no complaints about the front and sliding side doors.
 
As it turned out, the driver's place is also not without sin. Too high landing significantly limited not only the overview of the devices. The eyes of a little, the tall driver are almost flush with the upper wiping of the glass, and the lowered sun visor completely blocks the review. Another puncture is the location of the steering column. Releasing the clutch pedal, the driver tall above the average certainly rests with the knee on the steering wheel. But there are no complaints to the availability of the lever of gearboxes - no one of them had to reach for any of them. The last spoon of tar is the mutual arrangement of levers of the hand -box and manual brake. The handbrake cannot be released if an increase in gear is included in the handout. No comments!
Hey Barguzin, move the shaft!
It's time to move on to road impressions. Both applicants do not shine with dynamics, although at maximum speed they are very close and honestly laid out 130 km/h in the fourth gear. In acceleration to 100 km/h, hope is noticeably (at 3.4 s) ahead of Barguzin, although it was not subjective to this. But in elasticity, the 2.3-liter ZMZ-406.10 surpasses the VAZ 21213, and very thoroughly: a set of speed from 80 to 120 km/h on the fifth gear at the Gazovskaya machine by already 15 (!) Seconds faster. The heavy barguzin was better on the run, but according to the inhibitory qualities, Nadezhda was ahead of him: with 80 km/h, her braking distance was 5, and from 100 km/h - 8.5 m shorter than that of a competitor.
 
Railing on the mountain road revealed the enviable stability of GAZ 2217. Wide tires, an impressive track and a rather low center of gravity allowed confidently to pass at high speed. The behavior of the car was quite acceptable: the rolls are small, although an insensitive and inaccurate steering wheel with a hydraulic wiper and strong buildup pretty much interfere with the driver. VAZ 2120, which, at our request, the dealer shoeing in the Yugoslav tires I launched 175/80R16 (equipped with the originally diagonal Vli-5, the mini-van did not have the slightest chance on the asphalt), on the contrary, he did not show high speeds, and answered all provocations with a strong demolition of the front axle. But the hydraulic wrap from the German ZF did not disappoint, not at all influencing the sensation of the steering wheel.
 
Comfort is a special topic. On small irregularities, both cars behaved almost exemplary. She perceived larger hope too hard, and Barguzin, easily swallowing them with the front suspension, began to desperately goat after traveling with the rear wheels. The seven -seater car clearly needs softer springs than 800 kg of cargo.
 
The noise portrait of competitors turned out to be fundamentally different. The hoping was dominated by a heart -rending screening of the handout and noise of tires, in the Barguzin - an almost obscene sound of the exhaust system, especially intensifying in the most running range of 2200-2600 rpm, but only on a complete throttle.
Briefly about different ones
Both cars will not give a reason to miss their potential owners. In any, there were small, but unpleasant surprises. In the Barguzin, the difficulty of the first gear, the whistle of the squeezed bearing and a small leak of the coolant from the heater, were alerted in the Barguzin. In the hope of the stove did not work at all. The glass of the windshield was constantly striving to press the fingers to the upholstery, in the outer mirrors, with any adjustment, only the side of its car could be seen, and the outdoor light switches were even deprived of hints of icons. The fastening of the spare wheel does not withstand any criticism at all. It is located from the right side under the body, in the middle of the base, and is removed from below. The all -wheel drive machine will most likely be operated on soil roads. What will it be to get the wheel in the mud? We tried in more greenhouse conditions - nothing came of it. The head of a bolt attracting a pallet with a wheel to the floor turned out to be so close to the middle rack of the body that it was simply impossible to unscrew it with a regular cylinder key.
Who is more valuable?
It is rare to face such a magnificent bunch of shortcomings in one car. VAZ 2120 is a sad example. No, we have heard well about the quality of the assembly, but the number of constructive flaws exceeds all possible limits. A drop that overwhelmed the bowl of patience turned out to be a radius of rotation. To turn 180 degrees into one appointment, hope the carriage of 14.3 m (!) Against 10.6 m of much larger Barguzin is needed. The VAZ 2120 indicator corresponds to a transport van with a 3.5-meter base than a light car. So, you can only climb a ramp on it on it, turning around on each floor in three doses. By the way, the VAZ-2130 (five-door Niva) with the same wheeled base turns much more likely.
For 169,400 rubles, you can purchase a GAZ 2217-104 Barguzin with a comfortable and well-finished salon for seven and acceptable running qualities on road roads. Formally seven -seater VAZ 2120 costs 190 thousand rubles, but really provides only five comfort. Its main advantage is a higher cross -country ability on dirt roads. However, a much cheaper VAZ-2130 copes with this no worse.
 
 
SUMMARY
With all the obvious advantages and disadvantages of Barguzin, a really existing serial machine with the usual build quality for Russia. Hope, in its current performance, is more like a prototype, which is in the stage of refinement. Dealers have to make heroic efforts in order to bring it to the requirements of customers at least more or less.
 
Cars for the test are provided by NP Avtomir, GAZ 2217-104 Network of car dealerships Alan VAZ 2120 Automobile Trade Company
 
Anatoly Fomin. Photo by Vladimir Trusov
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: The magazine "Driving"