Test drive UAZ 469 1972 - HB SUV

Do not road uza roads

Actually, long before the test, we raised our heads in what vein to spend it. Calculate to tell the world something new about a car that is produced for twenty-eight years without significant modernization and about which volumes have been written, from our side it would be a little arrogant. And in particular - to say something new hundreds and thousands of people who have wound a goat at the wheel of a goat. It is clear that a special car does not need an advertisement, because it has long served as the main staff car in the armies of many countries of the world and managed to star in the mass of militants, including several episodes of the epic about James Bond. Everyone already knows that cars that can compete with UAZ on the roads can be counted on the fingers. In short, a thing in yourself, cult without any stretch. Legendary. In the memory of the people, a half -story was preserved, a semi -anxy about the Japanese, who first met the car and reacted to what they saw: why only the Russians will not invent, so as not to build roads! As for foreigners, the Ulyanovsk all -terrain vehicle became one of the symbols of Russia, and for us he is an integral part of the concept of the Motherland, we want it or not, we admit to ourselves or we rejected. It so happened, and nothing can be done here.

To be honest, then for the wheels the WAZ test is significant in its own way. Few employees drove such a car, and if he drove, then in conditions far from extreme. We were perfectly aware that we could not squeeze everything from the car that it is capable of - if only because we are not an avid jeepers. But to conduct any objective tests of similar technology in the future, we simply must have a support point, starting from which we would have the right to evaluate the off-road qualities of a particular model. A kind of standard. So we went to a meeting with UAZ as a lesson, and let the material offered to your attention be a story about what feelings a person who first ended up in the driver of this charismatic vehicle experiences and tried to make a number of exrasis on a crossed area.

By the way, the concept of the standard is also not absolute. Obeying the requirements of the market, since the beginning of the nineties, the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant gradually expanded the range of modifications offered, and the near -Zavodsky tuning offices also did not sit idly by. As a result, today you can buy or order an UAZ in any configuration, including with a 205-horsepower Toyota engine, self-locking differentials, leather interior, air conditioning, etc. But there is also a sophisticated car of yo-th. But the popularity of these SUVs is largely based on their low price and maintenance. Our subject is also modest - from the pre -equipment of it, only the steering hydraulic power control and the elmo of the front wheels are installed; Everything else is at the level of primitivism: the spring front suspension and the 76-horsepower carburetor engine Uzam-4178, the origin of which dates back to 1956.

For a long time, the days when UAZ -469 - then it was called - looked modern or at least relevant (if he ever looked like that). It was also the time when he seemed outdated. For many years this machine worked for the image, and today the image works for it. Now the brutal forms of the car have become classic, however, like the appearance of other professional army -road SUVs - the British Land Rover Defender, the German Mercedes -Benz Gelandewagen, French Acmat and Auverland, Portuguese UMM, Israeli A.I.L. However, nothing forever under the moon, and in order to somehow attract civilian buyers, in 1994 the plant slightly modernized the machine, assigning the basic modification index 31514. The ennobled car differs from the early samples of a metal roof with glazed sidewalls, a whole windshield with the lower location of the wipers , kangaroo and protective grilles around the rear lights, large mirrors with a panoramic review and plastic external doors. There were new seats with integrated head restraints, a new steering wheel, a plastic front panel and soft upholstery of the doors. The hood now opens from the inside, and the back door got a lock.

As small children, we were delighted with stylish details, now defiantly archaic, then purely functional, but together and creating a unique image. Take, for example, towing bums on the front bumper. Or an air intake that opens from the cabin under the windshield. Or stops and lock on the frame of the same windshield holding the thrown hood cover. And what respect was inspired by a duplicate gas drive and a flag hidden under a driver's seat, switching a power system from the right tank to the left and vice versa!
 
But starting work, we were aware that it is true to make claims to a car at a cost of less than three thousand dollars only in special cases. At the front chairs equipped with adjustments in the longitudinal direction and along the corner of the back of the back, you can get a sufficient comfort. Sitting from behind is much less convenient. The almost vertical back and insufficient supply of space above the head are to blame - on the broken sections of roads of the top of tall passengers, they strive to make contact with the ceiling now and then. In full compliance with modern requirements, the back of the rear seat is folded in a proportion of 1: 3, 2: 3 or in its entirety, significantly increasing the volume of the luggage compartment. In which there are lateral folding places, however, because of their inferiority, they can only shelter passengers for a short time.
 
There are no problems with the visibility of the driver’s place, since the area of \u200b\u200bthe body glazing is large, and the mirrors perform their functions perfectly. The dashboard is so outdated that it managed to become witty - it is located in the middle, and consists of five round signs: a speedometer, the amount of fuel, oil pressure, coolant temperature and voltage in the on -board network. Moreover, the speedometer readings are completely overlapped by the steering wheel.

With the turning of the key with the inscription Lada (there is an eight ignition lock here) the ancient motor begins to shake a massive body. At idle, even after warming up the vibration, they remain at a high level and are felt when touching any interior detail. At first, the frequency recovery was seriously puzzled - there are already four of them, and two right have no symbols. Probably, that an enemy spy abandoned into Soviet territory could not use the UAZ. I had to climb the instructions, and as a result of its studies, we revealed a military secret: the lever is the front right to the right, and the neighboring controls by the demultiplier. We leave only the rear -wheel drive involved and leave the parking lot. True folk rumor: UAZ is a machine for real men. Only in comparison, you understand how worn out by citizens who travel to all sorts of Volkswagen, Opel and Mercedes there. The clutch and brake pedal efforts are huge here, however, the supply of torque on the bottom allows you to confidently start off, if desired, even in second gear. The word acceleration is hardly applicable to the process of setting speed, in addition, the complicated absence of a synchronizer in second gear. It took a lot of time before we got to switch with double squeezing clutch and inflame. We have already mentioned the tight and uninformative brake pedal, we only add that tires with a developed off -road pattern are blocked earlier than you expect. Another curious detail found out on the go: in hot weather, a real bee is created in the cabin, because the glasses of the doors are not lowered, and there are clearly not enough rotary windows and possibilities of natural ventilation. It seems that the only way out of the doors remains the only way out in the summer, but then the car is accessible to everyone.

The hydraulic power, of course, facilitates life, but the almost zero reactive effort and large delay requires stable skills and strong nerves. You turn the steering wheel, but there is no effect. You bring it to a larger corner, and then the car shies to the side, and he also needs time to perform corrective actions. But at speeds above 80 km/h, zero control begins to be traced, and at small angles of turning the steering wheel, even something like a returning effort is felt. Super -burning impenetrable spring suspension completely deprives fear of pits and tram rails in the city, but on the irregularities of the tracks often causes changes in the course. Given the constant howls and rattles of the transmission, with suburban trips you get the impressions of those. We experienced a lot of positive emotions from such exotic, and in the evening we practiced in full swing at speeds of about 100 km/h, desperately, but carefully fighting the exchange rate of the car. But one thing is a single trip, completely different - the daily operation of the machine. Yes, you will not envy drivers constantly working at UAZs.
 
At the next stage, we decided to do what we planned from the very beginning, that is, amateur off-road. This was happening in such measures that have such events by the vicinity of the village of Koltushi. To begin with, connect the front wheel drive: we transfer the right lever forward, and then get out of the car and turn the flags on the front wheels. This is the tremendous advantage of Elmo's couplings, since before without keys there was no such operation. While we leave a direct gear in action, saving lowered for later. The car overcomes loose sand playfully, which should be expected - the clearance is somewhat 22 centimeters. Then we head to the slope along which there is a deep (up to 40 cm) promotion left by the rain stream. Despite the fully dependent suspension, UAZ calmly crosses it from any angle, even at the straight line - thanks to the large moves of the suspension. Let us pay tribute to the hydraulic mission, which in responsible moments helps a lot to tear the car out of the rut and instruct the true path. It is only a trouble that on the crossed terrain passengers have nothing to grab onto, and they can only grunt and gasp. The front passenger holds on to the handrail, fixed on the front panel, but he is very inconvenient. We are trying to enter a cool slide covered with sand and potholes. Rhublies the engine, UAZ climbs upstairs, and we never have the feeling that the car will save. We try to repeat the exercise, but in a slightly complicated form: we stop not far from the top, and then touch again. This can be done using a hand brake. Then, for a spectacular frame, we decide to rush on the sand with a slip of all the wheels. But for some reason only the rear ones are skidding. Then it comes to us that at the previous stage, getting confused in the levers of the transmission, we turned off the drive to the front axle, and in the hill the goat climbed on the same rear drive! Well, with a full car, it climbs all nearby slopes (according to passport data, the value of the overcome lifting is 31 degrees). The main thing is not to rush and go on a pre -selected gear, gently adding gas. Little by little, at high speeds, but the motor will pull upstairs, but switching from the first gear to the second synchronizers can lead to a stop halfway and, as a result, a breakdown of the attempt. On the descents, we switched to a lowering gear so as not to resort to the help of the brakes, and, running ahead, we admit that this was the only time we had to use the lower row of transmission.
 
The appetite comes during meals, now we have already decided to check another technical characteristic - the depth of overcoming ford. According to the instructions, water barriers up to 50 cm deep can be stormed without removing the fan belt, but with the closed blinds of the radiator, and the maximum depth of the ford is 70 cm. But the events of this stage deviated slightly from the planned scenario: not far from the coast of the UAZ, the rear wheels fell into the pit . The rear-wheel drive turned out to be powerless, and on the full after a short-term swing back and forth, the car escaped from the captivity of silt, lifting dozens of lake water with it. Completely bolding, we woven along the forest roads, no longer afraid of mud, nor puddles, nor roots of trees, nor the ruts left by trucks, and the terrible shaking and jumping of the car only added sharpness to sensations. The margin of safety at the car is colossal, and then its previously excessive oak, it has to be in handy. You begin to trust the car one hundred percent.

We parted with the UAZ with great regret. The general opinion was as follows: nothing of the kind. But we did not have the opportunity to realize everything that the car was capable of: somewhere there was not enough experience, somewhere-suitable conditions. They almost did not use the transmission that lower the nearby and could not understand whether it was bad or good that there are no interior differential locks on the machine. Naturally, any all -terrain vehicle can be planted, but a competent driver must know or assume where that line, which is not worth the cross. Just UAZ protects you from the crime of this face longer and more reliable.

Text: Leonid Klyuyev
photo: Roman Ostanin
 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 42/2000]