Top Gear 4wd 1979

It's good to know the Lada Niva is still available new, virtually unchanged.

I had a Lada Niva from 1982 until 1990, great little car ! 👍

Considering the Renault and Subaru had road tyres, they did a rly good job in comparison to the ones with all terrain tires. Also that Daihatsu could’ve made it up that last bit had the person been in the right gear.

The driver of the tank at the end made a right tool of himself for sure!

Did anyone notice the smooth ride of the Renault? What a tremendous suspension, even though the ground clearance and the travel of the wheels are not that big. What a shame, they don’t build such little beaters anymore.

Unintentional hilarity at the end with the armoured car. It's worth the wait. Excellent video, thanks for posting.

We had the Subaru when living in SE Asia in a place called Brunei. Everyone drove a Subaru or a Land Cruiser. It used to drive along the beach when the proper roads were flooded during the monsoon season. It also used to take us up into the jungle along the logging routes. They were often deep mud and ruts. I was 13 in 1979, but I remember the Subaru so fondly. It held many happy memories. So much so, some 44 years later I am on my 5th Subaru, the latest Outback.

All of them were awesome and all had one thing in common, non looked like ostentatious status symbols unlike the design monstrosities for sale these days!!!

I had a Sinpar 4x4 Renault 4 van that was very impressive. In certain terrains it was better than my other 4x4's including Land/Range Rover, Musso etc. It required a completely gung-ho approach to using off road as it has little power to use higher gears (no low-box) so when just aimed it and thrashed it in the very low first gear, a flat floor-pan meant it almost floated and skimmed across the soft stuff with the aggressive tyres acting like paddles where a heavier 4x4 would sink; this is a similar way of driving to using a Mk1 4x4 Panda (owned 2 of those as well). What the small ones won't do of course is carry weight, tow heavy trailers etc. However, on snow bound roads, the little ones are much more controllable and easier to regain control if it slides than the big heavy ones. "Horses for courses" as they say and it is a fact that tyres and skill count for as much as which particular 4x4 one decides to use off-road. Also had Nivas (excellent but much more comfortable in LHD), a Mahindra (good 4x4 but awful on road), UMM Transcat (wonderful and toughest of the lot) (Portaro Pampas (good, but dissolved) Ssanyong Korando and Mussos (very underrated IMO but crappy complex 4x4 selection method)), and a few Suzuki SJ and Jimnys (Amazing off road and acceptable on-road). Still using a JImny. Nice to see a Top Gear programme without insecure male presenters preening their egos, and that actually contained genuinely useful information.

I am totally mesmerized by the superb suspension on that silly Renault

Let's find that circuit in 2024, and compare with the current same models...Id like to see that

I have no words to describe how Renault was so fantastic with that suspension.

Thank you for this step forward to the past. Rainy weather combines very well with VHS quality because you get the impression you look through a wet windscreen. It is fascinating to see how well these cars perform, also some which don't look like conventional terrain cars at all. In retrospect, the Lada Niva is the winner for me. Not only because it was able to climb the very steep slope but also because of the really classical design of its exterior which will never look old fashioned.

Прекрасное видео! Эх, были времена, когда без политики и всё по честному!

Наша нива не требует доработки и рестайлинга ага сразу получилась бестселлером на века !!!! Привет из России 2023 !!!

I remember watching this in 1979 and yes I've enjoyed owning and offroading a number of land rover vehicles and a Suzuki.. Land Rover has been a big part of my life..

Thanks for the video - it was nice to see a Renault 6 first car I drove when I got my drivers licence back in 1988 - it was a front wheel drive, 34HP monster.....

I love watching the old Top Gear.

Нива достойно выступила и оказалась в призовых местах👍.Субару очень понравилась,если бы не тот ухаб перед самым подъёмом,то могло быть первое место.

1979: let's chase these raw simple brute uncomfortable underpowered cars around this original offroad track until the damper domes fly start glowing during cold rain 2023: We have a nice range of couch 4wds with ASR, damper control, rear camera, 200+hp and A/C. Let's caress them through some staged illusions of offroad environment in slow-motion during bright sunshine.