Design weaknesses of Lada Largus
Every car has its weak points. Unfortunately, the ideal car has not yet been invented and the Lada Largus is no exception. Moreover, the Lada Largus is a budget car, which is in great demand today in Russia.
Air conditioner.
There are no complaints about the air conditioner itself - it cools the interior perfectly. And the problem itself is related to the drain valve, which often does not coincide with the hole in the body and the evaporator drain. Due to inconsistency of parts, condensate is not transported outside the body, but accumulates in the driver’s or front passenger’s footwell. Because of this, water accumulates in the cabin, damaging the insulation and body, as well as emitting an unpleasant odor.
This problem was fixed under warranty, but in many machines it remained unresolved.
Front arms.
The main problem with the front levers of the Lada Largus are the ball ones, which quickly fail. Constantly replacing balls leads to breaking of the mounting hole, which makes further installation of a new ball impossible. Because of this, the lever assembly has to be replaced. Fortunately, the lever costs quite reasonable money and replacing it is not difficult.
The ball joint problem especially affects the 7-seater version of the station wagon, so when purchasing, you should pay attention to the front suspension.
Weak stove.
During the winter season, many owners complain about the low efficiency of the heater. This is due to many factors, including the design of the heater itself. As you know, Largus received a stove from Logan, whose interior is smaller than the latter. Because of this, a station wagon has to warm up a larger volume of the interior than a sedan.
Rear window washer.
A frequent failure of the washer is the breaking of the hose supplying water to the rear door. This disease can be treated without any problems, but nevertheless it occurs. We wrote in more detail about the washer HERE.
Electrics.
The electrics of the Lada Largus cannot be called a strong point. Many owners have problems with the electrical part. Of course, these are all “children’s” sores, but sometimes a lot of time and effort is spent searching for them. Problems can arise in anything that has anything to do with the electrical part. However, there are no global breakdowns. These are mainly failures of electrical components due to faulty contacts, oxidation of wires or an open circuit. For a competent electrician, problems like these are typical and can be easily fixed.
Manual transmission
Largus's manual transmission is not its strongest point. Now we are talking specifically about versions that have a 16-valve Renault engine under the hood. After Largus introduced its own engine and gearbox, this problem was solved. And there weren’t any particular problems with Renault’s 8-valve engine either.
The essence of the problem with the gearbox was that it had very short gears, which made driving on the highway very uncomfortable - in 5th gear, when driving at 120 km/h, the tachometer was already over 4 thousand revolutions per minute, and the noise of the engine was blocking the ears . The problem was solved only by installing other fifth gear gears with different gear ratios. But for some reason the factory never solved this problem.
Spare wheel screw.
Leaking spare tire screw. Yes, this problem is 90% likely to occur to anyone who rarely removes the spare tire or does not inspect the spare wheel screw. Just think about it? REVISION OF THE SPARE WHEEL SCREW. It must be lubricated at every maintenance. And if you don’t, then if necessary, you simply won’t be able to remove the spare tire - the bolt will rust and that’s it.
avtoexperts.ru
Largus means “generous” in Latin. And, indeed, the station wagon from Togliatti is very generous in some ways, for example, it has a large interior and a huge trunk, and there can be seven passenger seats. However, in other aspects the car is very stingy, gradually losing relevance in the market and becoming simply outdated. Since 2015, there have been rumors on the Internet that AvtoVAZ is about to update the model, but all this remains just rumors; moreover, plant officials recently stated that they are satisfied with the current sales and they are not going to update the car. Therefore, almost all the disadvantages discussed in this article will haunt the car for a long time.
Lada Largus
Outdated design
Surely many people know that Largus is actually a Logan MCV, a station wagon based on the Renault Logan, which the French began producing at their Romanian plant in 2006. In Tolyatti they simply bought a production license, screwed on a new front bumper and nameplates. The French roots made the car famous, because this is the popular Logan only in a different body, but they are now dragging the car down.
Renault Logan MCV
The design has not changed in 13 years , and by automotive standards this is a lot. Even the ancestor Logan managed to update itself and become prettier during this time, but Largus remained an ugly duckling. This applies both to the appearance (it is very simple and angular) and to the interior. A gloomy dashboard, outdated instrumentation, strange placement of some buttons and a complete lack of design - they did it as it happened - all this does not contribute to the emotional perception of the car.
Weak ball joints
The Logan-Largus suspension has already gained legendary status in our country. It is called indestructible, impenetrable, and armor-piercing. What is true is true, in our country the ability to ride comfortably over potholes is much more valued than delicate handling at high speeds. However, for all its energy intensity and comfort, the suspension cannot be called indestructible. And all because of the balls.
Ball joints Lada Largus
The average lifespan of factory ball joints is 60 thousand kilometers , and some are replaced even earlier. The resource, frankly speaking, is small. This is all the more strange since all other suspension elements travel much more. And the struts, and the tips, and the rods, and even the wheel bearings calmly take care of 100-150 thousand, but the ball ones have a puncture. The problem is further aggravated by the fact that the balls are pressed into the lever, and officially they can only be replaced as an assembly with the lever. Of course, many services will easily repress the ball, but this is a half-measure, because the seat will still break due to overpressing, and it is better not to carry out such a procedure more than once for safety reasons. So already on the second replacement you will have to buy new levers, and this is much more expensive than just replacing the ball ones.
Largus pendant
Insufficiently efficient climate system
Largus received the stove and air conditioner from Logan. What was enough for a sedan turned out to be not enough for a large station wagon. The stove in Largus needs to be heated and the air conditioner needs to cool a huge area. Not to say that the climate system is completely bad; when driving long distances they cope, but on short city trips you may not have time to get warmth or coolness. This mainly applies to passengers in the third row; air ducts blow into the driver and he is more or less comfortable, but there are problems with regulating the climate in the gallery.
Temperature control
The climate system is also not effective enough in removing moisture from the interior. In the rain, the car windows sweat a lot from the inside, the rear and rear side windows are covered with a veil without options, and you can only keep the windshield and front side windows clean, the minimum required for safe driving, by constantly switching the air flow and deploying the front deflectors.
The glass is fogged up
Drivers have a particularly difficult time in the cold on the highway, when the windows are cooled by the flow of incoming air and the condensation freezes from the inside, in which case it can be difficult to warm it up with a stove. Well, there’s one more bug that is not inherent in Largus individually, but in general in all cars with a Logan stove - less heat is supplied to the driver’s feet than to the head. This is a design feature of the stove; the only way to combat it is by placing dampers and cutting the carpet.
Gearbox ratios with Renault engines
If you read reviews from owners, this problem ranks first in the number of negative mentions about the car. In Togliatti they almost completely copied French engineering, including the selection of gear ratios in the box. And he is, to put it mildly, strange. On the most popular modification of the car with a 16-valve engine, the gearbox turned out to be so “short” that there was no desire to drive the car onto the track. Already at 90 km/h the engine was developing 3000 rpm, and at a normal cruising speed of 120 km/h – 4000, while the roar of the engine was causing your ears to get stuffy, and fuel consumption was skyrocketing (by the standards of a class B car).
Engine speed
What’s surprising is that on the version with an 8-valve engine, cargo vans also had a “longer” box, although even a first-grader is obvious that logically it should be the other way around. Fortunately, the design of the Renault manual transmission is such that it allows you to relatively inexpensively change the fifth gear gears and choose the desired gear ratio yourself. Most largus drivers who frequently travel along the highway do this. But, in general, this is not normal: buying a new car and immediately getting into the gearbox, because the factory did not think about the comfort of customers.
Engine speed VAZ 21129 1.6 16-valve with JR5 gearbox in 5th gear.
The problem only applies to cars with Renault engines, after AvtoVAZ introduced its power plants (from Granta and Vesta) under the hood of the Largus, the gearbox was reconfigured (it was left the same, only the gear ratios were changed). Finally, after six years of production, Largus buyers do not need to engage in “tuning” the manual transmission.
Weakness of configurations
Judging by the statistics, the vast majority of Largus are purchased in the maximum configuration. And this is a characteristic not of the fact that the car’s buyers are very “rich”, but of the fact that the line of trim levels is very poor. The basic modifications don’t even have power steering or electric windows, and ABS appeared only after it was made mandatory at the legislative level. The “maximum speed” of Largus is even poorer than the average configuration of the Lada Vesta SW!
For no additional payment, the Largus buyer cannot receive such things as are familiar to owners of even budget cars, such as a radio with a touch screen, climate control, cruise control, light and rain sensors, a rear view camera and many other options. We are not comparing the car with Mercedes, but even “colleagues” on the AvtoVAZ conveyor have everything listed, but Largus does not. During the seven years that the car has been assembled in Tolyatti, the plant has only been generous with the introduction of rear parking sensors. All other progress and the process of reducing the cost of auto components passed by the car.
Largus in maximum configuration
And we’re not talking about the fact that Largus has no alternative to a manual transmission. For Vesta and Xray there is a “robot”, albeit terrible in itself, but still a “robot”, Largus only comes with a “handle”, but this is a family car, which, in theory, can be driven by all family members.
conclusions
As is easy to see, most Largus problems are not systemic, but age-related. If AvtoVAZ were working on the car, it could look more attractive and better equipped today, but, as we have already noted, they are not planning to change anything at the plant, taking advantage of the fact that the model today simply has no competitors and “people are eating it up” anyway. If someone needs a large trunk or a 7-seater interior for a relatively small amount, then you can’t buy anything other than Largus in our market. So motorists with specific tasks have to get used to and adapt to the car. Despite its French roots, the car turned out to be very Russian in spirit - if you want something from the car, modify it yourself.
Subjective disadvantages of Lada Largus
Interior design of LADA Largus before restyling
Of course, in addition to real design flaws, there are still many questions for the Lada Largus.
Interior design of the updated Lada Largus FL 2022 release.
1. Poor sound insulation. Of course, it's stupid to talk about this in an economy car. But nevertheless, the car has this minus. There is frankly no sound insulation in Largus, so to improve it you will need to finish everything yourself.
2. Interior ergonomics. Yes, the French have never been famous for good and thoughtful ergonomics. And as you know, Largus is built precisely on the French B0 platform, so it inherited all the ill-conceived ergonomics of Logan - the inconvenient location of the seat heating buttons under the adjustment levers, the incomprehensible location of the ESP keys on the front panel, the horn button on the steering column switch. And there are many more “characteristic features” that were invented and implemented for no apparent reason.
3. Weak motors. Lada Largus does not have any powerful engines. Of course, you won’t be able to participate in Largus races, and no one was going to make a rocket out of Largus, but the engines - from Renault to AvtoVAZ - turned out to be quite weak for such a body. Even without taking into account the fact that many people plan to transport goods by car.
4. Lack of automatic transmission. This is probably the scourge of AvtoVAZ. No matter how much we would like to, AvtoVAZ does not want to make its creations compatible with automatic transmissions. Although many simply dream of having their own Largus with a full-fledged machine gun. But AvtoVAZ’s answer is that it’s expensive and unjustified; an automatic is not expected in the future. Keep yanking the stick.
5. Lack of all-wheel drive. Largus did not have all-wheel drive and is not planning to, although it could easily be introduced if desired - it would be enough to use the platform from Duster. But so far AvtoVAZ does not have any all-wheel drive, etc. in its plans.
6. Unreasonably high price. My psychological mark for a used Largus is 250 thousand and 500 thousand for a new one. But, as reality shows, used Largus are sold for 450+ thousand rubles, and new ones cost almost a million in good configuration. Well, I can’t get over the fact that Largus costs almost a million. Even taking into account the 2022 restyling and all sorts of innovations.
Disadvantages of modern cars
A car is no longer considered a luxury, but a means of transportation. Modern models quickly and comfortably transport people and various cargoes. Almost all cars have both pros and cons. Environmentalists consider road transport as the main source of air smoke in cities. Cars become the source of two problems for the entire metropolis - traffic jams and the smog that we breathe.
In a new car, the engine belts are poorly tightened
Expensive repairs of modern cars force you to spend a considerable amount of money, despite careful driving and proper maintenance. Even a small dent repair costs at least 2,000 rubles. Cash injections increase not only in the process of engineering corrections, but also protective measures, such as purchasing a garage and paying for utilities for the use of light in it, installing an alarm system, and paying for parking spaces. There is also a waste of money on various accessories for your car.
In the modern world, where each unit of resource becomes more expensive every minute, car manufacturers are trying to reduce production costs, which inevitably affects quality. Therefore, the question of significant shortcomings is relevant when it becomes possible to return the money paid for a purchased low-quality car. The Russian Federation Law “On the Protection of Consumer Rights” identifies the following types:
- a flaw that cannot be eliminated when it is not possible to eliminate it in the usual way;
- a drawback that requires huge expenditures of money and time to eliminate, when the time spent on repairs is disproportionately spent and a huge price that corresponds to the cost of the car itself;
- a defect identified for the second time, when cases of detection of disadvantages are repeated constantly and do not make it possible to operate the vehicle.
