Believe me, the low opinion is justifiable.  About the only thing that you
can say in Lada's favour is that their cars are like cockroaches; you can't
kill them.  But with such low tech, that's not surprising.  I have a soft
spot for the old Lada's as I liked the Fiat 124 they are based on.  Too bad
they didn't take over the Fiat twin-cam motor as well, instead they plopped
in their lump made out of melted down cooking pots.  The Lada Niva is a
surprisingly competent off-roader, but don't have any pretenses about build
quality, comfort, or safety.  The "newest" Ladas are still early 90's in
terms of tech and design.  The design cycle for a typical Lada is about 8
years, more than double the industry standard, so as a car maker they are
still hopeless.  Lada has made zero penetration into the European market
here, despite half-hearted efforts over the last 15 years since the wall
fell.