So, here’s the thing: looking at Garage 54’s triple-engine Lada, you would think that a 4.0L inline-12 experiment should make some kind of number. You would think…but here’s the thing that you need to know about the Lada: The Riva is a design that has roots in the Fiat 124. The biggest engine ever offered was a 1.7L four, the smallest was a 1.2L four, and leaving out the two homologation specials and a police-only version, the most powerful version that was available came with about 80 horsepower. So, on it’s best day, you are looking at the potential for 240 horsepower. In a Riva, 240 horsepower could be highly entertaining…the footage we’ve seen of Vlad testing the car out backs that up. But one question remains: what are the real numbers coming out of that little Russian crackerbox with the Frankenstein engine setup?
Turns out, there is a rolling lie detector available, so click play below and find out with us just how potent or impotent the triple-engine Lada really is! Acceleration tests in the snow only tell us what the seat-of-the-pants sensation is…the dyno does not lie.
The hp/torque curve looks like the “Elephant Man’s” profile on a morgue table. All due respect to JJ Merrick. 🙂
That is one annoying translator/narrator!