Novosibirsk Residents Split on Overhauling Aging Japanese Cars

Opinions among Novosibirsk residents on whether to invest in major repairs of foreign cars over 15 years old are divided. More than 150 readers expressed their views: some with sarcasm, others shared personal experience. Some also referred to international examples, the most popular being Cuba, where cars from the 1930s-1950s, including Soviet models, are still driven.

«In Cuba, they restore old Zhigulis [Lada cars] and are happy as children! To each their own,» said Guest.

This leitmotif was picked up by other comment authors. But some readers were more pragmatic.

«If the previous owner sings songs about how they did nothing to the car except change the oil, it«s highly likely that all the accumulated work will fall to you as the new owner,» notes user D+P. «No matter what anyone says, driving any old car is a lottery. When and what will fail next is unknown. There»s always a chance of a new breakdown. Buying parts is the same. Everywhere there«s cheap »Chinese« stuff of unclear quality, they might sell a counterfeit as expensive, and parts from scrapyards have already used up their resource. And the body. No matter how much you fix it up, it won»t become new again. How it will behave in a serious accident is a mystery.»

This viewpoint was countered by another anonymous user.

«How to put it. If you drove the car yourself and maintained it, repaired everything on time, then there«s a chance to fix and restore it to excellent condition. If it»s passed through ten hands of careless drivers and almost everything is ruined, then you can send it straight to the scrap yard and not suffer,» asserts Guest.

The middle ground between the two extreme viewpoints was also voiced.

«You can change the components, but a rotten body is a waste of money, at most 2 years and everything again,» shares reader fyv.

«We welded the sills, welded in rear wings from a donor, installed front wings from «China», naturally with treatment, painting — five years ago, everything is still in order. What did we do wrong?» related Guest about his personal experience.

«I have an old Japanese car. Right-hand drive, three-speed automatic, 1.3-liter engine, manual window cranks, not a single airbag, highway fuel consumption 7 liters. It«s already three orders of magnitude outdated morally and physically. No second life,» presents another point of view Ralph.

«Reduce factory prices for VAZ cars (Lada vehicles) to a million [rubles, about $11,000 at current rates] and people will forget about rotten old right-hand drive cars,» proposed a solution to the problem PapaZol.

Earlier we reported how Novosibirsk residents discussed an alternative metro project.