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Minsk 125 
Ep. 1Class: Bikes, Road — Model origin: 
![[*]](/res/star.png){kind=small}
Vehicle used by a character or in a car chase
Comments about this vehicle| Author | Message |
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◊ 2016-09-05 20:28 |
Minsk 125, marketed as Neval in the UK, horrendous piece of junk, possibly the only motorcycle in the world whose engine could be started backwards. |
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◊ 2016-09-05 20:33 |
Eastern bloc (was Yugoslavia in it too? I know it wasn't in the Warsaw Pact) vehicles always seemed to be very poorly received in Britain, but at home, they were regarded as extremely tough and loyal. Guess it must be due to the high quality expectations on the Isles and in continental Europe. |
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◊ 2016-09-05 21:29 |
Because they were reliable. Try to make the difference between "reliable" and "high level". Eastern cars were not loved in UK (and some other countries) because of their poor features. I believe no one English man cares about how many years a car can serve. He's only interested on the design or speed performance. |
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◊ 2016-09-05 22:09 |
Last part is a perfect example of Jeremy Clarkson. |
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◊ 2016-09-05 22:28 |
In Scotland, we take a wider appreciation. jfs may wish to comment on behalf of Englandshire. |
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◊ 2016-09-05 22:54 |
Indeed, Scotland was once home to "The world's biggest Lada dealer": https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5165/5271148878_f104003d98_b.jpg -- Last edit: 2016-09-05 22:56:08 |
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◊ 2016-09-06 00:17 |
I-Denev does have a point, the median vehicle age in the UK is only 7.7 years. EU average 9.5 years. USA 11. Bulgaria 15 years. But it's not really a cultural difference, Eastern bloc man was sort of forced into "loving" Russian cars through politics, while the West was all about consumerism. You can see in Russia, now they have a choice, they don't go for Ladas anymore... |
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◊ 2016-09-06 03:10 |
You want to say that we stop buying Lada's? Allow me to disagree. I will not tell for all Russian cities, but in my Ryazan, a lot of Russian cars, in particular a lot of Lada Granta, and more are buying a new Lada Vesta. And, as far as I know, Lada is still considered the leader in sales in Russia. -- Last edit: 2016-09-06 03:10:21 |
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◊ 2016-09-06 04:08 |
Recent developments since they're in alliance with European car makers, but it's good, I have sympathy for Lada. I still have the Sonolor radio from our Lada 1200. |
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◊ 2016-09-06 04:58 |
Little shocked how well they seem to be received in Eastern Europe compared to everywhere else. As far as I know, eastern european vehicles (especially soviet and later russian) are known for two things: rusting away and being horribly mechanically inclined. |
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◊ 2016-09-06 08:53 |
Rosemaryfromstaffs had a 1997 Vauxhall Corsa for about 14 years. It was three years old when we bought it and it went, for £300 (the cost of its latest annual garage bill) with a new test certificate to the grandson of a friend. It got him to and from work for two years, but he has now got very grand and bought an Audi. The Corsa is still going. I have owned my Bentley for 32 years, but that is a special case. When at work, my firm expected the cars to do about 100k miles in 4ish years, I was always looking to have reliable cars within my budget, over my time with the firm I had two Ford Escort 1.6; a Vauxhall Astra SXI estate; a Cavalier L Turbodiesel; two Golf TDI Variants. Preparing to retire I then financed my own car in return for a pay (and therefore pension!) rise and had an Audi A4 Avant TDI 2.0 for six years, and my current Mercédès C220 CDI Estate for nearly five years. None of these cars could be described as fast or flashy, but my problem is a tendency to get fed up after a while and buy a new car. The Audi is still regularly spotted around town, and is still smart and shiny whenever I see it, even though it is now approaching eleven years old. The Mercédès has only done 29k miles since I now do no work mileage, and shows every sign of lasting longer than I shall. The Audi was bought because I had wanted one since they came on the market, and the Mercédès because rfs wanted one and I wanted an auto transmission and didn't rate the Audi type system. I tow a 1250kg caravan so smaller cars are not for me. I must say I am getting itchy feet again and fancy a Jaguar XF Sportbrake, but it will probably have to be secondhand if I can find a good one. -- Last edit: 2016-09-06 09:37:55 |
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◊ 2016-09-06 12:10 |
It is. Today 80% of Bulgarians have just the opportunity to buy an used import car with a really high mileage. Besides that, we are the country where the most popular cars are still Golf III and Astra F, so the consumerism is not appreciated. .gif ";)") -- Last edit: 2016-09-06 12:11:33 |
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◊ 2016-09-06 14:48 |
Yes we have high expectations, who wants to buy a brand new vehicle that was (even in the 1980's) a 40 year old design? State controlled industries have absolutely no motivation to innovate, improve build quality or take into consideration advances in technology, they have a captive market who will buy what is put in front of it, customer satisfaction? Who cares! We in the west have been lucky enough to benefit from decades of successive legislation that has improved safety standards, cut noise and pollution and improved fuel economy, add in the consumer protection laws that have (largely) prevented manufacturers palming us off with rubbish and you can see where our expectations have come from? Back to the Neval (Minsk), even by the standards of its direct contempories (CZ and MZ), it was a piece of rancid old tat, a local dealer bought in a few in the early 80's, I doubt any survived to their 1st MOT, one was the subject of a law suit that made the front page of Motorcycle News, the customer got his money back. |
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-- ◊ 2016-09-06 15:04 |
According to these pages, the Neval was a Dnepr not a Minsk: http://www.cossackmotorcycles.com/dnepr.html http://www.russianiron.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13250 |
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◊ 2016-09-06 17:03 |
Neval (Neville Mason & Alan Voase) were UK importers of Dnepr, Minsk, Ural, IZH and Tula motorcycles from 1974 into the 1990's |
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