WE AND THE CAR
/AUTOBIOGRAPHY
NODE OF LIFE OF INTERESTS
The first full-time acquaintance with the car, as often happens, happened in childhood - I was seven or eight years old. Parents are allowed to stay alone in their uncle's car, sit behind the wheel. It seems that it was “Moskvich” - either IL, or the “fortieth”. Imagining himself as a driver, he tried for a long time to turn a tight steering wheel, snorted with all his might, but soon got tired. I felt the toggle switches, pressed the buttons. When he got to the cigarette lighter, he paid - he severely burned his fingers. It seems that he even let a tear go. But uncle, when he arrived, did not even scold, on the contrary, he allowed to steer. This is never to be forgotten: I sit in the driver's seat and confidently (at least it seemed to me) I drive along the village road.
The next time I got behind the wheel after more than ten years, already a second-year student at MVTU im. Bauman. There was no car in the family yet, and I really wanted to drive. Having collected some money for a couple of lessons with the instructor, I went to talk with the car. In then still state automobile plant on Varshavka. And again I got a “Moskvich”, this time IZH, nicknamed “Heel”. After another year or two, full-fledged training began in a driving school, and then the first car appeared - at home - a white “six”. It was with her that my real automotive education began: for the first time he changed the oil himself, the pads, then he began to climb into the carburetor. Moreover, soon we decided to participate in amateur ice racing. Cars here on the highway let out one by one, and they did not crush each other's sides. They were rewarded for their efforts - in 1998 they became winners in the class of rear-wheel drive cars.
Years went by, but to the question that arose on its own from the first days of this automobile life, it did not find a definite answer: what, in fact, is a car for me? Is it just a vehicle or something more? Or maybe the meaning of life? Perhaps a little high. Rather, a knot of vital interests.
The editorial Twenty-Third, the new Niva, brought yet another confusion to the soul. The test object took in the summer. As predicted by sophisticated colleagues, testing an experimental VAZ model is not just an assessment of handling or throughput. When several times a week the attitude to the car changes from an enthusiastic “maybe when they want” to a feeling of frustration - “what … I screwed this nut”, you think about a lot.
Do you like the car? Yes. Would you buy yourself? There is none.
Here you go. Then tell me what you like and why not.
In each of us there remains a small piece of distant childhood. When the weather is bad, the baby clings to his mother, he is well. A child grows up into a respectable uncle (or aunt) over the years, but the need remains to rely on someone in difficult times. Often appears in this role … Yes, yes, a favorite car. Many people enjoy the sensations that they experience in the car: it is raining and sleet on the street, and it is warm and comfortable in the cabin. Outside the window is a blizzard, and in your hands is a thermos with hot tea.
Now imagine: your car is better, warmer, more comfortable than others. No one can ride, but you can; brings someone during acceleration, but you do not. Is the road swept? Everyone is standing, and you are driving. How not to thank the all-wheel drive here. And the “twenty-third” also pleasantly drives along a good road, loves speed, and landing in it, consider it no worse than in most foreign cars. Here is all this and something else - I like it.
What do not like? Today I don’t want to recall the depressing build quality of our specimen, that the car spent more in the first 5-8 thousand km of its life in repair than on the way. All this, we assume, will forever be left behind: another overseas Chevrolet is added to the native name Niva. But communication with the VAZ experimental car left a deep mark.
Prior to meeting Niva, he considered himself a rationalist - he could always imagine whether a car is profitable to me or not. VAZ’s novelty gave birth to new sensations in me: a specific sample more often caused negative emotions, but I would like to drive on the same car, brought and perfectly assembled. It remains to wait until the "2123" will become a production car, the brainchild of VAZ and GM. I wonder what happens.
DOSSIER
Driver Alexander BUDKIN.
Behind the wheel Since 1995.
What did he go for the first time? VAZ 2106 1.
What happened to ride?
Long on - VAZ 1111 3, VAZ 2106 1, VAZ 2109 3, VAZ 2111, VAZ 2123.
How much "wound"? About 170 thousand km.
In personal use had: VAZ 2106 1, VAZ 2109 3.
Currently - VAZ 2123.
