Forget The Old Niva. This 276-HP Turbo Rally Build Is The Real Deal

Lada has taken the legendary Niva and turned it into a full-blown rally monster. Meet the new Niva Sport Turbo—a purpose-built off-roader designed to take on brutal terrain with style, grit, and a whole lot more muscle. At first glance, it’s clear this thing means business.

The body has been beefed up with wide, flared fenders to house chunkier tires, and the original bumpers have been ditched for slim steel ones that leave the wheels more exposed. There’s also a snorkel sticking out the side, a roof scoop for cooling, Lexan windows for durability, and extra LED lights for when the sun goes down but the rally doesn’t.

This Lada Niva Sport Turbo sits on new alloy wheels wrapped in serious all-terrain rubber, and the longer wheelbase (now 2,550 mm) almost eliminates the front and rear overhangs. Combined with a wider track and 350 mm of ground clearance, it gives the Niva an even more aggressive stance.

Inside, it's stripped down to the essentials. We get two racing bucket seats, a full roll cage, a navigation system, and a reinforced fuel tank. No rear seats, no fluff—just what you need to survive a rally.

The real magic, though, is under the hood. A turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine pushes out a mighty 276 hp and 251 lb-ft of torque—a massive step up from the 122 hp of the regular Niva Sport. Power goes to all four wheels through a six-speed sequential gearbox with a locking center diff. The suspension’s been reworked with dual shocks at each corner, and it’s packing serious stopping power with big 302 mm discs and four-piston calipers.

The Lada Niva Sport Turbo is making its competition debut at the 2024 Silk Way Rally in Russia, where it’ll tackle over 5,000 km of rough, punishing terrain in the Raid Sport class. That’s a serious upgrade from the T2 category where its predecessor raced.