How Logan is better than Kalina. Lada Kalina or Renault Logan - different engines and ABS

Who should the Lada Kalina, equipped with a new 1.4-liter 16-valve engine, compete with? First of all, with its own 1600-cc modification. And also with the Renault Logan sedan, which has been dubbed Kalina's main rival.

That's exactly what we did. When the tests were completed, it turned out that the memorandum of cooperation between Renault and AvtoVAZ signed in Tolyatti added new meaning to our test: what useful things can Kalina adopt from Logan? Powertrains? Transmissions? Perhaps an anti-lock braking system?

"Normal with luxury elements" — that's how the Kalina 1.4 trim we took for the test is designated. The price is 267,700 rubles ($10,840). The "luxury elements" include alloy wheels, door moldings, and dark film on the body pillars.

For the Kalina 1.6, they ask 269,700 rubles ($10,920), and this is already a real Lux: fog lights, four electric windows instead of two, heated mirrors and seats.

The interior of both Kalinas is trimmed with light velvet, seat belts are equipped with pretensioners, and there are two airbags on the steering wheel and panel — as indicated by the Airbag inscriptions. Breathing in the familiar smell of a new domestic car, we even rejoiced for future owners. But the joy was short-lived. The seat heating is so powerful that without timely switching off, you could feel like a fried egg. The window and mirror control unit popped out of the door trim when closing the window. Then a bolt fell out of the ashtray in the lower part of the console, and it stopped closing. And an attempt to open the glasses holder on the ceiling (another Lux feature) knocked off the rearview mirror settings — otherwise glasses don't fit there. In general, the luxury here is indeed only in elements, and overall it's Normal.

The brakes of the regular Kalina suited us during normal decelerations, although Logan's are better. With full wheel lock without ABS, both cars naturally lose controllability

But Logan has Prestige!

We tested two Renault sedans — also with 1.4 and 1.6-liter engines. The Logan 1.6 was in the top Prestige version, which costs 351,900 rubles ($14,250). What do you get for this money? Bumpers painted in body color, black stickers on the middle pillars (like on the "luxury" Kalina), larger mirrors... But for alloy wheels, you'll have to pay an additional 9,900 rubles ($410). So, taking options into account, our Logan Prestige came to 396,500 rubles ($16,050).

Too expensive! And there's no hint of prestige here. Compared to the "luxury" Kalina — no glasses holder, no heated mirrors, and the rear window buttons are located low, right at the base of the handbrake... But the driver's seat is height-adjustable, all levers and buttons work properly, nothing falls out. Modest but neat.

In acceleration measurements, the fastest, as the "specs" promised, turned out to be the Kalina 1.4. It reaches 100 km/h in 12.7 seconds. The new 1.4-liter 16-valve engine produces 89 hp — 9 hp more than the 1600-cc 8-valve. Moreover, it's more economical by an average of 1.1 l/100 km.

Kalina's ergonomics are better than Logan's, but the interior build quality leaves much to be desired. In 2008, the Lux version should get air conditioning	Velvet upholstery of seats and doors instead of tapestry — the difference between Kalinas in Lux and Normal with luxury elements	Plastic clips on the backrest of Kalina's rear seat — for securing belt locks during transformation

However, the new engine has a weak point — low torque at low revs. It shows activity in the 3000–4700 rpm zone, but if you don't rev it to the limit, the engine "fades" when shifting gears. The problem is exacerbated by long gears — the transmissions of all Kalinas are still the same. The VAZ folks promise that already in spring, a final drive with a ratio of 3.9 will appear paired with the 1.4 engine instead of the current 3.7. But for now, it's more comfortable to drive with the 1600-cc unit. With it, Kalina reaches 100 km/h 0.8 seconds slower, but wins in elasticity: in fifth gear, it confidently accelerates from 60 km/h. And you have to shift less often with the more torquey engine. And doing that, alas, is not a pleasure — the lever is stiff, gear selection is vague...

When we added 150 kg of ballast to the rear passenger of the Kalina 1.4 (essentially two more people) and put 50 kg in the trunk, the little engine completely gave up. With such a lack of low-end torque, even getting moving is difficult, and elasticity in fourth gear became hardly better than that of an empty car in fifth.

We transfer the ballast to the Kalina 1.6 — a completely different matter! It became slower, but throttle control remained just as convenient.

When opening the glasses holder, its lid inevitably knocks off the mirror settings	In Lux, the light control unit gained a front fog light button

And what about the Logans?

They are slower than the Kalinas: the Logan 1.6 hits 100 km/h in 14.2 seconds, and the Logan 1.4 — just 0.3 seconds later. The engines differ only in piston stroke and settings: the 1.4 engine runs smoothly, while the 1600-cc one noticeably comes alive after 4000 rpm. The loss to the Kalinas of 0.8–1.8 seconds in acceleration to 100 km/h is compensated by much more convenient throttle control. The gas pedal on both Logans is lighter, and responses to pressing are more precise. Gear shifts are more pleasant and clearer (though not perfect), and the gear ratios are clearly better chosen. As a result, both Logans are noticeably more torquey: the Logan 1.4 in fourth gear accelerates from 60 to 100 km/h in 12.8 seconds — one and a half seconds faster than the Kalina 1.6. And the Logan 1.6 is another second faster. The only thing that disappointed was the less transparent clutch drive on the car with the 1.4 engine: on the Logan 1.6, the drive feels much clearer.

It was also surprising that when fully loaded, the Logan 1.6 "sagged" in torque more than the 1400-cc one! But it still remained preferable to the loaded Kalina 1.6 thanks to its "shorter" gears.

Having unloaded all the cars, we moved on to brake tests. And here too, everything is not simple: in each pair, one car has ABS, and the other doesn't!

The brakes of the regular Kalina were liked: except that the pedal's free play is a bit stiff, and when decelerating on a "split" surface, the car jerks toward the more "grippy" surface.

During emergency braking, the Kalina with ABS easily avoids an obstacle but stops later than the Logan

But Logan is better here too: the pedal is even more informative, and after a jerk on a "split" surface toward the more "frictional" surface, Logan immediately returns to a straight trajectory. Moreover, when fully loaded, the reactive force on the Logan's pedal increases — whereas on the loaded Kalina, the brake pedal began to "sink" deeper, the "braking" course stability worsened slightly, and the wheels started to lock earlier.

What does ABS give?

Both Kalinas and Logans are equipped with Bosch anti-lock braking systems. True, if the Logan with ABS received a more powerful vacuum booster and larger discs with drums, then on the Kalinas, all "brake" parts are the same — except that the front wheel knuckles and rear shields are modified for the sensors, and the mechanical brake force regulator ("wizard") is removed.

Lada Kalina	Renault Logan
The Kalina and Logan are equipped with the same Bosch ABS (version 8.0), but braking on the French car is more convenient

No miracle happened — on asphalt, ABS reduced the braking distance of both cars. Although when braking "to the floor" on a "split" surface, the Logan with ABS initially deviates more sharply toward the more "grippy" surface. But the Kalina "floats" during emergency stops even on uniform asphalt. Moreover, the Kalina's pedal has to be pushed through before ABS activates — the "pre-lock" force is too high.

The new VAZ-11194 1.4 engine is more powerful and economical than the 1.6-liter eight-valve. All that remains is to wait for the corresponding gearbox

Apart from other measurements, we ran all four cars through the "braking lane change" exercise. And here again the Logans proved more convincing. When avoiding an obstacle in cars without ABS, the Kalina required sharper and larger steering wheel turns than the Logan, and after the maneuver, the brake pedal had to be worked very carefully to avoid losing control. A couple of times the tester did fly onto the oncoming shoulder and spin around. The Logan was easier to tame, and its stopping distance from 65 km/h was on average 8.5 meters shorter. Moreover, all four cars were on identical tires — summer Rosava BC-49 185/60 R14, which are standard for the Kalina.

In this exercise, ABS gives a huge advantage — you can brake and maneuver simultaneously. But even with it, the Logan required less steering input than the Kalina and stopped about a car length earlier.

The conclusion is obvious: you shouldn't skimp on the anti-lock braking system. However, under equal conditions, the Renault Logan is safer than the Kalina. This applies both to active safety (as shown by the "braking lane change") and passive safety. In the Autoreview crash test, the Logan with one airbag scored 14.7 points out of 16 possible for occupant protection in a frontal impact, while the production Kalina without airbags scored only 5.6. In factory tests, the Kalina Lux with two airbags and belt pretensioners scored 8.4 points — better, but the Logan is still ahead. It also wins in terms of traction control convenience and noise — the Kalinas have a whining transmission, while the "French" cars have almost none. And in terms of interior build quality too.

But the Kalina is cheaper! With the 1.6 engine in the Norma trim, it costs 249,000 rubles ($10,080), while for the closest equipped Logan (1.4 Expression version with optional metallic paint, power steering, and front electric windows) they ask 301,550 rubles ($12,210). So in some ways, there's a parity between them.

The Renault Logan 1.6 Prestige has more paint applied, the B-pillars, like those of the "luxury" Kalinas, are covered with black film, but the main difference is the enlarged mirrors. And alloy wheels are an extra cost

Now let's return to the question from the beginning of the article: what could AvtoVAZ learn from Renault? High technologies? There simply aren't any in the Logan. Ergonomics expertise? Unlikely: the Kalina is more comfortable in many ways.

So how can Renault help AvtoVAZ? Jointly develop a new model — a kind of hybrid of the Kalina and Logan? Lada Logina or, maybe, Renault Kalogan?

Actually, the answer to these questions is not yet known either in Paris or in Tolyatti. But let's see: based on our test, what is the Logan better at than the Kalina? Tuning. It comes from refinement, not constrained by "extraneous factors" like the inability to timely master final drive gears with a different number of teeth — because the Kalina 1.4 suffers from low torque precisely because of this.

Inside the "prestige" Logan — black upholstery on doors, seats (driver's seat with height adjustment) and "aluminum" decor on air vents, door handles, and gear lever knob	Gear changes on both Logans are more precise and easier than on the Kalinas — although not perfect
With headlights on during the day, the instruments of the "prestige" Logan are hard to read	The rear power window switches of the Logan are located behind the parking brake lever on the center tunnel — if you want prestige, bow down!

By the way, the Logans with different engines have the same gearboxes. But, apparently, the French simply selected gear ratios more carefully, with priority given to the less powerful 1400cc version.

So Renault can help the VAZ workers... with management. More decisive and uncompromising technical leadership that will allow Tolyatti engineers and testers to do their jobs better. And then we'll see who's better — Lada Logina or Renault Kalogan...