VAZ-21109 or "Lada Consul" for Russian officials

One joke says: the worst thing for our officials is if they... are transferred to a domestic "Lada". Surprisingly, at one time it could have become a reality, to the great displeasure of the previously mentioned high-ranking officials.


The thing is that already in the late 90s some Russian patriots were clearly not thrilled that the legendary Chaika and ZIL were a thing of the past. And a worthy replacement for them never appeared. Moreover, everyone (including government officials) switched to foreign-made cars and limousines.


They tried to change this unpleasant state of affairs for the domestic auto industry back at the end of the last century. But they couldn't rely on the Gorky or Likhachev plants. That's why they entrusted the execution of this important task to the Volga Automobile Plant, which had survived the period of "breaking the system of things" the best.

Limousine based on a production sedan

All this led to the fact that they tried to create the first Russian limousine on the basis of one of the production models. The modern VAZ-2110 sedan served as a base. In order to achieve the desired result, its body had to be significantly modified.



By mid-summer 1997, a sample of the future VAZ-21109 limousine was presented to the general public. At the same time, it went into serial production. However, this expression can be applied to the model only formally, since it was produced occasionally, in single copies.


All this happened over the course of almost a decade, so today there are no full statistics on the total number of assembled copies of the "Consul". Here are its main differences from the regular VAZ-2110:

✅ the base has increased by 650 mm
✅ the total length has also increased to almost five meters
✅ other necessary design changes have been made

They turned out to be closely related to the fact that the noticeably increased length of the car required additional reinforcement of its body. By the way, if 45 cm were added to the central salon part, the remaining twenty were spent on increasing the rear space. The necessary balance of the design was achieved by installing shock absorbers with a higher degree of rigidity in the suspension. Springs of a different type were also used.

Piece assembly and characteristics of VAZ-21109

I think it is clear to everyone that piecemeal production is not the best option for a factory conveyor where everything is put on stream. Switching to another model requires its reconfiguration and other manipulations. Which, naturally, leads to undesirable losses of time and downtime.


For this reason, the "honor" of assembling the first domestic limousine was redirected to one of the AvtoVAZ branches, which was located in Tolyatti and had a similar name to the model. Now let's pay attention to some of the Lada Consul's indicators:

✅ power drive – petrol engine VAZ-2112
✅ working volume - 1,5 liters
✅ maximum power – 93 l. With

The noticeably increased length of the design did not lead to its increased capacity. After all, the car was not created to increase the number of passengers, but to provide greater comfort for domestic officials to travel. Therefore, the interior retained a 4-seater layout. As a luxury "add-on" we can name:

✅ 14" alloy wheels
✅ airbags
✅ anti-lock braking system ABS
✅ power steering

The reality of the limousine was also emphasized by such an element of the interior design as a partition between the front and back rows. It was made of plexiglass and could be easily raised or lowered using a button on the panel, depending on the need and situation.

Other indicators of the limousine

The status was also evident in the abundance of leather or wooden panels in the cabin (even the steering wheel was finished to look like wood). The rear part turned out to be a two-seater due to the fact that the one-piece sofa was replaced with two separate chairs. But this made it possible to get a personal (in the lowered position) comfortable table between them. Also in the rear there were:

✅ bar with fridge
✅ air conditioner
✅ video recorder
✅ TV screen

The overall interior was completed by a wide hatch in the roof above the passenger compartment. Such rich equipment was supposed to sweeten the pill for responsible employees and encourage many of them to make a choice in favor of the domestic manufacturer.

All the modifications applied to the base car not only emphasized the status of the Lada Consul. By the way, leather trim was present even in the ceiling elements of the interior. They also made the model heavier by as much as 400 kg. Below you can see some of the VAZ-21109's indicators:

✅ mass in running order – 1,33 t
✅ total weight – 1,73 t
✅ luggage compartment size – 450 l
✅ number of doors – 4

Not only did it have a limousine-type body, but it also had high-quality sound insulation and very stylish wheels. To this we can add a plug on the rear side windows and a side chrome line that stretched along the entire length of the body. And here are the physical parameters of the car:

✅ length - 4,96 m
✅ width - 1,7 m
✅ height - 1,43 m
✅ wheelbase - 3192 mm

The manufacturer offered two sizes of tires: 14- or 15-inch. The track of the front wheels was 1420 mm, the rear - 1390 mm. The braking system was disc (front) and drum (rear).

The L4 engine was located transversely in the front. It reached its maximum power rating at 5600 rpm. The engine was overhead valve (four per cylinder), with an overhead camshaft. The power unit cooperated with a mechanical 5-speed gearbox.


The fuel reserve was 43 liters. At the same time, its consumption did not exceed 7,1 l/100 km, with an average speed of 90 km/h. The car needed a long 14 seconds to accelerate to "hundreds", which certainly did not indicate any sprint qualities. Although the maximum speed of 175 km/h seemed quite a good indicator.

In the design of the front suspension, they decided not to deviate from the classics, it is of the McPherson type. But the rear is a longitudinal lever. Initially, not many believed that this car would be able to grow to serial production. And this really did not happen.

Completion of the car production

From the very beginning, individual copies of the VAZ-21109 were made to individual orders, which became fewer and fewer. By 2006, it became clear that the project was clearly not going well, so they decided to simply quietly wind it up.


Nowadays, the Lada Consul is quite a rare car. For example, one of them is used as a wedding limousine. But there are not many orders for this exotic car either. Another example in snow-white paintwork became an exhibit at the AvtoVAZ Experimental Models Museum. Sometimes you can see ads for the sale of the first Russian limousines. Their prices usually do not exceed 400 thousand rubles.