Lada Granta

At a glance: segment, body styles and where it is built

The Granta is AvtoVAZ's entry-level car, a front-wheel-drive saloon and hatchback that sits on the boundary between the B and C segments. It was conceived as an affordable car for as many buyers as possible.

The car is built by AvtoVAZ in Russia, with additional assembly in several other countries. LADA lists six body variants: saloon, liftback, hatchback, estate, the Cross estate and the Drive Active saloon. By late 2021, ten years after the first car left the line, LADA said more than one million Grantas had been built.

The Granta belongs to a long line of affordable Lada saloons; the history of AvtoVAZ and Lada cars shows where it fits, and the full Lada range lists its stablemates.

History and development

The Granta started life inside AvtoVAZ as the "Low Cost" project, which aimed at a car that most households could afford. Instead of a clean-sheet design, engineers used the platform of the Lada Kalina, which kept development costs and time down.

The name was chosen through a public naming contest, and the winning entrant received a Lada Kalina as the prize. Key dates:

• 11 May 2011: public presentation of the saloon.
• 16 May 2011: start of test production, which older articles describe as the start of mass production.
• 29 November 2011: first series-production cars.
• 1 December 2011: official sales start.
• 19 July 2012: production of the automatic version begins. According to LADA, it was the first mass-produced Lada with an automatic gearbox.
• 2014: the five-door liftback joins the saloon.

Hatchback and estate versions joined the range later. In August 2018 the range was facelifted with the X-Design front end already used on the Lada Vesta and Lada XRay. After that update the Granta replaced every Kalina and earlier Granta version, so one model line now covered saloon, liftback, hatchback, estate and Cross.

In 2025 Lada introduced the Iskra, a saloon and estate on a different platform, which Wikipedia lists as the Granta's successor. The Iskra is a separate model, and the sources consulted do not say that Granta production has ended.

Engines, gearboxes and performance

Every Granta has a 1.6-litre (1,596 cc) four-cylinder petrol engine driving the front wheels. The versions differ in valve count, tuning and gearbox.

Rounding varies between sources: the 8-valve engine also appears as 88 or 90 hp, and the 21127 as 106 or 107 hp. A lower-output 8-valve version, the 11183, is usually quoted at 60 kW (82 PS).

The 8-valve engine with the manual gearbox is the simplest drivetrain. The ADAC catalogue lists the EU-specification car at 168 km/h (104 mph) and 11.8 seconds from 0 to 100 km/h (0–62 mph). The 16-valve automatic is slower off the line, at 12.6 seconds and 169 km/h (105 mph). The 106 PS manual is usually quoted at 10.9 seconds and 183 km/h (114 mph), the quickest Granta.

Cars sold in the EU met Euro 5 (8-valve, 2013–2015) and later Euro 6b (16-valve automatic, 2016–2019).

The chassis is conventional for the class: MacPherson struts at the front, a torsion-beam rear axle, electric rack-and-pinion power steering, front disc brakes and rear drums. LADA says the rear-wheel negative camber setting was taken from its motorsport work.

Dimensions, space and key specifications

The Granta saloon is 4,260 mm (167.7 in) long, 1,700 mm (66.9 in) wide and 1,500 mm (59.1 in) tall, on a 2,476 mm (97.5 in) wheelbase. The table covers the saloon with the 16-valve engines; ranges show the spread between versions.

Boot figures depend on how they are measured. The German ADAC catalogue gives 480 L (17.0 cu ft) for the 8-valve saloon and 440 L (15.5 cu ft) for the automatic, while some spec databases quote 520 L. Weights vary for the same reason: ADAC's EU figure, which includes a driver, is 1,135 kg (2,502 lb) for the 8-valve car.

Fuel economy

On the NEDC combined cycle, the 8-valve manual is rated at 6.6 L/100 km (42.8 mpg UK) and 150 g/km of CO2, according to ADAC. The 16-valve automatic uses 7.1 L/100 km (39.8 mpg UK) and emits 164 g/km. Urban figures are 9.0 and 9.9 L/100 km respectively. No WLTP figures were found for EU cars. With a 50 L (11.0 UK gal) tank, the 8-valve manual's NEDC rating suggests a theoretical range of about 750 km (470 miles).

Safety and equipment

The Granta's safety kit depends heavily on market and trim. German-market cars listed by ADAC had driver and passenger airbags, ABS with brake assist, ESP stability control, rear ISOFIX mountings and rear head restraints as standard.

Early specifications used trim names such as Standard, Norma and Lux, with the Lux adding ABS, air conditioning and a passenger airbag; equipment differed by country, so check the car rather than the badge.

No Euro NCAP result has been published for the Granta, so there is no European crash-test score to compare with rivals. According to Wikipedia, about 30,000 Granta and Kalina cars were recalled in May 2013 over a braking problem; a used car's service history should show whether that work was done.

The Granta in Europe

The Granta was sold in several EU countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and France, as usually listed. The ADAC catalogue covers German-market cars from October 2013 to April 2019. In that period ADAC gives a new-car base price of 12,490 EUR for the 1.6 16V Luxus Automatik (2016–2019). Exports to the EU are reported to have stopped in early 2022, so European examples are now used cars.

Rivals and alternatives

The Granta's natural rivals are other low-cost saloons and hatchbacks with simple petrol engines. The closest are the Renault Logan and the Hyundai Solaris, as well as the older Daewoo Nexia and ZAZ Chance. In the EU its obvious counterparts were Dacia's budget models. The Granta's case rested on a low price and simple mechanicals; its weak point against European rivals was the lack of an independent crash-test rating.