Last week my wife and I ended up flying to Russia at rather short notice. Our journey initially took us to Moscow where my father in law collected us in his Subaru Forester from Domodedovo airport some 50km to the south of the city. Domodedovo has become a very modern hub for flight connections to the Caucasus, middle and south east Asia and is far nicer than that temple to Soviet architecture Sheremetyovo to the north of Moscow which was built for the 1980 Olympics. To be honest it’s also far nicer and better organised than Heathrow.
The only problem is the distance from the centre of Moscow. The journey can take between 1 and 3 hours depending on the time of day and traffic density. The motorway to the centre was actually built during Soviet times but is surprisingly good. There are loads of traffic police ensuring strict adherence to the 80km/h speed limit and the standard bribe is now around 100 Dollars, so worth not getting caught. The standard of driving has considerably improved in the last years, drivers now actually stop at red lights, don’t undertake and sometimes even stop at pedestrian crossings, though the exceptions are the pimped up Porsche Cayennes driven at high speed whatever the circumstances. Nod and a wave to the police and off they go.
Following day we were back off to the airport to catch the late night red eye bomber to Kemerovo in Southern Siberia. We flew with Siberian Airways and in years gone by the mere idea of this journey would have brought me out in a cold sweat and cost me several nights sleep. Fortunately the Tupolevs are now history as Siberian Airways has invested in a fleet of shiny new Airbuses. Apart from the violent purple colour of the furniture the journey was uneventful and certainly more comfortable (economy class) than internal flights I’ve taken in the recent past in the US.
An acquaintance collected us, bleary eyed, from the airport. His chariot of choice was a Toyota Gaia, a sort of Zafira clone, and a right hand drive import from Japan, of which more later.
Last winter was extreme even by Siberian standards and the roads are now in a dreadful condition with potholes big enough to swallow a small hatchback forcing traffic to zig zag across the roads to avoid them. Despite the state of the roads, the harsh winters and cheap petrol, there are actually very few SUVs about in this part of the world. Most people seem to be able to cope with small hatchbacks. A straw poll suggests around 50% of the cars is of Japanese origin and most of those are right hand drive. This is because up until last year Russia imported used cars from Japan by the shipload. The Russian government tried to kybosh this by increasing the import duty on imported cars to try and protect the local manufacturers. In practice it would take more than this to persuade Russians to buy Ladas and Moskwitches.
The variety of the Japanese models is amazing and far greater than what gets imported to Western Europe. From dinky little Mitsubishi microcars up to Toyota Previas by the shedload and even the latest W124-alike Toyota Crown. I even saw 3 of those old Toyota Camry estates with the 2 wipers on the back as well as an estate car which I didn’t manage to identify but looked like some kind of large Honda fastback. What you don’t see are sports cars, I guess the roads are just too unforgiving.
The Toyota Gaia in which we were ferried about was a pleasant enough thing with a spacious cabin, but Japanese market seats that were too short for a 6’2” Western European. The interior was generic Toyota with gold coloured velours seats and dark plastic wood trim. An LED poking out of a broken light and the whizz bang Sat Nav (which doesn’t work in Russia) the only indications that this car was built in the 21st century. The automatic gearbox was a three speed + overdrive unit with a column shift allowing space for a bizarrely shaped folding table between the seats whose purpose I could not fathom. The folding mechanism was nicely engineered though and overall the car was wearing its 180,000km on fairly dreadful roads very well, a testament to the advantages of these Japanese cars compared to the local offerings.
On day 3 we drove to Novokusnezk which is 250km east of Kemorovo. As we were leaving, the temperature plummeted from 25C to 5C and the first flakes of snow started to fall. Within an hour we were caught in a blizzard, not uncommon in Siberia in May apparently. This part of Russia is also desolate; there is no infrastructure apart from the (2 way) road and frequently no fence between the road and the swamps through which the road is built. Despite the jetlag I was too nervous to sleep but I had to admire the tenacity of our driver who skillfully avoided potholes covered in some 10cm of snow as well as making progress by slithering past the mega slow trucks lining the route and avoiding other hazards such as dead Ladas, abandoned where they had expired with their bonnets up.
The following day the snow melted and the temperature was back to 20C or so, fortunate as I hadn’t brought any winter gear with me. Novokusnezk is an industrial city with some nice new buildings, typically Russian wide open squares and avenues, but a lot of typically Soviet era grey. The 1960s medium rise apartment buildings in the residential areas reminded me of Salford though the Russians are generally more friendly and less likely to want a fight. Driving here is actually very laid back compared to Moscow but care is needed as, although the potholes were being repaired, the resulting roadworks are not signposted or cordoned off in way, you just have to keep your eyes open and ensure timely evasive action. This makes driving after dark something of an adventure, although these days there are actually streetlights.
An odd motoring trend I saw here was a number of Lada 2110s on to which a BMW double kidney grill had been transplanted. A neighbour in the place we stayed had rebadged his Lada Samara as a Toyota Corolla in a truly unique example of badge snobbery.
We stayed the week there and took the one and only plane at the airport back to Moscow and from there to Munich. We’ll be going back again in July, the snow should be gone by then.
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Motoring in Siberia new
Motoring in Siberia new