Lada's were popular in the UK in the 80's as they were the cheap new car option
(why not buy a used Mirafiori, Beta, Cortina in fact anything) and as I can recall from the adverts the Lada Riva had certain fitments that were only available on more luxury specced mid size saloons
. I personally hated them and they were subject to many jokes.
Many were exported back to Russia in the early 90's and prices of used models actually increased for a while.
I was in a Lada Taxi in Bulgaria a few years back. It was terrible
.