Vladimir Putin's Next Limo?

TTAC Staff
by TTAC Staff

In the spirit of our many posts ( here, here and here) about the Hongqi Red Flag limousines used by the Communist Party elites in China, and our own Murilee Martin’s interest in limos from the former Soviet Bloc ( here), we bring you the winner of a design sponsored by Russia’s Maruissia Motors and the CarDesign.ru website.

They asked for proposals to be submitted for an new presidential limousine for the use of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Yaroslav Yakovlev and Bernd Weel’s design for a new ZIL was chosen over more than 100 other contestants. It is called, simply, “President”. Russian and Chinese state limos have always borrowed styling from the West and Yakovlev and Weel’s dramatically styled car is no exception, with a front end obviously inspired by Rolls-Royce and hints of the Chrysler 300 and Cadillac Ciel concept elsewhere. No word on if it’s gotten the approval of either Putin or the ZIL works, which still produces about a dozen limos a year, in addition to their normal fare of trucks, armor and heavy equipment.




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  • Mike-NB2 This is a mostly uninformed vote, but I'll go with the Mazda 3 too.I haven't driven a new Civic, so I can't say anything about it, but two weeks ago I had a 2023 Corolla as a rental. While I can understand why so many people buy these, I was surprised at how bad the CVT is. Many rentals I've driven have a CVT and while I know it has one and can tell, they aren't usually too bad. I'd never own a car with a CVT, but I can live with one as a rental. But the Corolla's CVT was terrible. It was like it screamed "CVT!" the whole time. On the highway with cruise control on, I could feel it adjusting to track the set speed. Passing on the highway (two-lane) was risky. The engine isn't under-powered, but the CVT makes it seem that way.A minor complaint is about the steering. It's waaaay over-assisted. At low speeds, it's like a 70s LTD with one-finger effort. Maybe that's deliberate though, given the Corolla's demographic.
  • Mike-NB2 2019 Ranger - 30,000 miles / 50,000 km. Nothing but oil changes. Original tires are being replaced a week from Wednesday. (Not all that mileage is on the original A/S tires. I put dedicated winter rims/tires on it every winter.)2024 - Golf R - 1700 miles / 2800 km. Not really broken in yet. Nothing but gas in the tank.
  • SaulTigh I've got a 2014 F150 with 87K on the clock and have spent exactly $4,180.77 in maintenance and repairs in that time. That's pretty hard to beat.Hard to say on my 2019 Mercedes, because I prepaid for three years of service (B,A,B) and am getting the last of those at the end of the month. Did just drop $1,700 on new Michelins for it at Tire Rack. Tires for the F150 late last year were under $700, so I'd say the Benz is roughly 2 to 3 times as pricy for anything over the Ford.I have the F150 serviced at a large independent shop, the Benz at the dealership.
  • Bike Rather have a union negotiating my pay rises with inflation at the moment.
  • Bike Poor Redapple won't be sitting down for a while after opening that can of Whiparse
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