Much of the Samara's suspension and running gear is conspicuously influenced by the VW Golf
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the small Soviet is also a favoured rally mount at the low-buck end of European national rallying.
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"Sturdy construction" has always been the Soviet euphemism for cars apparently built of pre-stressed concrete, and there's perhaps a hint of that in the Samara's kerb weight of 945kg. (The Barina, incidentally, weighs 720kg and the Hyundai 870kg.) There's not a lot of chunky luxury features inside to weigh it down; although it is very well equipped for the price.
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Where the Lada obviously falls behind, however, is in the design and quality of its interior components. The standard seats are incredibly flat and harsh, and the plastic from which the dash and interior trimmings are made is hard, rattly and ill-fitting. ... While there's little doubt as to the strength of the Samara's chassis, the trade-off is in a cheap-looking interior. Peter Brock's Deluxe version goes some way to improving these shortcomings.
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Brock himself devised a few subtle suspension treaks to improve the car's low-speed ride, and this turns out to be a very impressive aspect of the Samara.
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Brock is personally elated at the Samara's potential, despite having never been a fan of front-drive cars. With the little engine flat and straining for breath in second gear, Brock shouts "There's just no torque steer in this thing at all. We've been rapping them out all around town for a while, and they're just heaps of fun!". Our brief drive led us mostly to agree, although our car's brake pedal was worryingly spongy and the steering tended to load up pretty severely.
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Overall, the Samara ought to have what it takes to satisfy its target end of the market place. On initial impression, its performance feels remarkably strong for a 1.3 litre engine, though not in the buzzy, torque-steering manner of the nippy Holden Barina. It offers a large cabin with a more spacious feel than its Japanese rivals, although its seats lack shape or support. And its drivetrain has a general air of unbreakability to it, with a precise and slick gearshift.

As you might expect in a comparison against lighter cars with similar engines, performance was criticised.
"Lada's Porsche-designed four is a willing worker, but there's no escaping the laws of physics. With just 4.98kW per 100 kg kerb mass driving through the front wheels, the Lada's standing 400 metres time is an understandably gentle 19.2 seconds.
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Curiously, the Samara doesn't feel all that slow around town, mainly because its relatively short third gear gives near identical performance to the Barina and Charade in the 30 to 60, 40 to 70 and 50 to 80 km/h increments. Work the gearbox and the Lada will easily run with frantic commuter traffic.
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Despite its weight handicap, the Lada managed a creditable 7.83 litres/100 km average during the test, while the Charade proved the least economical of the bunch with an average of 8.24 litres/100 km..."

For cornering the Charade was best, and the Barina and Samara about equal.
"The steering [of the Barina], like the suspension, is decidedly ordinary. Despite rack and pinion operations with just 3.5 turns lock to lock, it's lifeless and loads up as cornering speeds increase. The Lada's steering is more accurate, even if the wheel effort gets higher as cornering loads increase."

"At cruising speeds the Lada has the best ride, thanks to firm, yet compliant long travel suspension and the longest wheelbase of the three. The Charades ride is choppier because of its short wheelbase and stiffer suspension settings, but it's better than the Barina, which crashed through to the bumpstops on moderate lumps and bumps and is easily thrown off line."

"...it's by far the noisiest of the three overall, not only in terms of transmitted road and mechanical noise, but also myriad rattles and squeaks from the poorly fitted plastic trim in the cabin."

My car does indeed have a lot of squeaks from the cabin plastic, but it has had a hard life and some of the plastic trim is either damaged or held together by half the number of screws it's meant to have. I can't comment on how a fully intact car sounds. I don't see how they can say that about the road and mechanical noise, though. Here are the noise measurements that appear in a table accompanying the article:

	Barina	Charade	Samara
Idle	68	70	69
Steady 60 km/h	88	90	90
Steady 100 km/h	93	94	95
0-100 km/h peak	96	92	94

Build quality:
"You can live with the Lada's dated style and the large gaps in the shut lines. It may not be pretty, but it's solid. You get the impression, every time the door thunks shut, that it's built to last a long time. The same can't be be said of the interior. ... Jagged flashing, mismatched joints, differences in colour and texture blight the Samara's interior. It looks cheap and nasty, from the blisters on the horn pad moulding to the overspray on the instruments."

"The ergonomics, like the fit and finish, are poor. The Samara's seats are average, with iron bars at the base and a seam across the shoulder blades which could become tiresome after a long stint behind the wheel. On the positive side, they're the only ones with infinitely adjustable back-rests" (my comment: Last weekend I went on a moderately long trip - 200km there, 200km back - and the seats were fine.)

"The steering wheel rim is thin and uncomfortable to hold and unless you've read the manual, you'll spend 10 minutes trying to find the headlight switch." (my comment: I put a cloth & rubber steering wheel cover on my steering wheel, and it is now thick and comfortable to hold. The headlight switch just isn't on a stalk, that's all. It's one of 4 large rocker switches above the radio. What's the problem?)