UAZ Profi: Load capacity and technical characteristics

Category: UAZ

• Purpose of UAZ Profi
• Car Cabin Design
• Body

In 2022, the Ulyanovsk plant presented a new UAZ Profi model. The machine is a light-duty commercial vehicle. According to the developers, the vehicle should become a competitor to Gazelle commercial vehicles.

Purpose of UAZ Profi

The UAZ Profi vehicle is designed for transporting various light weight cargoes. Depending on the installed body, the vehicle can transport liquid and solid cargo. The machine is used for commercial purposes. The comfortable interior of the UAZ Profi allows you to cover long distances without operator fatigue. To reduce the risk of injury, the model is equipped with a driver's airbag.

The all-wheel drive version allows you to move comfortably both on good quality asphalt surfaces and off-road. This is convenient when it is necessary to deliver cargo to settlements remote from public roads. In winter, the all-wheel drive version of the UAZ Profi is used for driving on snowy roads.

There is strength

The frame is new. More precisely, Ulyanovsk residents call it new, but, in essence, it is based on patriotism. It is elongated and reinforced in especially loaded areas. And, unlike the Gazelle one, it has a closed cross-section, since it was originally borrowed from an SUV and, therefore, is more resistant to loads, especially torsion. There are additional cross members and reinforced shock absorber mounting brackets. The latter, by the way, are seriously different from the Patriot ones: in addition to different settings, they have a different stem.

To increase load capacity, the springs were located under the side members, rather than to the side of them. The springs are single-leaf, with cushions. At first, such a number of sheets confused me, but even with a full load, I don’t feel any problems on the go. Let's see how they perform in long-term use.

Gas equipment can be installed directly at the factory. A large gap between the cargo platform and the frame is reserved for a 93-liter cylinder.

Gas equipment can be installed directly at the factory. A large gap between the cargo platform and the frame is reserved for a 93-liter cylinder.

Car design

The UAZ Profi car is built on a frame consisting of two longitudinal metal profiles. They are connected to each other by transverse beams. The rectangular cross-section of the profile allowed the designers to strengthen the frame with metal inserts. Thanks to this, the strength characteristics of the frame have improved.

Cabin

An all-metal cabin is installed in the front part of the frame. It is developed on the basis of the Patriot model. The cabin is sealed, which prevents dust and air from entering the interior of the UAZ Profi car when driving. The manufacturer equips the model with two types of cabins:

• All-metal single-row. The short version of the car has seats arranged in one row;
• All-metal double-row. Extended version of UAZ Profi. It has two rows of seats installed one behind the other. The rear seat is designed as a three-seater sofa.

ATTENTION: Depending on the wheel arrangement of the UAZ Patriot Profi, the number of seats in the front row differs. The all-wheel drive version has 1 driver and 1 passenger seat. The rear-wheel drive version is equipped with one driver's seat and two passenger seats. This design is due to the location of the transfer case levers of an all-wheel drive vehicle.

Body

Depending on the purpose for which the vehicle will be used, the UAZ Profi utility vehicle is equipped with various types of bodies:

1. Manufactured goods metal body with low sides. It has a fixed front side and movable side and rear sides. In the closed position, the sides are fixed with specialized latches. The body is equipped with a frame made of metal profiles. An awning is installed on the frame. It protects the transported cargo from the influence of precipitation and wind when the vehicle is moving. The roof of the body is gable. This prevents precipitation from accumulating on the surface;
2. Isothermal body. Used for transporting food. The walls of the van are equipped with thermal insulation. It allows you to maintain the microclimate in the body regardless of the ambient temperature. The rear of the insulated van is equipped with double-leaf gates. They have clamps for securing the door leaf in the closed position. At the top there is a ventilation system;
3. Refrigerator. Designed for transportation of perishable food products and other goods requiring special temperature conditions. The refrigerator is equipped with climate control equipment. This allows you to maintain the necessary microclimate in the van, regardless of the temperature outside;
4. Tank. Used for transporting liquids. A UAZ Profi car with a tank is used as a milk or fuel tanker. The container is attached to the metal platform of the car with tape-type clamps.

REFERENCE: The metal body with low sides, installed as standard, may differ in overall dimensions.

Iron reforms

The rear suspension now has different springs. Under load, Pro began to maintain his posture better, sagging less noticeably. Behind the dual wheels you can see disc brakes (all-wheel drive vehicles were left with drum brakes). I didn’t feel any improvement in deceleration - old cars with full weight had enough brakes if you drove adequately. But the rear pads will have to be changed more often, and they will cost more.

Rear suspension (formerly - now)

Rear suspension (formerly - now)

I remember well how several years ago changes in the front suspension and steering improved the behavior of the Patriot and Pickup. So, Pro followed in their footsteps, but does not copy his brothers. The front axle is supported by four trailing arms instead of two, and the shock absorbers have been moved inside the springs. The compression stroke of the suspension increased from 73 to 85–90 mm.

Front suspension (formerly - now)

Front suspension (formerly - now)

A damper appeared in the steering, the rods became straighter and more rigid. But globally nothing has changed. The reactions are blurry, and in a car with barely 1000 km on it, the steering wheel is already crooked when driving straight. Either I’m so unlucky with UAZs, or they really can’t keep the wheel alignment for more than a thousand or two kilometers.

Steering (was - now)

Steering (was - now)

Advantages of UAZ Profi

The UAZ Profi model has a number of advantages:

1. Load capacity. UAZ Profi can transport cargo weighing up to 1.5 tons. This allows the machine to be used for commercial purposes;
2. High cross-country ability. The all-wheel drive transmission allows you to deliver cargo to settlements remote from public roads;
3. Powerful power unit. The engine power installed on the UAZ Profi is sufficient for the intended use of the vehicle. The motor has good dynamic performance, which allows it to be successfully used in urban environments;
4. Comfort. Thanks to ergonomic seats, adjustable steering wheel position and a comfortable interior, the degree of driver fatigue during long trips is reduced;
5. Variety of installed bodies. Depending on the body installed on the vehicle, various loads can be transported;
6. Structural strength. Car components are made of durable materials, which extends the service life;
7. Safety. Seat belts and airbags protect the driver and passengers from injury if they are involved in a traffic accident.

From the above it follows that the UAZ Profi car, the technical characteristics of which differ from other models of the Ulyanovsk plant, is a commercial vehicle. It is designed to transport cargo weighing up to 1.5 tons on asphalt and off-road. The manufacturer produces the car in all-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive versions.

Comparative test of rear-wheel drive UAZ “Profi” and GAZelle “Business”. Industrial zone

Original article: www.drom.ru Author: Grigory Aleshker Photo: Andrey Bak

The market for light commercial vehicles is entirely controlled by the Gazelle Lobby. Will the newcomer UAZ “Profi” be able to compete with the familiar GAZelle “Business”? We took both lorries for testing, loaded them to the required limit, drove them along a variety of roads in the Moscow region and, to be honest, were a little surprised by the comparison results.

We received the UAZ “Profi”, painted in an elegant promotional color “green metallic”, new - with only 130 km on the clock. Handing out the keys and documents, the manager warned: “The speedometer is lying at 60 km/h plus: the “tidy” of a new modification, we ordered a replacement under warranty, but the wait is long, they only recently started installing it.” Okay, this is a UAZ, there’s nothing to be surprised about. Later it was discovered that the block of buttons for electric mirrors and power windows in the driver's door did not work. This error was resolved by “rebooting” - turning off the engine and setting the alarm. From time to time, the fan motor of the cooling system “sang” in a creaky “voice”. It turned out that there are also very strange innovations in the “tidy” itself: I remember that in Dromov’s Patriot the trip computer showed average fuel consumption, but this function has been removed since last year. For what? I think, so as not to upset the owners once again, because UAZs are being eaten up in three throats! At the first test in the Kemerovo region, the fuel consumption of a rear-wheel drive Pro with a ton of coal in the back dropped to 20 liters per hundred.

The UAZ “Profi” looks almost like a US truck, but for the cool look and hood layout, due to which the “Profi” is 400 mm longer than the Nizhny Novgorod “one and a half”, you have to pay for worse visibility and a larger turning radius - 5.9 m instead 5.5 m for GAZelle. The price of the basic version “Standard” with a conventional platform, ABS, EBD, driver’s airbag, electrified mirrors and windows, central locking, immobilizer is 749,000 rubles. “Comfort” with winter package and air conditioning - 799,000 rubles. Paid options - Android multimedia (29,000 rubles), differential lock (29,000 rubles), metallic color (9,900 rubles) and a wide platform for five pallets (8,000 rubles) will raise the price of the rear-wheel drive three-seat UAZ "Profi" to 874,900 rubles

It is wrong to blame the UAZ alone for the poor build quality. The post-Soviet auto industry as a whole still cannot solve this problem: buying any domestic car is a lottery, and small “jambs” are a mandatory price to pay for the relative “low cost”.

However, Nizhny Novgorod cars with the base Evotech engine are by no means on a “diet”. It is not for nothing that a common saying has appeared that “there are no petrol GAZelles, only gas ones.” Our almost new GAZelle, with a little more than 1000 km on the odometer, presented us with more serious problems than the UAZ ones: at the end of the test, brake fluid flowed like a spring stream from the left front wheel. It’s good that this happened on the way back, but by the time we got there we added almost one and a half liters of brake fluid. We did not encounter any electrical glitches in the GAZelle, apparently simply because the “electrification” of the basic version is insignificant - the doors have mechanical window lifters and “manually operated” mirrors.

The main task of the designers of the first GAZelle, released in 1994, was to draw the cabin so that Ford would not be accused of plagiarism. It turned out in Chinese, and it still remains that way. Today, the GAZelle “Business” in the database (that is, absolutely “naked”, not counting the heated mirrors) costs 875,000 rubles. For ABS you have to pay extra (!) 12,000 rubles. A package of foglights, electric mirrors and power windows, plus a 1DIN radio with buttons on the steering wheel, audio equipment and central locking - another 25,000 rubles, improved paintwork with a "metal effect" - 15,000 rubles, air conditioning - 45,000 rubles, differential lock - 25,000 rubles. Together with all the options, the price of the GAZelle “Business” will increase to 972,000 rubles. You can also pay an additional 21,500 rubles for ERA-GLONASS

But what a aroma in the GAZelle’s interior! The bright amber of ultra-cheap plastic in harmonious combination with a light note of engine oil heated on the muffler is the smell of youth, half-forgotten since Nizhny Novgorod minibuses disappeared from the outskirts of the capital. The last time I drove a GAZelle was at the beginning of the 2000s, but since then, it seems, nothing has changed. Poor mouse-gray fleecy upholstery on the door panels, cheap seat fabric, a huge, thin “bus” steering wheel without an airbag, located almost horizontally compared to the UAZ. “Gazelle drivers” complain about the crampedness of the UAZ cabin - you won’t get enough sleep, they say, in the parking lot, because you won’t be able to stretch your legs. That’s right, but driving a GAZelle you’ll get tired sooner - the ergonomics are far from ideal. After the UAZ, at first I pressed the brake instead of the gas - the pedal block was greatly shifted to the right, there was nowhere to put my left foot, except to put it on the wheel arch, bending it almost at a right angle. There is nothing to lean on - the wide cabin to the left of the driver gapes with emptiness, because there is still no armrest! All that remains, as always, is to adapt the headrest pulled out of the passenger sofa. The undoubted advantage of the cab of the Nizhny Novgorod truck is excellent visibility thanks to the large glass area and half-hood layout. Two-section mirrors are good, in the dashboard there are two retractable cup holders, two (including the cigarette lighter) 12-volt sockets and three spacious glove compartments. However, the lock of the top right drawer was jammed, and I barely managed to open it to take a photo.

The idea of ​​the GAZelle “Business” dashboard is good, but the assembly is poor and the quality of materials is mediocre. The “base” is completely empty, there is nothing except heated side mirrors

The simplest instrument cluster is less readable than the UAZ one - the numbers are unclear due to the green backlight. Spacious glove compartments and cup holders in the right place are an unattainable luxury for the UAZ Profi. There is no airbag for the driver, even for an extra charge

The fleecy trim on the door panel looks sloppy from the factory, and the pocket in the door is small and inconvenient. The step into the cabin is closed by a door, so less dirt gets on it. The steering wheel is adjustable for tilt and reach. The seating position is satisfactory, but the chair does not have a microlift or lumbar support.

Driving the UAZ Profi feels like driving a Patriot car. The left hand fits perfectly on the door armrest, the left leg can be straightened, and the steering wheel is grippy. Convenient, you don’t want to leave! Moreover, you can’t leave the UAZ cabin so easily: when exiting, your right leg clings a little to the steering column. An advanced seat with a microlift and lumbar support provides more possibilities for adjustment, but the long-travel clutch and brake pedals do not allow you to move further back. As a result, adjusting the steering wheel for reach remains almost unclaimed. We got the UAZ “Profi” in the maximum configuration - with air conditioning, a cooled glove compartment, and heated all seats. The Android media system with Navitel navigation allows you to customize the desktop according to your preferences, install applications, use Bluetooth and Hands free - miracles of Chinese electronics that are inaccessible to any other luxury sedan. But there is almost nowhere to put small things that you will inevitably accumulate on a long flight. Perhaps in a narrow pocket on the center console and in a box under the sofa, but then you will have to “evict” the jack with tools from there, and there is already little space in the cabin behind the seats. Ulyanovsk residents still have to work and work on organizing their “living space”: apart from the ceiling console, there is nowhere to put documents for cargo, a lonely cup holder screwed to the back wall will inevitably be covered with clothes (the hooks for them are right on top), instead of a second 12-volt socket there is a plug , The USB connector is routed “tail” into the glove compartment.

In the UAZ “Profi” there is a “passenger” dashboard. The finishing materials at least look a little more expensive than in the GAZelle, the build quality is not bad, but it can “float” from car to car. There is only one glove compartment. Heated entire area of ​​the windshield and air conditioning are a feature of the Comfort package. Driver's airbag - in the "base"

The instrument cluster is easy to read, the electronic display in the center shows the speed exactly according to GPS, but the speedometer and tachometer, which were faulty from the factory, are greatly inaccurate. An Android radio with navigation can also be installed in the basic “Pro”. A box under the passenger sofa has a tool organizer. By removing the foam, its capacity can certainly be increased

The door panel is made of easy-to-clean material, a very comfortable armrest, and a spacious pocket can hold a bottle. The cabin of the UAZ “Profi” is narrower, but more comfortable for the driver. The running board is narrower than in the GAZelle and is not covered by the door. The “Comfort” configuration chair has a microlift. The adjustment of the backrest is tight, but the adjustment discs are on both sides, they can be rotated with both hands at once

I start up the new 150-horsepower UAZ ZMZ PRO engine, and the cabin is filled with diesel shudders. The chair vibrates, the mirrors shake, the gear lever shakes. It shakes noticeably at idle and in the GAZelle. In addition, there is more noise from the engine, but less sense. The UAZ gasoline engine really pulls like a diesel engine: you shift through gears, in an empty car from 60 km/h you already engage fifth, and by 100 kilometers per hour you begin to search in vain for sixth gear - you need it like air! There is no transfer case in the rear-wheel drive “Pro”, which means there is nothing to “howl”, exhausting your soul on long-distance trips. Only a light, almost inaudible “wheezing” can be heard from under the floor, but you can also get rid of it by holding the “mechanics” lever with your hand. But you have to “stick” each gear with great effort. A colleague, who had just driven a UAZ Profi to Lake Baikal and back, reassured: “In about five thousand it will work out, the shifts will become easier, although the lever strokes will also increase.” Will they grow up? Much more - including reverse gear, and so you touch the passenger sofa with your hand.

The mirrors in the UAZ “Profi” are slightly blind, but they are heated and electrically driven. The plastic fuel tank is hidden in the frame and is additionally protected underneath, but the filler neck is awkward. The taillights are the legacy of “Tadpole”, the “fog light” is attached “to the snot”, the bracket is already bent

The mirrors of the GAZelle “Business” are two-sectional, with built-in repeaters and heating. The metal tank on the outside of the frame is easily damaged. Despite the sloppy anti-corrosion in the lower part, sooner or later it will begin to rust. The taillights are brighter, have more sections, and are hidden deeper under the body.

The GAZelle gearbox lever is just as long-travel, but here you don’t even remember the missing sixth gear: even an empty car the engine is enough - the power of the basic Evotek is only 107 “horses”. Without a load, the GAZelle is noticeably stiffer than the UAZ, which hardly notices potholes and speed bumps, but is more stable. On the test “Profi” I had to steer a little all the time, and not just in a rut (again, features of the “individual assembly”, this did not happen in the first test of the model). The UAZ steering wheel is a little heavier, but the reverse reactions are at least a little noticeable, and the GAZelle steering wheel feels like cosmic emptiness. Empty cars do not frighten you when turning, and the rolls are slight. It’s more convenient to maneuver in difficult places in a GAZelle: the turning radius is smaller, just know, turn the steering wheel. The UAZ “Profi” will not turn around in every dead end in one go.

The loading height of the UAZ “Profi” body is 986 mm versus 960 mm for the GAZelle “Business”. At the top are empty cars, at the bottom - with a maximum load of one and a half tons

The volume of the UAZ “Profi” body under a 1650 mm high awning is 9.5 m³. The length of the loading platform is 3089 mm, width 1870 mm, area 5.8 m². The length of the GAZelle Business cargo platform is 3089 mm, width is 1978 mm, body area is 6.1 m². Body volume under an awning with a height of 1600 mm - 9.8 m³

To get the “goods” we went to one of the metal depots near Moscow. We expected to throw one and a half tons of hardware in wooden boxes into the bodies, but there was a hitch with the loader. In order not to waste time, we stood under a gantry crane to load with a heavy metal sheet. One and a half tons is just a few dozen sheets, compactly stacked close to the front walls of the cargo platforms. The cars sank noticeably. Especially the GAZelle, whose body tilted slightly backwards. True, having carefully examined the springs, we discovered that the UAZ single-leaf springs had actually straightened out and lay on the springs, while the GAZelle had some reserve left. The suspension of the UAZ "Profi", unlike the Nizhny Novgorod truck, was designed for the maximum load stated in the documentation, but the voices of potential buyers did not go unnoticed - they are working on strengthening it in Ulyanovsk.

Which of the “one and a half” trucks is easier to tilt?

The floor is made of smooth bakelite plywood, the rigging brackets are flush. The awning posts are vertical, attached to the sides from above. Without tools, you can only remove the “ceiling”; there are transparent sections only in the middle part of the “roof”. Lifting the tailgate by the leashes requires skill, but it doesn’t always work. The folded tailgate rests on rubber stops, there is a step - it’s convenient to climb into the body

There are no problems with the GAZelle; it has a split frame in the middle. They pulled out the plastic-braided steel cord from the eyelets, the two of them lifted the awning along with the upper half of the frame and easily carried it to the side. However, the frame of the GAZelle awning is not ideal - it is attached inside the body directly to the floor, reducing the usable width. I had to tinker with the UAZ. Only the roof crossbars can be removed without tools, and not all of them. And to remove the frame completely, you need to loosen the four bolts in the narrow place between the cabin and the body wall and unscrew the side pillars. We had a lot of trouble with both removal and reinstallation. There are pieces of rubber placed under the racks in the places where they are attached to the sides, which seem to have been cut from disused car inner tubes: it is very difficult to align the holes in order to attach the bolts. The design of the UAZ frame clearly requires improvement. Why not, for example, make the racks detachable in the middle part, like the GAZelle, and instead of rubber bands use stamped plastic seals that retain their shape?

The GAZelle awning is easier to remove, and the transparent sections in the “roof” are larger. The floor boards are uneven, the paint has already peeled off in some places, and scuff marks have appeared. There are no rigging brackets. GAZelle side locks are much more convenient than the archaic UAZ ones

The loaded UAZ “Profi” did not start to shake, as in the first test near Kemerovo, when there were two pallets with carrots under the roof in the back. The iron “layer” at the bottom of the cargo platform did not increase the center of gravity, and handling was almost no worse. Well, I had no doubt that the engine would pull through. The ZMZ PRO didn’t let us down even in the mountains, and even more so on the plain near Moscow. It just became a bit difficult to get going from second gear. But at the “cruising” speed of 80 km/h, the “Profi” felt confident in the traffic flow, moved into the middle row, quite calmly overtaking slow-moving vehicles. But the suspension of the loaded “Pro” began to react more harshly to unevenness.

GAZelle "Business" - both empty and loaded - holds its course well, but loaded to capacity - it barely moves. An empty UAZ “Profi” has to be steered, but it handles bumps more comfortably than the Nizhny Novgorod “lorry”. Under load, the Pro suspension takes more hits, but the engine pulls great

GAZelle, on the contrary, acquired “sofa-like” softness, but completely lost speed and lagged far behind UAZ. Having transferred to the steering wheel of a Nizhny Novgorod semi-truck, I immediately learned to roll up at intersections when the signal turns green, not to brake unless absolutely necessary, and not to accelerate. Any rise is a downshift. Starting from an intersection, you reflexively wince, expecting to hear the dissatisfied horns of “private owners” in fast cars. One thing is good: the GAZelle holds its course, as if it were rolling on rails.

Loaded lorries go well on snow-covered dirt roads, but the UAZ's ground clearance is 40 mm higher, and the engine pulls better in the lower speed range. In addition, the UAZ is helped by a single-pitch tire - there is no need to cut extra ruts

In search of off-road conditions, we turned into the “fields,” but there was snow there—higher than the hood. We barely found an uncleaned primer suitable for the monodrive. Under the gearbox of the only drive axle of the UAZ “Profi” is 210 mm, and with a loaded rear axle it rushes like a tank. The GAZelle has only 170 mm under the “apple”, and with a double-pitch rear tire it does not always fall into the rut. Of course, having one and a half tons in the back helps her, but it’s still not worth venturing into virgin soil: standard tires don’t work in the snow.

An empty GAZelle gets stuck everywhere - on rolled snow near garages, on ice in a puddle in front of a car wash, on a small slippery slope in a parking lot... It’s a shame that the test GAZelle was not equipped with a cross-axle differential lock. The same Eaton in the rear axle of the UAZ “Profi” helped me out more than once. True, in a serious situation, neither the UAZ nor the Gazelle blocking will save you. They automatically turn off at a speed of 30 km/h, that is, immediately after a good slip. So you need to leave the “ambush” slowly, with a sway.

The absolutely “naked” basic GAZelle “Business” costs the same as a rear-wheel drive UAZ “Profi” without LPG in the maximum “Comfort” configuration with all additional paid options and a wide platform for five pallets. But even the basic “Pro,” which is 126,000 rubles cheaper than the GAZelle, is more convenient for the driver, the UAZ engine is more powerful, and has better traction. For the sake of these advantages, it is worth trying for a beginner in the business.

This is how, quietly and quietly, the UAZ “Profi” will perhaps make its way into the world of commercial transportation. After all, his potential turned out to be quite good! Although Ulyanovsk residents cannot and do not particularly want to change globally, they have recently learned to quickly correct “jambs” like the door handle torn off by the general and introduce useful options. Take, for example, the excellent “anti-slip” on the Patriot or blocking. One can hope that they will finish their new truck promptly. However, we'll wait and see. If in a few years a rusty and tattered Profik, sleeping on the side of the road, becomes an integral part of the landscape of residential areas, this will be a sign that UAZ has found the right path to the wallets of businessmen.

Technical characteristics of the tested vehicles (manufacturers' data)

Photobonus