1983 Plymouth Reliant wagon review from North America

Had to replace the front brake pads and turn the rotors right away (about 30CDN for the pads and 30CDN to turn the rotors)

Hatch struts were worn and wouldn't hold the wagon door open, never bothered replacing it... a stick did the trick.

Hatch lock wouldn't catch...5 bucks and 5 minutes in a wrecker solved that problem.

Puff of blue every once in a while when on first start-up.

I have only the best things to say about this car. I bought it for 320 bucks Canadian when my S10 blew the motor and it was supposed to last me a month or so 'till I rebuild the S10. I ended up moving across the province with it, and keeping it for the winter as a winter driver. Then sold it to a good friend of mine (normally never sell cars to friends). Between the two of us we got well over 20,000 hard-earned kms out of it. We moved with it numerous times, drove it across the province tons of times, beat it up on logging roads and messed around with it in snowy parking lots. It took it all in stride and came back for more. Gas mileage wasn't fantastic, but it wasn't horrible either. After I changed the front pads/turned the rotors (regular maintenance) we did absolutely NOTHING to the car. Not even oil changes. I'm a writer for a magazine and even spent nights in the back when I had to cover races and coudln't afford a motel room. My friend ended up trading it for a laptop and last we heard it's still soldiering away. Out of the 9 cars I've owned, it's the most reliable.