1983 Plymouth Reliant from North America - Comments

Front joint snapped at 132,400 miles.

Alternator is not charging anymore.

Heater core blew.

Alternator belt snapped.

Butterfly flaps in the carburettor are hanging (choke is sticking).

Brake housing went out.

Oil leak.

16 miles per gallon in town. 22 miles per gallon on the highway.

Engine dies in gear after long warm-ups.

Transmission is not shifting evenly.

This car runs good, but has major problems. Everytime I get paid, I have to pump money into the car with parts.

I'm sorry, but what do you expect from a car that was 18 years old when you bought it? I once owned one of these cars and I hated it too, but I bought it in the 80's and got rid of it in the early 90's.

See that is an illogical comment. Just because a car is old when you get it doesn't mean anything. Should you expect problems, of course, but its not as if the guy was expecting the car to virtually fall apart after he bought it. Look at people with the old Model T's and the Dusenberg's. They are nearly twice as old as the Reliant and hold up better. Given they were hand built and probably went through restoration, but with typical maintenance and a little TLC, what car won't go on forever?

To the reviewer and the author of the second comment: Hello!!! the car had over 130K miles on it when you bought it and you are upset that it needed repairs? That's why you got it cheap (or should have).

And if you want to talk illogical, comparing a restored Duesenberg (not "Dusenberg") to a beater Reliant is about as illogical as you can get!

A Reliant with 130K??? It should me in a museum!!!

I have a 1981 Reliant K (4-Door, Automatic transmission, 2.2L) with over 350,000 miles on the odometre. I bought it in 1982 with 3 miles on the odometre. It still runs like new. The trick to keeping any sort of Chrysler made vehicle running smoothly, is maintenance. You MUST maintain your vehicle very carefully, if you want to be able to expect the kind of performance, that I have gotten, and continue to get (60 miles to work and back every day). Of course, if you buy a used car, you really have no idea what it's been through.

---Joe.

And the cars don't stand up well to harsh winters or bad roads.

In Montreal you get both.

And most model T's have been scrapped.

There isn't a car made that holds up to the brine-slurry solution that covers northeastern roads in winter -- even the plastic bodies eventually gut from the inside-out. Show me a decent car from that area of the country, and I'll show you one garaged six months of the year.

My Reliant coupe was the most comfortable mid-size two-door I've ever driven; the seats were big, the doors were gigantic, and you could cruise with your arm on the window-sill in summer, and the wind would whirl into the car *behind* your head (rather than blasting you straight in the face) -- and the door-lock wasn't a pop-button type that jabs you in the funny-bone.