Plymouth Reliant

Plymouth Reliant

Plymouth

MarquePlymouth
ProductionOctober 1980 – December 1988
Engine2.2 L Chrysler 2.2 & 2.5 engine#2.2 / K Straight-four engine / I4 / 2.5 L Chrysler 2.2 & 2.5 engine#2.5 / K I4 / 2.6 L Mitsubishi Motors / Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Astron engine / G54
Units built1,114,618

This is the catalogue record of the Plymouth Reliant, one of 57 models Plymouth has placed in the historical record and one of more than seventeen thousand cars the MotorJury library tracks. The record places its introduction in 1980. The photography on this page is hotlinked from Wikimedia Commons under an open licence, with the photographer credited on every frame.

The era it was born into

To read the Plymouth Reliant properly it helps to place it in its decade. The 1980s were the decade of turbocharging, electronic fuel injection and the first mass digital engine management — Group B rallying and hot hatches defined its performance culture. Any car launched into that world was shaped by it — by what materials, engineering and regulation allowed, and by what buyers of the day demanded. Its direct contemporaries in this catalogue, introduced within three years of it, include the Audi AG Audi Quattro, the Dodge Dodge Ram, the Lancia Lancia Delta — the cars a buyer of the period would actually have cross-shopped.

The numbers, read closely

On paper, the Plymouth Reliant reads like this: the record lists its engine as 2.2 L Chrysler 2.2 & 2.5 engine#2.2 / K Straight-four engine / I4 / 2.5 L Chrysler 2.2 & 2.5 engine#2.5 / K I4 / 2.6 L Mitsubishi Motors / Mitsubishi Mitsubishi Astron engine / G54; kerb weight is recorded at 2300 lb; drive goes through 4-speed A460 manual / 5-speed A465 manual / 5-speed A520 manual / 5-speed A525 manual / 3-speed A413 automatic / 3-speed A470 automatic; the layout is Transverse front-engine, front-wheel drive. Every figure above is a manufacturer specification carried by the Wikipedia infobox or the open Wikidata record for this model — nothing on this page is estimated, and where a source is silent the row simply does not appear. Production is recorded at 1,114,618 units, which makes it one of the industry's true mass-production stories.

Its place in the Plymouth story

Within Plymouth's own catalogue the Plymouth Reliant sits alongside the Plymouth XNR (1950), the Plymouth Laser, the Plymouth X2S, the Plymouth Colt Vista. The record names the Dodge Aspen / Plymouth Volaré as its predecessor and the Dodge Spirit / Plymouth Acclaim as its successor, fixing its place in the model line's chronology. Assembly is recorded at United States: Newark, Delaware (Newark Assembly: sedans and wagons) / United States: Detroit, Michigan (Jefferson Avenue Assembly), / United States: Fenton, Missouri (Saint Louis .

How this catalogue works

This library is generated, verified and rebuilt from the open record on every deploy. The catalogue skeleton comes from Wikidata, specifications from Wikipedia's infoboxes under CC BY-SA, photography from Wikimedia Commons under each file's own licence, and the ownership data from United States federal safety records. Nothing is written by hand and nothing is invented: every fact on this page traces to a public source, and every page is rebuilt nightly as those sources improve. Errors in the source record will appear here too — and disappear the night the source is corrected.

From catalogue to ownership

The catalogue records what the Plymouth Reliant was; the ownership database records what it is like to own. MotorJury computes a verdict for every model year the United States federal record covers — complaints, recalls, real economy — refreshed nightly, with no opinions involved. If this car reached the American market, its verdicts are in there.

Specifications

Transmission4-speed A460 manual / 5-speed A465 manual / 5-speed A520 manual / 5-speed A525 manual / 3-speed A413 automatic / 3-speed A470 automatic
LayoutTransverse front-engine, front-wheel drive
Body style2-door coupe (1981–1989) / 4-door sedan (car) / sedan (1981–1989) / 4-door station wagon / wagon (1981–1988)
Kerb weight2300 lb
Wheelbase100.3 in / Wagon: 100.4 in
AssemblyUnited States: Newark, Delaware (Newark Assembly: sedans and wagons) / United States: Detroit, Michigan (Jefferson Avenue Assembly), / United States: Fenton, Missouri (Saint Louis
PredecessorDodge Aspen / Plymouth Volaré
SuccessorDodge Spirit / Plymouth Acclaim
Catalogue IDQ1472333

Specifications come from the Wikipedia infobox for this model (CC BY-SA) and the open Wikidata record, and are shown only where a source actually carries them — nothing here is estimated. Figures are manufacturer specifications, not measured results.

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What it costs to run

Ownership verdicts are computed from NHTSA complaint and recall records plus EPA economy data, re-priced for your country. Verdicts are published per model year as the data is ingested — browse them live, or open the true-cost calculator to price any year yourself.

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Rivals of its era

Contemporaries from other marques, introduced within three years of this car.