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See this is one of those things that depends on your perspective. What is your definition of reliable?
In my opinion - if I were to say that I want a solid reliable daily driver car, I mean I want a car that is not only depedable, but also one that doesn't require me to take out a loan when it DOES need repairs. Reliable and cheap to fix seem to be mutually exclusive concepts these days.
For instance, take Mr. Pockets example of an old Subaru vs. a Cavalier. I'll use the 92 SVX as the old subaru since we are all familiar with it and I think we would agree it's a pretty reliable car. If you were looking for a reliable daily driver, which one would you pick? Without a doubt i'd take the Cavalier. I would expect to have more problems with the Cav, but even knowing that I would take it because the last thing I want to do is dump piles of money into a daily driver, and the average cost of repair (per problem) is well under $100 for the Cavalier vs. about $300 for the SVX. Seems to make sense doesn't it? I know the SVX is an expensive example but if you look into it, all the real reliable subarus are close in price of repairs. Same goes for just about any of the highest rated cars in terms of reliability...they are all quite expensive to fix. Then there's Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and the like - all very unreliable AND expensive to repair, yet people still buy them up like they're going out of style. All the effects of Image based promotion. But that's another discussion.
I can say my girl's SVX has been quite reliable in that it has never left her stranded. It can always be depended on to get her home or to wherever she has to go. It still has had it's problems though. My daily driver (1994 GTP) has done the same...it's had more problems than the SVX did...but again it has always been there to get me where i needed to go. The difference is, that even with all the problems i've had with it, i've still only put a fraction of the money into the GTP that Mandi has put into the SVX. So in my mind then, the GTP is a more reliable car.
On the other hand, if you want a toy or project car (second car) there's almost no reason not to go with the SVX. Style, power, driving fun, and in this case, if there's a problem with it, and you don't have the money to fix it, then the car can just sit. No problem.
That's the way I look at it.
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