1987 Plymouth Horizon America 2.2 liter, 4 cylinder carb

Summary:

Great car for the price, would like another

Faults:

Front brakes changed every 24,000 miles due to wearing out.

Engine swap at 96,000 miles, and that engine blew a cylinder at 108,000, and then sold it for 350.00.

General Comments:

One of the better cars I've owned, even though it didn't look great. Wish I still had it today. Does anyone know of someone selling one?

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 18th August, 2006

1987 Plymouth Horizon 2.2 petrol four cylinder

Summary:

Can you actually like an unreliable car?

Faults:

Just to be fair, I'll first admit that I purchased this car from a little old lady who barely used it.

This model was carbureted... and one of the first problems I noticed shortly after purchase was the huge billowing white clouds the exhaust belched out.

The car began stalling on me repeatedly... so I had the carburetor replaced (upon Chrysler's advice).

The car continued to stall repeatedly, so I had the carburetor checked out again. Chrysler said the fuel lines were mucked up... so they replaced the lines AND the gas tank.

To this day, my dad believes the car sat too long without being run before I purchased it. This may have caused the interior of the gas tank to either rust or corrode, leaving particulates in the tank (therefore gumming up the fuel lines, carburetor, etc...).

General Comments:

Beyond the bad stuff, when this car was running I actually was quite fond of it. It was comfortable. It ran smoothly, and kept up with traffic when it had to.

When my father took it off my hands after I bought my first new car (Honda Civic Hatchback), and after the correct repairs had been made... it actually served him well for a year or so before he unloaded it. But to this day I view it as an unreliable car... that I look back on kind of fondly (how weird is that?).

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 16th January, 2006

27th Feb 2006, 22:31

Very interesting in that I too bought my son the same car... from an old lady... hardly driven...stalled...etc. This sounds like his car. Please tell me what you did to stop all of these "hair pulling" problems. Did you ever get it totally fixed?? I too have had the gas tank refurbished, new fuel pump and filter, and lots of carb work done. Ron.

4th Mar 2006, 10:31

I have an 87 Horizon in excellent shape, but all the carbs on these cars were junk. Holleys are usually good, but this particular model that graced the Omnis/Horizons until the advent of standard fuel injection.

I regularly douse mine in STP carb cleaner which seems to keep the stalling/sputtering in check for a while.

It's hard to hate a Horizon. They're just lovable and you can beat them to death and they'll keep going.

28th Sep 2006, 17:05

Sorry, Ron, but my '87 Horizon never really ran perfect after putting in a rebuilt carburetor, replacing the full tank, and having the fuel pump and lines worked on. It ran better, but not perfect.

I'm the writer of the original review.

27th Nov 2010, 13:50

My '90 Horizon had that same stalling issue, it just needed new fuel hoses and a fuel filter.

1987 Plymouth Horizon 2.2 gas

Summary:

This car served it's purpose, and then some!

Faults:

Not too much..

The ignition control unit filed early in it's life. But that was replaced under warranty.

After about 8 years and 100 000km, both ball joints were replaced, brakes on all four corners were redone, and the clutch was replaced. The total bill came to about $1000Can.

We sadly had to pull it off the road after 11 years because the sub-frame was too badly rusted.

General Comments:

We loved this car. It started up every time even in the coldest of weather.

There were a lot of times on cold days when we would have to jump start much newer fuel injected cars.

The car did not owe us a penny. It did what it had to do for much longer than it was probably designed to.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 17th December, 2005