1986 Plymouth Horizon 2.2 from North America

Summary:

Nice cheap and reliable car

Faults:

Starter wire melted from heat at 170,000.

Alternator now starting to go bad.

Windshield wiper motor blew at 158,000m.

Exhaust fell off from rust and age at time of purchase.

Oil pan leaks.

Headliner starting to loosen.

Front driver seat broken from the bolt braking off.

Clutch changed two times since I have owned this vehicle.

General Comments:

Bought car for $200.00.

I have put another $300.00 into it for the clutch set and labor.

Great on Gas.

Seats four small passenger comfortable.

Great for radio sound system, beings it is an hatchback.

Body is in mint condition, no rust, or wreck damage.

Tire are a little bald.

Overall good car to get from point a to point b. Very trusting.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 21st February, 2003

1986 Plymouth Horizon 2.2 ? from North America

Summary:

Worth driving until the wheels fall off

Faults:

All outside door knobs are messed-up one way or the other, but 2 out of 4 work sort of.

Had to replace the radiator.

Hatch back pistons don't hold hatch back up.

Emergency brake doesn't work, light does though for what that's worth.

Mechanic says the a clutch adjustment cable? needs to be replaced. Sometimes real hard to change gears. Sometimes wants to keep going with clutch in.

Speedometer doesn't work.

Rusted real bad in some of the wierdest places. Both windshield posts, inside the bottom of hatch back door.

General Comments:

Always starts, and easily too.

No problem keeping up with any and all highway traffic.

Zippy!

Great winter car for the likes of South Dakota.

Parts are pretty easy to find because of the people that give up on the little runners for some reason.

Seats are super comfy.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 9th August, 2002

1986 Plymouth Horizon from North America

Summary:

Max is a Beast!

Faults:

Where do we begin?

First off the carburetor is a piece of junk. That is what causes most of my problems. It's not worth replacing, so we just keep adjusting it.

I have cracked two distributor caps. I don't know if this is me or something with the car.

Starter went bad.

Water pump broke.

Exhaust went bad, meaning all of it.

My check valve melted.

Driver side wiper broke and we had to weld a new piece of metal on to it underneath the hood.

Carpet is now blue and green instead of just blue.

Back passenger door no longer opens from the inside. I call it my 'child safety lock.'

It stalls all the time, but I believe this is due to the carburetor.

Pre-ignition never fails. Sometimes it lasts for up to a minute, even if I shut the car off in gear.

Occasionally it is hard to pull out of park.

The gas tank has a bobber in it, so the gauge is not always accurate. You must be perfectly level for it to be telling the truth.

Paint is fading on hood and roof.

The head liner was down when I got the car, but I was able to replace it myself for under $10.

General Comments:

I love this car!

I named him Max the Meanie.

This car is a hunk of junk, but it gets me where I need to go (except a few times that we won't mention).

I drive back and forth from South Jersey to North Jersey every weekend (150 miles+), and the car handles it fine, for the most part.

Despite his size, and the problems with the carburetor, Max has pretty good pick-up.

I call him my Plymouth Crapola, but I will never trade him in. He has too much character.

Great first car, you never have to worry about your pockets being 'too full.' Haha.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 2nd April, 2002

1986 Plymouth Horizon 2.2 from North America

Summary:

I hate it, I love it

Faults:

It's so small. I'm 6'2" and I bang my knees on the steering wheel getting in every single time. Not to mention you can't move the steering wheel up or down.

There is rust everywhere!

The radiator has a mysterious leak that comes and goes.

The emergency break does nothing. One good thing, the light on my dash for the emergency brake does work. It reminds me to put it down before I go.

If you're more than 4 feet tall everywhere is a blind spot.

It produces a lot of strange odors, yet it keeps on ticking.

General Comments:

It went 7,000 miles without an oil change and it didn't even change the performance of the car!

It's great on gas. It seems like you can drive forever without filling up.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 23rd August, 2001

1986 Plymouth Horizon 2.0 from North America

Summary:

We call it The Beast

Faults:

CV joints at 120,000.

Engine leaks oil and has been on fire.

Vacuum lines melted, but it still runs.

Lots of loose electrical connections.

Dash indicator lights and gauges are sometimes inoperative.

Wires to the fuel pump had to be replaced.

Starter unreliable.

Battery was blown up by the charging system at 132,000.

Wears tires quickly - one blowout.

Leaks in the trunk.

Rust everywhere.

Carburettor isn't worth repairing again.

General Comments:

I bought this as a back-up car (as in cheap). The car has little power, less than most 4 cylinder cars. You basically get one chance to get it started, and if that fails, you can try till the battery is dead, or wait about an hour and it will usually give you another chance.

Lots of odd vibration in the right side, and tires wear and fall apart on that side.

Radio works, and (get this) it has AM stereo decoder, but the speakers are messed up.

Ordinary, but reliable transport.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 20th December, 2000

1986 Plymouth Horizon Base 2.0 from North America

Faults:

Carb has messed up several times - constantly the same problem.

A/C went out at about 98,000.

CV joints went out at 120,000.

Engine head gasket went at 130,000, engine finally blew at 136,000.

Radio was always having problems.

General Comments:

This car was great until it got to a hundred thousand miles then it went down hill bad. But it was a good car and had excellent power for a 4 cyc.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 31st July, 1999

7th Jun 2005, 19:22

Looks like you never really took care of it until it started acting up.