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I think the Cavalier was the best, then the Reliant. The early Tempos were literally worthless cars. My mom got a brand new 1987 Topaz as her first car (Mercury version of the Tempo) and it blew a head gasket when it was only 4 years old. Not to mention, the early Tempos were atrocious on safety. The models with the optional driver air bag didn't have the safety problem. The Tempo tested did awful, the Topaz tested had the optional driver air bag and did much better. I highly doubt my mom's had an air bag, it was a fairly rare option.
The later models, 1988 and newer, were better on safety and a little more reliable. Here's a crash test on an '88. Nevertheless, Consumer Reports said that all 1989-1994 Tempos should be avoided, IIRC. The Tempo was canned after 1994. http://oldnhtsa.blogspot.com/2013/12...rash-test.html
Of course, I'd pick a Corolla, a Civic, or a Sentra over all of them by a long shot. Or go one size smaller or larger to the Escort or the Taurus. They were much better quality cars. The Escort, as well, was one of the safest small cars of the 1980s: http://oldnhtsa.blogspot.com/2013/12...rash-test.html
It's about boredom. The Tempo is the most boring car of the 3 choices. It's not about performance or reliability. We owned a 90 Tempo, so we know. Just boring.
I had a Cavalier Z24 with a V6 that was not boring at all.
Reliant and Horizon are different size cars. The Reliant is comparable in size to the Tempo & Cavalier. The Horizon is a subcompact.
You can call them all junk but any of these can take you to your destination and when you get there you will not be any less there than if you had arrived by any other means of transport.
According to vintage 1986 Consumer Reports, Dodge Aries & Plymouth Reliant were the most-reliable domestic compact-cars.
FWIW, I still see a few of these on the road around here. A buddy sold an Aries with working A/C for like $500, I should have bought it, the working A/C alone is worth the $500.
And you think the Tempo is more exciting than the Cavalier?!?!
I did notice with late 80s Fords that the bodies seemed more solid than GM vehicles. You could close the door of a Tempo or Taurus and it made a nice solid thunk, whereas the doors on cars like the Cavalier and Corsica had lots of rattles.
Tempo/Topaz were an engineering hot mess under the hood.
All three of these were, actually, but I'll take the Aries/Reliant just because.
Domestic manufacturers had a long tough road figuring out how to build a decent smaller car, and they still don't seem to quite get it.
Omni/Horizon were cut from a different cloth being part Volkswagen. Easily my favorite, but reliability wasn't great there either.
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