Reliability? Depends on what you call reliable. To me, reliable is a car that I know will start everytime, and get me home.
I bought my car when it was standard 5 years ago, and back then I never had any major problems that you wouldn't expect on a car of that age. It never let me down once I replaced the knackered battery and a couple of other worn parts soon after I got it. If you keep on top of minor maintainence you won't have a problem.
If your idea of reliable is a car that will run and run forever without doing anything to it, keep dreaming. And if your modified RST keeps blowing gearboxes or something because of the mods carried out, then that is your fault. Ford never built the car to run masses of power. So you can't complain.
That's how I look at it anyway
