I ran mine as my daily drive for years and it never once let me down despite being tuned to 218bhp.

Don't buy a scabby wreck for a grand and look after it and treat it with respect and they are no more unreliable than anything else. The people that bleat on about them being shit and unreliable are those that buy at the bottom of the market, whack the boost up and then abuse them and when it all goes pop blame the car rather than admit they are at fault and are a complete retard