I have used them for years as daily runners! My current car didnt miss a beat for two years until I got third instead of fifth and bye bye engine.

Motor is rebuilt and running just got to get round to MOT and she good to go. Its all about the maintenance and not going ape with the mods. If its in good running order why should it be unreliable? Because people run them on a shoe string and the car being 20 years old it just doesnt happen. Soon as people have the money to maintain them they get sold on to by a cossie/evo/bmw and so the circle starts again. Hence the bad rep.