Before I reply, I must ask one thing. What exactly is the purpose of your posting? Are you considering purchasing a DeLorean for yourself, or someone you know and want to know more about it? Or is it something else? As far as reliability goes the DeLorean is a very reliable car once is has been raised to it's proper operating standard. By this of course I mean a variety of itmes. Things such as trailing arm bolts, updated cooling pipes, improved electrical relays, etc... And even then depending upon when the car was built it and/or who owned the car before you it may already have these updates/repairs completed. Ownership is a very important thing when it comes to a car. Let me give you an example: I own the proclaimed "DeLorean from hell". I have had problems with my car that would make the jaws of most everyone on the list here drop to the floor. But NONE of the problems that I've have with the car have been due to any defects or problems with it's design. My car sat for over a decade in the desert. That alone would have been enough to warrant a good number of problems. But it was also coupled with a string of mechanics before I came along who ended up causing more problems then they fixed. Alot of the items that have gone wrong with my car were easily preventable had I have known they were there in the first place. But because I was told they had already been taken care of, I overlooked them. Many of the lessons learned with my car were learned the hard way. If I could do it all over again there are a number of things I would have done differantly. But the one that I would never have changed was buying a DeLorean. Geting back to your question though rahter then just my personal experiences, the DeLorean is a very reliable car. It has in a sense been blessed with a strong motor and trans-axle, great suspension, and a beauty second to none! One thing that you have to remember is that in many cases here on the list a good number of postings are from people like myself who are bringing our cars back onto the road. And these postings are concerning repairs that have to be made due to neglect rather then design flaws. But even then one thing that you need to remember with the DeLorean is that it was somewhat rushed thru it's production. So any types of flaws that would normaly be discovered durring closed road testing and development were found out by the consumers. But nothing that came up was something that couldn't be overcome on the production line. If you want to talk about poor designs look at the Geo Metro hatchback. The SRS module is located directly under the cup holder. It is entirly possible that by spilling a drink you could trip the module and force the air bags into deploying while driving. Or what about the A series cars put out by GM from '78-'83 with the gas tank only 11 inches away from the rear bumper, or what about "side sadle" mounted gas tanks on GM trucks? I would consider that more of a design flaw then an underpowered fan fail relay. In the end, I just don't see the connection that you've made between the Vega and the DeLorean. John DeLorean didn't design the Vega, he was head of Chevrolet when it came out. That's the only connection. If I recall right, JZD wasn't that fond of the Vega either. As far as DeLorean's go. Higher milage is usually better simply because if it's been driven that far, then someone must have cared for it somewhat to enable it to go the distance. -Robert vin 6585 I'd rather push my DeLorean then drive any car made by GM! --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxx, "Sternbach, William [IT]" <William_Sternbach@xxxx> wrote: > [MODERATOR'S NOTE: DeLorean reliability has been discussed on the list in the past. It's been a while since it was last dicussed, so I'm letting this thread start again for the newcomers. Please focus reply postings on facts -- the usual moderating filters will be in place.] > > > Hello, > > I just wanted to make a polite comment about John Delorean and Reliability. > > When John Delorean was an executive at General Motors, > he introduced a new car to compete with the foreign economy cars. > It was the Chevy Vega. It had a 2.3 Liter Overhead Cam 4 Cylinder engine. > My sister bought a Chevy Vega brand new. > > She constantly had problems with it and after 1 year, she traded it in > to the dealer and she took a big financial loss. > The Chevy Vega was GM's least reliable car of all time. > Most Chevy Vega's never lasted long enough to make it to 50,000 miles. > > When John Delorean created the DMC-12, > I believe that reliability was similar to the Chevy Vega's. > Most DMC-12's have less than 50,000 miles because it is difficult > to keep the DMC-12 running continuously for a long period of time > to accumulate 50,000 miles. > > I am a fan of John Delorean and the DMC-12's, > but I hope it is ok if I make this polite comment that cars that he designed > have poor reliability. > > It seems the best DMC-12's to buy are the ones with over 30,000 miles, > because most of the problems have already been fixed by the previous > owner. Another member of this list told me that if you buy one of these > "fixed" deloreans, you can expect troublefree operation for a long time. > > What do you think?