Well, I suppose someone has to disagree a bit about how reliable
Triumphs are (since I owned a 75 Rabbit, I know the meaning of
unreliable). My TR-4 has been my daily driver other than for a month or
two each Winter for the last four years. Aside from an engine rebuild
(which I did at the begining of ownership), I've had a series of problems
with new components. Most notably, my distributor rotor went out with
less than 500 miles on it, and a few hundred miles later the fuel pump
decided to drop its cam arm into the oil sump (I have some nice metal
chips to prove it). I've had a number of other breakdowns as well.
Now, I'll admit that some of my problems were due to faulty replacement
parts, but they were name brands from major suppliers. Compare this to my
wife's Mazda, which in six years has never broken down once, despite
having been driven four times as many miles as my car.
The up side is that my TR-4 is easy to fix if it does break, and
compared to my Rabbit (or that Saab turbo that is now rotting in Hell, I
hope), is not that unreliable. Just don't expect a Triumph to be a Miata
- they're not. I keep a tool set in the trunk, and so should you.
______________________________
Dr. Mark Clark
Oregon Institute of Technology
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