The Reliant was billed as a top-shelf starter ship, same as the Avenger. It is an upgrade to the Avenger so far as crew number. It's the only starter ship that can take a crew of two. It is however fragile, difficult to fly well since it rotates very slowly on the pitch and yaw and has terrible Y and Z axis acceleration. With one good axis to rotate and straif on it is possible to fly it well, but it's hard to see why you would choose it over the Avenger unless you wanted the second seat or some scan functions the Avenger doesn't offer. It requires a better pilot than any of the other starter ships (maybe any other ship!), so there is some noteriety that goes with being a great Reliant pilot.
Originally it was slated for more cargo than the Avenger and now it has half as much, and originally it had a bed. The changes did not go well for it. They have marked it as now taking S3 weapons whereas originally it mostly held S1s, but they removed all sign of the 10 S1 missiles from the Tana, so who knows what they plan. I think we get new Reliants on the next patch so we'll see. IMHO, they nerfed it very badly when they took the bed out and designed around short range only. Lets hope they fix it. With only 4 units cargo, that bird needs to offer much, much more than it does right now.
If a team of two can work together preplanned to use the higher straif and rotation available for roll and Y axis, and the second seat has a gunner who knows what the pilot will do, it is almost a poor man's Vanguard or Defender, neither of which carry cargo.