I've had pretty good luck with Japanese vehicles, I'd say. I'll never forget the sound of the doors shutting on the 1990 Accord I inherited from my grandparents - just like a vault. I even got to where I knew the sound of those doors closing from across a parking lot. Didn't even have to look up to confirm it was a '90-'93 Accord. Same with the starter motor sound. Wonderful build quality and refinement in those cars. Way ahead of their time. Even the A/C control panel - there's not a car on the road today with a superior design and layout, IMHO. The cars don't look outdated even today - and you still see MANY of them on the road. Keep in mind, the newest examples of that car are now 23 years old. Personally, I do think build quality of most Japanese stuff peaked somewhere in the 1990s. In my opinion, it was in the early 1990s. My sister had a 1995 Accord with the V6. It wasn't half the car that 1990 was, in terms of solidness and refinement.
Before that, I had a 1987 Maxima. That was a very good car, too - just not as refined or solid as the Accord (that's still true of Nissan vs. Honda and Toyota, today, in general). I did have an oil change place leave the oil pan drain bolt out once on that Max. Ran it with no oil for a few miles before I knew what was up (I was 18 and that was before I learned anything about cars and engines, and didn't know to check for oil pressure, noises, etc.). Once the crankcase was refilled, the knocking went away, and I drove the car for tens of thousands of miles before finally selling it.
In 2004, I got a new 2004 Accord (4-banger, 5-speed stick). That was a great car, though the doors didn't sound as good when you shut them as that 1990. And, IMHO, the brake rotors and the clutch weren't heavy-duty enough. But that's probably still true with Hondas today.
Then, in 2007, I bought my new 2007 Tacoma that is in my sig. That's been a nearly trouble-free vehicle. In 9 years and over 185,000 mi, I can list everything that's gone wrong with that truck easily in 1 sentence, and it's all very minor: Faulty door microswitch, bearing in u-joint failed around 75K (easily replaced by me), faulty solder in overhead temp/compass display (easily re-soldered), bad bearing in idler pulley around 150K (another easy fix), broken latch on center console, and that's about it! Not even a CEL. I call that pretty good, and it's definitely a testament to Toyota quality for me.
My WRX is brand-new but it's now been at the dealer for over 2 mos for a squealing noise it's making on boost/full throttle that they can't or won't devote the resources to, to track down. After multiple conversations with the service writer and one call to the service manager, I'm now going to be forced to call Subaru. But I don't consider this latest experience to be representative of Japanese vehicles. I'm still a Japanese vehicle guy through and through.
