I was born in 1979. My parents brought me home from the hospital in a 1980 Chevy Malibu.
Having grown up in the '80s and always been interested in cars, and paying attention to the differences between brands, my opinions were, of course, shaped by my experiences.
My folks weren't "car people". To them, a car/vehicle was simply a way to get from "Point A" to "Point B".
As I said, when I was born, they had a 1980 (or thereabouts) Malibu, and a Honda CVCC of around the same vintage.
I can still remember, when I was about 4 years old, hearing an engine noise start to come from that Malibu (a knock, possibly?), and, even then, knowing that something wasn't right.
We also had issues with the 2-speed Hondamatic in that CVCC. Personally, I never would have gone with the automatic in that car. Probably would have been superbly reliable with a standard gearbox.
Anyway, as most of you know, the late 70s and the entire decade of the 80s was a horrible time for American autodom. We had that Malibu, the CVCC, then an '85 Plymouth Voyager, then another Voyager (this time, an '87 model), then my dad bought an '87 Tempo as a 2nd car (that was the worst car we ever had). Then we had a 1990 Dodge Caravan (I learned to drive in this, I think).
Meanwhile, my dad's parents, who were actually "car people" (my dad's father was a Mopar mechanic and service manager), had made the switch to Toyota, Honda and Nissan. And, to a kid, the comparison of those Chrysler, Chevy and Ford products I was familiar with, the difference was night and day. Even as a kid, I could see and feel the difference in quality and refinement. The doors on the grandparents' 1990 Accord felt and sounded like a vault when they closed. The interior of that car, and a 1990 SE-V6 Nissan Hardbody pickup they owned, were oozing and dripping with refinement, as compared to the cheap, shoddy American cars of the time. As a matter of fact, I think Nissan has gone backwards in their quality since the glory days of the early 90s.
So, I became a fan of Japanese cars. I never had much experience with Euro stuff; nobody in our family ever had anything European.
So, when I started buying my own vehicles, I've always bought Japanese.
I've had a 1987 Maxima (V6, 5-speed), a 2004 Accord (I4, 5-speed), a 2007 Tacoma (V6, autobox), and a 2016 WRX.
Out of those, the Tacoma and the Accord have been the most trouble-free (I only kept the Accord for 3 years). The WRX has been fine so far except for a 3-month stint at the dealership for them to diagnose a noise that turned out to be an exhaust leak (the factory left a nut off an exhaust header stud, allowing the hot exhaust gas to eventually erode a hole in the gasket).
I've been most impressed with my Tacoma. I bought it new in June 2007 and it now has over 198,000 miles. I've done every oil change myself and have always used some form of Mobil 1 (regular, initially, then some of the old Truck & SUV formula, and, since around 70K, the M1-EP variant). I do OCIs around 10-12K (I've posted a few here). I just changed it last night for the first time in a year (about a 9K OCI). It uses zero oil between changes. I have not had to replace any major components. I did have a U-Joint (the far aft one) start to squeak when in reverse at around 75K, and I went ahead and replaced all 3 while I had the driveshaft out. Easy job; there are only 6 bolts holding the shaft in, and I borrowed a press from Auto Zone to press the bearings out. A solder in the overhead compass/temp display failed. I had a friend re-solder it...problem solved. The latch on the center console broke a few years ago. At the time, Toyota didn't offer a replacement part, but, yesterday I discovered that, now they do. I had to replace an idler pulley around the 100K mark because it was making noise. THAT'S IT! Air still blows cold, original alternator, starter, pumps...no major component replacements. Interior still looks new.
For me, Toyota's reputation for reliability has proven to be accurate.