I've never been a brand loyal type of guy. I've owned many different brands including ford, GM, dodge and Nissan trucks. The Dodge never failed me once with the exception of needing a new fuse box connection because the previous owner poked holes in every wire looking for a short (there wasn't a short, the fcm was unplugged). The dodge was my daily driver, had 230000km on it with no issues, before it got slammed.
Well, I am not either, I have adventured into many brands of cars in trucks over the many years I have been a driver and owned a business.
I even ventured into the land of Audi, long story short, I hate the brand so much now I will not even consider a VW. I loved the BMW I purchased to replace it and now I am the nervous owner of a RX8 where the engines are known to fail randomly. Prior to that I have owned Toyota, Honda, a couple different Dodge Trucks, a Mustang GT and the list goes on and on.
When it comes to my business, I tried Chevy, Ford and Mazda trucks, all 3 spent too much time in the shop for repairs that I felt should not be needed at that point in the trucks life. Backing up, when I first started my business and needed to expand, I could not afford much. I found a guy that fixed up old Toyota Pickups and sold them cheap.
I grabbed an old Toyota pickup for $1200 with 160K miles on it, I wad a little nervous that it would not be dependable, man I had no idea. I ran that truck for a few years until it had 250K miles on it and sold it to my BIL who drove it until it had 350K miles on it. He overheated it and ruined the engine (never checked the fluids) I bought it back from him. I had plans to make an EV out of it but the economy tanked. I sold it to a client, he tossed a junkyard motor in it and it is still going, 400K + Miles on the chassis now.
Since then I tried a Chevy, Mazda and Ford truck, all about 2 years old when I purchased them and 3 years old when I sold them back off.
I cannot afford for a vehicle to be down, I need to know it is going to serve me every day and only need maintenance. Those 3 trucks could not do that. I went back to Toyota's only and my last 2 trucks both 2006 Taco 4x4's that I purchased brand new, went 110K miles without a single problem before I sold them off (economy tanking)
I decided to go back to my roots, I purchased an old 1995 pickup last year with 180K miles on it for $2K. Did a $75 tune up on i (plugs, wires, cap , rotor) changed all the fluids and went to work. It now has 210K miles on it and never gives me a problem. As also mentioned, I have a 2007 FJ Cruiser purchased with 50K miles on it. It has close to 120K miles on it now. Not a problem other then a dead battery.
Actually I discovered last week it needs a rear axle seal, my first problem with that truck.
Granted, I personally had a Dodge Dakota pickup and drove that 100K miles with the only problem being a brake caliper seizing. I towed my RX7 all over the country with that truck to Autocross events. It was a great truck, but, I felt I was in the minority with it, I heard too many stories of people having bad experiences with them. I replaced it with my FJ.
So, while I may appear to be a brand whore now, I really like all kinds of cars and trucks, I was only conveying that,in my experience with my business, Toyota trucks rock. I am so impressed that I will only buy them for my business and personal use now.
When it comes to cars, I am ADHD, so I will continue to buy all different brands and types, my bucket list includes Jaguar, Lotus Elise and a Maserati Quatrro Port.
After owning 2 Audi's back to back, I consider myself to be a risk taker. I could start a new thread and tell stories for hours about my Audi experiences.
