[benjiro]

Those are just the official recalls, not the stuff they know is wrong with the car, but never got a recall. Trust me, it was more issues then that.

In general, Toyota is known for their good engines. And the engine itself was indeed good, it did not have issues with oil burning after so many years. So the tolerances are very good.

It was the rest that showed a lot less quality control. The airbags alone was so problematic that they even had airbags going off by themselves (reason for 2 recalls).

Ironically, got a Opel for almost the same timeframe (both cars overlapped), and thing has been more reliable then Toyota. Brand reputation is just that, something from the past.

You never know if a good brand is going to release a less good car, or a bad brand, releases a good car. These days cars are just kitbashing as most brands are a mix of different brands, where parts are mixed between them. Your brand can be Citroen but the base can be Peugeot, the engine can be Renault, the electronics can be Citroën ... you get the point.