I took a risk on my last car with a Dodge Avenger 3.5L that I really liked. It was great for 6 years, had a rough 7th year, but got it back on the road. Then in year 9, I had massive issues.
I also had only Honda and Acura until I decided it was time to save money and get better mileage. I also wanted a car with a stick. So I bought 2016 Accord EX 6MT. It had a great manual transmission, but it also had engine issues. It would hiccup during acceleration and Honda would not fix it (probably bad ECU engine mapping). I went to dealers and called the corporate - nothing. I also had issues with upgrading piece of s**t audio system in 2016 Accord, since it was built into the dash and it was integrated with car electronics. One day I gave up and decided to buy another car, so I looked for a reliable car with good cargo space, and the most important thing: good audio system or easy to upgrade audio system. I did not know Scion iM even existed until I ran into it while searching for manual transmission cars on Autotrader. I went to test drive 2016 Scion tC - it was terrible - loud, cheap inside, uncomfortable. Then I drove the iM and really liked it. So here I have my first Toyota. What surprised me is that iM has better interior ergonomics that 2016 Honda Accord. I also noticed how many things are well designed in Toyotas, while Honda is aiming for many features at the expense of quality. Honda is definitely more fun to drive though, but I will stick to my iM for now.
