Toyota trucks are better than the American brands that’s for sure.
BY FAR!! The F-150 I owned until a few months ago spent more time in the shop than it did on the road.
I also have to wonder how many of these mid-size trucks with Turbo 4-Cylinders are going to be on the road. The Ford Ranger is a beautiful looking truck, HATED the Turbo howl. Same for the Chevy Colorado (though I'll never buy another GM ever again, drove it for the heck of it. It also had a horrible turbo howl.) Dodge doesn't have anything in this class, and the RAM HEMI was another $20k+ outside my price point.
The Honda Ridgeline is ugly AF and with a transverse-mounted engine and all the complexity of making it a 4WD there's no way it'll last very long towing anything.
Toyota's legendary reliability and the fact that the Tacoma's a very nice looking truck and an interior that's flat out luxurious IMO made it a winner. And I liked the way it drove, handled bumps, potholes, obstacles, etc..
One last thing: I was NOT going to pay for a UAW built truck that would've come pretty stripped down and funded a Union I despise, vs. a very well appointed truck with far better reliability for slightly less than the stripped down American truck. Nuh uh.