It's interesting. I often watch, on Youtube, a channel called "High Peak Motors" - it's an actual used car dealership and the owner is, quite obviously, a petrol head. He is a huge Land Rover fan - specifically Range Rovers and he also owns a 15 year old BMW M3 that he has restored. What's interesting is his take on reliability. The more complex the car - in short, the more expensive it is - the more unreliable it might seem to be because there is, quite simply, so much more to go wrong. He further maintains that, through his business, he has had problematic Hondas and Toyotas.
In one episode he said something that reminded me instantly of my late step father. Poor maintenance, he said, is often behind some of the reliability issues. There are people who take on expensive used cars who can't afford to maintain them and who won't put right minor issues before they become major ones.
For me it is pretty clear that Japanese makes, in general, top reliability charts. We are often then arguing about very minor differences between the makes but, in very simple terms, if you buy a Honda or a Toyota you won't go far wrong. On Toyotas, our neighbour's Yaris broke down the other day!