Reading about cars has been a stress reliever to me, which means that for years now, I've learned a LOT about autos. Consumer Reports, Edmonds, Car Talk radio show, other people, Car and Driver, news stories on recalls, just anything. As often as I DO recommend Honda or Toyota to certain people (those who don't already have any preference and basically don't want to have to think about their car other than it working), I don't recommend them for certain years.
My husband worked for an awesome mechanic who was asked, which are better, Ford or Chevy? His response was that they all come to him broken, so he had no clue, lol. We're also currently putting the engine back together that we have cleaned up from a 1985 Mercedes deisel, who's engines from that era actually do last a million miles. Their next series of engines only lasted around 600,000, ha ha "only", because they adjusted things for performance rather than reliability... but the reason people on here might not recommend mazdas, for example, is that they are made for performance, and those types of mechanical set ups don't allow an engine to last nearly as long. Plus the maintance on those cars are more spendy due to the performance parts you have to buy. Especially that rotary engine they used to have.
Cars are such a complicated topic to research, though. Just think about what you actually need, and from the cars that are available to buy, it can be worth it to pay for a $7 month of Consumer Reports and look up those cars and see what they're all about. If you do some maintenance yourself and don't overheat an engine, you might do alright with whatever car you buy. If its a truly bonehead choice, though, you WILL hear about it here.
I personally want a crashworthy car, since I was in a wreck, so I'll never recommend a lightly built hybrid, although there are lots of financial reasons not to buy those cars, already.
I'll stop there, I could write all day about this.
