I have owned Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan and Toyota. They have there good and bad points, for the money you can't go wrong with a SBC, but ANYONE can build one of those.
I have had the truck in my sig for 7 years now and would not hesitate to drive around the world. Sure there are problems with each, but I have not had many. It is a blast to do 0-60 in 6 secs and leave cars in the dust, err I mean a puff of smoke
My bro owns a Dodge with a Cummins, nice motor, but they put a million mile motor in 50K mile truck. It has power and I can't knock it for that - hell if money was no problem I would own one of each.
1982 300SD: 304,xxx Super M-pump with 7.5mm elements, 265 Nozzles, GT35 water cooled turbo, M90 Supercharger, A/W Intercooler, Serpentine drive belt, 3" SS exhaust with Magnaflow muffler, 240 breather, AEM dry Filter, Manual Boost Control, EGT / Boost / EMP gauges....Moved on to other projects
1995 F-350 7.3L PSD: 230,xxx 6.0 IC, DIY Stage 1 Injectors, 17* hpop, Tony Wildman Chip, John Wood Trans, 6.4L TC, 3" down pipe, 4" straight exhaust, 310 HP on wheel dyno - 8500# dually: 0-60 in 6.98
Suzuki Samurai: VW 1.9L TD, Trackick doubler transfer case (made by me) 5.8:1 transfer case gears, YJ springs front and rear with rear missing links, wheel base extended 14", diffs welded, some day a VNT.