I notice you didn't put Studebaker in here. Now, that was a good car, and the first car I learned to drive.
I had an 88 Ford Ranger. It had 4 cylinders, 5 speed, nice stereo, cruise control, good fuel mileage, but everything leaked from the transmission to the AC. I found out the AC didn't work on my way back from South Carolina one spring day. I traded it after 8 months for a brand new 91 Dodge Ram 250 with a Cummins Turbo Diesel and 5 speed. Everything I own is a stick, plus the 2005 Dodge 2500 and my 09 Toyota Tacoma.
The Toyota is the best vehicle I have ever owned, and I have owned 3. The only automatic I ever owned was a 1985 Toyota 4 X 4. I don't recomend Toyota's electronically controlled automatics. That was the only drawback about that truck, but I put 230,000 miles on it and 274,000 on my 94 Toyota pickup. Try that with a Ford Ranger. It won't happen. Why do you think Rangers are so cheap, used? It's trash off the finish line.
The only Chevy I owned was the Silverado, I got from my new wife when I took over her payments and put my name on the registration. The 350 V-8 was tough on the wallet because I had to borrow it for 3 weeks to drive to work.
I now drive my 09 Tacoma to work. I bought in October 08 and already have 31,000 miles on it. I'm getting 30 miles to the gallon, and the 2.7 liter engine is bigger than the one I had on the 94 Pickup, plus the truck is larger, but Toyota merely dialed back the rear end ratio from 3.75 to 3.31 for cruising and gas mileage. Of course, using a serpentine belt for the engine and all the accessories, makes everything run much smoother and more economical now.