It all depends on the car and the owner. And there are outliers to everything here.

A Japanese car is a responsible decision usually made by responsible people. Hence they get regular maintenance and don’t break as often. Most aren’t built for thrills, they’re built for purpose and that purpose is reliability so second-hand owners can usually keep them going even when neglected.

A German car is a decision made for driving experience and luxury/tech. The original owners likely don’t keep them past the warranty and everything is dealer-serviced up until that point. The stigma comes from second-hand owners buying the depreciation and skipping maintenance because that $20k S-class still has $100k maintenance. And they like to run right. If they don’t, they will absolutely let you know and become another statistic.

An Italian car is a pure passion purchase. They’re flashy and come with ridiculous features that nobody would even consider normal or practical, but that’s the charm. The first owner paid a fortune and wants everyone to know it. The second owner paid a fortune and wants everyone to know it. You don’t see them driven often as they’re completely impractical, expensive to run, break a lot, and scary to be around “normal” cars that can completely ruin it with a door ding.

A Korean car is a budget purchase. They come with nicer materials and tech than their Japanese counterparts, but with that comes a lack of refinement. You’ll have silly issues pop up but they’re still a regular car and they stand by their warranty. The mismatch here is when you sell the cheapest cars you get the cheapest buyers. And that means skipping maintenance from day 1. This is how the problems start and why they have the negative stigma on them.

An American car is a utility/pride purchase. You want that big ass truck/SUV that can do everything? You want the biggest engine we can fit into the smallest car? You want parts available down the street? They’ve got you covered. The issue is they’ve lobbied against all competition, and their build quality has gone into the toilet over the years because they can. Lots of features come late or never and they’re getting just as complex as a lot of other brands. But again, parts are available and for the longest time American cars were comically easy to keep running.

There’s outliers here for everything. Nissan with the CVTs for a while, the Toyotas with sand in the engine, the indestructible Mercedes OM diesels, etc. But 9 times out of 10 it isn’t catastrophic failure from nothing, the owner kept turning up the radio or ignoring check engine lights until it went from “fix me” to “tow me.”