>Refinement certainly helps but Toyotas are reliable because any car would be reliable in the hands of Toyota owners.

This has not been my experience. Toyotas are just better built coming out of the factory. In the past I've had newish Chevy, Ford, and Nissan cars, and after about 30-50k miles each of them started having various small noises/rattles that built over time until something failed. The Toyota is just smoother overall out of the factory, and parts wear out more slowly.