In all fairness lads, I think a lot of vehicle quality all round has gone down to the bean counters. For example, once upon a time, to say that something was built like a Mercedes, was to say that it was almost engineered to last out your lifetime, and quite possibly that of your children and grandchildren!

In the last few years,certainly over here, to say that a vehicle (with the exception of a G-Wagen) is built like a Merc is to imply that you were lucky to get it home without a problem! It got so bad that Mercedes had to announce a couple of years ago, that it was addressing quality control! And they are not cheap!!
I think the problem is, that manufacturers now make MUCH more use of market analyses; so for example - in the case of our KJs, how many are actually likely to be used offroad by the likely "target demographic"? (God I hate these phrases). The answer is probably, not very many! Let's say less than 5% of the vehicles bought. That being the case, it makes financial sense to engineer only for the 95% and build to that price! Hence the alloy D30a is MORE than strong enough for the vast majority of likely users, who will never be at risk of taking it anywhere near it's limits, let alone up to its limits! The IFS has more than enough movement etc.
Even for Toyota, VERY few of their Landcruisers will be used across the Kalahari or wherever, most will be used on the school run or general trundling around. For hardcore use in rough areas, there is the Series 70 model Landcruisers, the Merc GWagen, the LR Defender, the Nissan Patrol, the Wrangler. All as solid as hell (although none may be perfect straight from the factory for what YOU want to do) but all made in
relatively small numbers. Over here, the Wrangler sells in very small numbers, but because most aren't really used offroad ("lifestyle vehicle"), they come with silly small tyres and wheels - which a lot of users swap out after purchase!
Stuff is now all engineered/designed for the minimum necessary as established by market analysis,(with a bit for a safety margin) rather than being engineered for anything.
Rant over, I will now take my soapbox (built in the old days when they REALLY knew how to make soapboxes) home
