Hi Larry,
I too have had exceptionally good luck with a toyota product, in my case a 1980 Corolla. It ran me and my son over 300K with absolutely no engine problems at all. (Not counting the starter and alternater as engine problems, had to replace both of them.) It's AC system, although pretty basic, worked very well. The car I really like the dash design on, though, is the 240/260/280Z series of Datsuns - we had three of them over the years, and I was amazed to find that the dash was COMPLETELY pluggable! The entire wiring harness unplugged, the dash unscrewed, and you could remove the whole thing in under two hours! That left all of the heater/AC completely exposed, although most of it was accessible without pulling the dash. The remarkable thing was that everything was made so it wouldn't rattle. They even used stainless steel screws on the inner fender liner attach points so they could be removed after years of road crud built up on them. If only they weren't such rollerskates we would still be driving them instead of having one parked in the garage - my '82 300D/4.3L V6 is a truly comfortable car to drive, almost as good as the Jag XJ6L. It only has one rattle, which is the wood trim around the bottom of the climate controls, and if I rap it sharply it stops for a week or two.
Probably the very worst car in terms of dash accessiblity was our '75 280C, which my son has now - it took me almost a week of cursing, walking around the car, removing the seats, the AC evaporator, the heater core, etc. to replace the heater fan, which apparently was the first item installed before building the dash and heater/AC around it.
I have a new project in the garage, by the way - I'm installing a new engine in my son's '71 Dodge Camper MaxiVan - it has a raised fiberglass top, built in bathroom, etc, but the old carbureted engine is worn out. I found a real nice '91 Dodge Van with TBI fuel injection and overdrive transmission, so am cutting the front of each about halfway up the front windshield posts, and just in front of the drivers seats, and am exchanging them. That way the '71 will have the '91 dash and all the new wiring for the TBI Fuel injection system, easier in my opinion than trying to put all that stuff in the old '71 front. Just a day or so of careful measuring, cutting, and welding, plus a small amount of body work to make it look good again.

You have a good day also, and KEEP KOOL!

Richard Wooldridge
'82 300D/4.3L V6
'77 Jag XJ6
'77 280Z
'94 Ford Taurus (New head gaskets, new VSS sensor)
'89 Astrovan
'85 GMC S15, Firebird engine
'65 Clark Cortez motorhome, Caddie 403 engine/FWD
'71 Honda CT90
'88 Kubota G5200 3 cyl. DIESEL Lawn/garden tractor, 600cc
etc...