I bought a Toyota for the reliability and to never worry about issues, whether big or small. I have an 89 FJ62, I had an FJCruiser for 7 years, and now have a 2015 4Runner for 2 years.
Im very impressed with the Land Cruiser as most components are still original and have not failed.
The FJCruiser was very reliable but had seized caliper pistons and a bad front wheel bearing. Those 2 issues along way exceeded the price of the extended warranty. Those repairs would have been over $2k. Plus I had other things like the driveshaft replacement.
Up until this recently, the 4Runner was perfect, but the last few weeks I have seen the driver side power door lock malfunction. Eventually it stopped working. Looking at the forums, it seems this is very common. That is pretty damned frustrating as I bought the Toyotas to avoid these crappy vendor part issues. Why this has been going on for so long is beyond me.
But the door lock actuator is around 250 on
Amazon, who knows how much the dealer would charge. That plus labor is pricey.
Also, my Entire system has been acting badly for a while so who knows what that involves. Some have had to replace the whole unit.
Anyway, my point is that it is not that easy of a decision whether to buy the extended warranty. I have 100% faith in the engine and whole powertrain, but there are other things like calipers, electronics, etc that can cost a boatload to fix.
Im sure there are plenty of stories on either side of the argument so its a toss up.
For me, the warranty is just a little insurance. On the FJCruiser I came out way ahead on the expense of the warranty.
We'll see if that is the case on the 4Runner.