I just read Wannadrag's gut-wrenching thread, and I think he is amazing for putting-up with those major (and confounding) issues for as long as he did! A lesser man would have thrown-in the towel a lot sooner. However, a couple of comments I'd like to share, after reading the entire thread:
First, most vehicles seem to depreciate quickly, especially as soon as it leaves the dealer's lot... and regardless of brand! I guess this is because, once it's purchased and leaves the lot, it instantly goes from being a "new" vehicle to a "used" vehicle? Anyway, that shouldn't be surprising.
Secondly, my 2018 (3.5L) has so far performed flawlessly (knock on wood), but I have noticed that, upon cold start-up, the lifters are just slightly noisy... but it disappears within about 5 or so seconds... and this truly can be considered to be normal. I mean, a hydraulic lifter needs to be filled-up with oil, under pressure, before it can do the job it was designed to do.
However, and in my humble opinion (and, after having been a "DIY mechanic" for the last 50 years), if a dealer or mechanic tries to tell you that constant, ongoing lifter noise is "normal" for any engine, well, that seems outright stupid and dishonest to me! Ongoing lifter noise is indicative of a problem, no matter how you slice it, and regardless of the brand or the engine.
Lastly, and again regardless of the brand, no matter what car or truck forum you look at, SOMEBODY is going to have a bad experience with their car or truck, and if they share that experience with others, then SOMEBODY else will no doubt also slam the posters' make and/or model, and tell the poster that they need to "sell that lemon and buy a Chevy", or something along those lines. However, the bottom line is that, no matter what make or model we decide to own, sometimes we just get lucky and have a flawless experience, and sometimes we don't. The cars of today, however, are now far more complicated, and there is a lot more that can go wrong than the cars of the '60's... so I think remembering that is also important. All we can do is hope our experience goes well...
