Back when Joan and Bart Smith were raising their two children, Joan was a self-described “community mother” who drove not only her own kids to ballgames and various outings and activities, but other youngsters in the neighborhood as well. They were, you might say, members of the “station wagon generation.” But by the early 1980s, after the bills for maintenance and repairs for their people hauler got out of control, Joan took a look at a friend’s Toyota Cressida—formerly Toyota’s flagship sedan that was last made in 1993—and was immediately smitten.

“I just wanted a car for me and two children, not another big station wagon,” says Joan, a 76-year-old former schoolteacher and grandmother of five who lives in Aiken, South Carolina. “I rode in [the Cressida] often, and it never had any problems.” So she and Bart, her husband of 54 years, found a low-mileage Cressida for sale and bought it without hesitation. Thus began their relationship with Toyota that continues to this day.

“It was beautiful,” Joan says of the Cressida. “A 1981 model, I believe, and we paid cash for it.” A few years later, they replaced it with another Cressida—“with all the bells and whistles.” Later they bought a Toyota Corolla wagon for their daughter since they’d been so pleased with how their Cressidas had performed.

By the time 1989 rolled around, they bought their fourth Toyota—another Cressida—which they’d eventually give to a grandson who was in college at the time. “More than anything else, I always felt safe in our Toyotas,” Joan explains. “They fit you. I could always drive the cars—they never drove me,” she says, which was often how she, at 5-foot-2, felt when behind the wheel of a vehicle such as a full-size station wagon.

These days, Joan’s automotive pride and joy is a 2010 Avalon Limited, outfitted with all the options. “I always get all the stuff I want,” she says with more than a little enthusiasm. Bought new and faithfully garage-kept and washed-and-waxed, the Smiths also keep it meticulously maintained by their local dealer, Bob Richards Toyota located in Beech Island, South Carolina.

“I’d never buy anything but a Toyota,” Joan says. “Reliability and peace of mind. . . . we’ve just never had any trouble. And I plan on keeping the Avalon for a long time. Why not?”