Good or bad, I believe Chrysler introduced the unit body first in NA.

Seems like all the big three NA had really good rear wheel drive cars...but lost it when they moved to front wheel drive.
As for the Japanese, they got much better in the 1990s. Plenty of problems before,,,,especially rust. I personally find VW's much too expensive to maintain...but they really had one of the best small diesel engines. If you buy a VW brand van, best to get a parts van to avoid bankrupsy.