Welcome to 4x4Wire.

Your question is often asked and has a lot of opinions.

First, you need to ask yourself what your intended purpose of a wheeling rig is.

Is it also a daily driver? Do you drive it to the trail head?

Do you have tools and skills to fabricate and/or maintain/modify a vehicle yourself?

Personally, if you are new to wheeling and your vehicle is also a daily driver, I would stick with Jeep of Toyota. They have excellent aftermarket support and many options.

Samurais are good vehicle. However, they are an older model making parts more difficult to obtain.