Thinking 16 years is a decent run for any brand in Florida, have you had regular/occasional PM’s over the years? Chances what failed on the Goodman had nothing to do with them, it probably was a vendor part that Goodman has a contract to supply including the compressor, the manufacturer gets the ding thou. Going to pay more for those name brands IMO just for the name and the heavy advertisement ( which ultimately is passed onto the customer ) overhead cost vary from bidding Contractors. Inflation affects HVAC prices like every thing else. They are not immune to price increases.
Chances they will bid like for like size tonnage to avoid rocking the boat, instead of doing a accurate load calculation to see what you really need. Have you made any improvements over the years to tighten up your residence?
Reliability fall more under having proper ductwork, system sized correctly, a quality install following the install guides as closely as possible and set up more so than brand. Manufacturers make/manufacturer a very small percentage of their equipment nowadays, the compressor, fan motors, capacitors, relays, etc.etc. are by others. Heck a big part of your system ( the ductwork and registers ) has nothing to do with manufacturers.
If your into rebates ( which I believe Florida has a small monetary amount ) you would need a AHRI matched system as a AHRI number is submitted for money in your pocket rebates. I believe they start at 16 SEER as the minimum threshold.
There is also the Federal Tax Credit.
https://www.energystar.gov/about/fed…ty_tax_credits
“ I’m also hearing about class-action suites against many manufacturers about aluminum coils cracking”
All manufacturers had leaking coils at times, cracking? Possible the evaporator plastic pan cracks if installed on top of a furnace maybe?
Have them do one of these things to keep them somewhat honest, a startup/commissioning report.
https://www.energystar.gov/ia/partne….pdf?5ace-789f
Register your brand model of choice, as manufacturers warranty decreases if system never gets registered.