We run two 40 L Engels. Got the first one in '04' and the second in '06'. The first one sat on the back of my ute until we had our first child in '07' then moved into a wagon. I have never had a problem at all. If going away with the 3kids for under 3 weeks we just take one fridge, if more than 3 weeks we take the two and run one as a fridge and one as a freezer.
Works good for us.
Remember everybody has different wants/needs and will use and pack the fridge differently. Hence the difference in responses you will get.
I use a 40L engel. Been in the back of utes through the top end, in boats on salt water and now resides in my patrol wagon. It is about 8 years old and still works flawlessly never missed a beat.
We use a 40L Waeco in combination with a really old 3 way fridge, which I guess would be around 30L. We use the Waeco as a fridge running off the second battery in the ute or the battery in the camper trailer, and the 3 way runs on gas as a freezer and holds the meat. Really happy with the set up.
I have noticed that when you look into the back of station Utes in west end NSW you invariably see beaten up Engels.
We have an engel, trailblaza, explorer, and waeco. All have done well. I like the trailblaza and explorer the best and I honestly don't believe the engel we have is as good in for or finish as 10 years ago. If I was buying a new fridge, I'd be looking at an arb, I think they are fantastic, their features are great, and it runs a good compressor. It would either be that or a bushman fridge, good power consumption.
I should also add, I have a mate who does refrigeration repairs and says he now sees as many Engels that need to be fixed, as any other brand. He said that wasn't the case some years ago, but over the years, he has had more and more issues with them.
Got one of these coming my way when I pay for it (might flog the sako to do it) these are awesome fridges, you don't need to run them all day, 2-3hrs in the morning and night and they keep your food sorted no worries at all, danfos compressors etc, they have a gel like substance in the walls that freezes like a massive ice block, hence they use very little energy to keep food cool - well worth picking up a 2nd hand one if you can find one.