From my experience, Panasonic floppy drives seem to be quite reliable and quality made. I've never had many problems with them in their days, just as with the average Sony, Teac, etc. models.

And if something goes wrong, you can replace your drive easily as these devices are still all around: old pcs, recycling centers... 😵

By 2000, floppy drives were cheap mass market necessities that saw little daily use, and they were built accordingly across the board. They perform just fine, my late Panasonic is quieter and a better reader than my older drives, actually, but I really wouldn't expect to be impressed by the insides. 😀

I've heard the same anecdotally. Certainly an older 720k NEC drive I have is way heavier than some of the newer drives. So it would follow that an older drive is a better choice, as long as it's not worn out. Might need some lubrication on the drive rails.

Of all the 3.5" drives I've ever had (Panasonic/Matsushita, Mitsumi/Newtronics, Sony, Mitsubishi, and perhaps some others) the only ones that have ever failed have been Mitsubishi. One was brought back to life by lubing the seek mechanism, the other also needed that but then I found the heads were misaligned, and the third I have no idea, the main spindle motor seems to run at varying speeds so I'm not sure whether it's sick or a 3mode drive.

All the other drives I've got (about 20) are all working fine.

I don't know between brands, but I have noticed that newer ones tended to have been simplified (I think to keep prices down). Older FDDs usually came with jumpers and looked like they were engineered to last while the newer ones looked (and felt) like they were made to be cheap, but still work.
I also noticed newer ones being quieter.
And while I noticed the older ones would probably outlast the newer models, most older ones will also have seen more use to go along with it.
Most FDDs I tried that had problems seemed to be of any age, my stack of FDDs is a mix of everything.

Personally I don't really have a preference between either older and newer models, provided that it works.