A bad reputation seems to live forever. When people notice I'm shooting a Taurus, I've gotten a couple of stories about a revolver that wasn't well made and gave lots of trouble a very long time ago, so Taurus now makes junk. Even if the new ones are well-made, the reputation has some folks looking for trouble. When they find a problem, it's "see, I knew that would happen."
I didn't know that Ruger centerfire semiautos had a bad reputation. I have two MKIII's, a single six and a GP100. All four are well-made, accurate, reliable, etc, etc handguns. I'd expect the centerfires to be similarly well-made. The couple I've fired shot well. There was something about the feel that didn't excite me. Personal preference.
The more I read, the less sure I am on the definition of a quality pistol. My definitions are pretty simple. (1) it has to perform the firing cycle with very few problems; (2) Parts don't fail, fall off, wear significantly or break without a lot of use or abuse and (3) I can shoot it with a reasonable degree of accuracy. As far as I can tell, the PT1911 does all that. Feels good, better with the grip change. It's easy to acquire the target, see the front sights and get the pistol aimed. The trigger is good to excellent. Shoots the cheapest ammo I can find well. The only way to determine how it holds up long term is to keep on shooting it. So far, it has done darned well meeting my basic standards.