Honestly, since the 2 XL's display stuff seems to be resolved in the newer batches, I think I'm confident in recommending it.
I personally called it the spiritual successor to the Nexus 6, mainly because the front fascia reminds me so much of it and it was actually my favorite Nexus device.
I agree with you. I applied all the updates first thing and I've not seen a single problem that plagued the Pixel XL 2 in the news reports. This is truly a fine phone.