This is cool, is a combination between both techniques. I’m definitely going to use your technique for the single.html template.
Now, I also like to avoid the use of /brand/_index.md … although I didn’t use it in my post (Handling taxonomies like a boss - update), I’m using it on a real project ( 
). I can’t see how doing this would break something. I’ve done a lot of testing and haven’t found any problems yet. But since it’s considered a bug and needs some reviewing from the devs, I documented it in the most “official” way possible, hoping that maybe at some point, it can be added to the documentation, to help other users.
So, thanks for you ideas! My project is better now, thanks to your help.