My wife and I are seriously considering buying a used 2003 Toyota 4Runner V6 (SR5) . We like the car and the price is right, however when I checked Consumer Reports, I was shocked to see it was the ONLY Toyota they had on their "Used Cars to Avoid" list.
After reading a bit more, CR explained that a vehicle with high/good ratings throughout may not be recommended due to two things:

1.) Compared to other 2003 specific models it may be less reliable
2.) Models with this rating tend to suffer from an issue related to a larger component, such as the engine or tranny. (Might even be a recall issue)

Seeing as there were no issues for the V8's that year, I'm assuming it must be related to an engine or drivetrain. I noticed a previous poster mention a belt-tensioner issuse... is that the main problem?

Any thoughts? We may just end up trying to negotiate an extended warranty as well, when the Toyota warranty runs out in 20K miles or so.