Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
I would take a 3rd gen with 200k+ mile over a 2nd gen. with 100k+ miles anyday. My second 3.0 for my 90 was on Toyota and my third was $4400 on me. The 4runner had 185k mile when I sold it.
Once I learned how to distinguish between 2nd and 3rd gen 4runners, I was truly astonished at how many 2nd gens there were still on the road. And most - the vast majority - are DDs, not dedicated 'wheeling rigs. The vast majority of them are also V6s (recognizable because V6s have a V6 badge on the grille.)
Of course, there's no way to know how many have had the head gaskets replaced, but still, there are sure enough of them on the streets to put to rest the notion that the 2nd gen V6 is an unreliable POS.
Regarding life expectancy, here's the thing to consider: There aren't that many people who will actuall drive a vehicle over 100,000 miles, and the number that will drive one vehicle over 200,000 miles are microscopically small. In fact, of all the vehicles I've owned in 30 years, I've only put a hundred grand on one of them, that was a 1990 Montero I bought in 1992 and sold in 1999. I owned that when I was in the Army, driving back and forth between NC and CO, and then when I moved back to CO, at a time when I was doing a LOT of driving, and when gas was historically cheap. And even then, in 7 years I only put 130,000 miles or so on it (~18,500 miles/year.)
My '99 Ranger was close, and for me it wins the 'miles per year' award: I bought it brand new in July of 99 and traded it in April of '03 with a hair over 93,000 miles (~23,000 miles/year.) However, those years of 1999 to 2003 were years when I was driving an unusually large number of miles. It wasn't uncommon for me to go 2,000 or 2,500 miles a month. That was a time when I was in college, in the National Guard and doing other things that caused me to be driving a lot.
Since I finished college, retired from the Guard, and got married, my average annual mileage has dropped off sharply. In fact, right now my average annual miles driven is probably below the national average at around 11,000 miles a year.
So, extrapolate that: I bought my '99 4runner with 117k on the clock. Even if I keep it 5 years (not likely, but possible I suppose), that still only puts me at 172,000 miles. So, even if I knew with absolute certainty that the engine would explode the instant I went over 200,000 miles, I really wouldn't have any concerns about the truck.
What I'm saying is that buying a 2nd gen 4runner with, say, 125k on it, and spending the bucks for the HG fix and maybe fixing a few other minor issues can make sense if you know you're likely to get rid of the truck before the HG fails again. And most of us will, since the HG seems to be a 100k fix.