Toyota 2GR (GR family, 2.5–3.5)

Toyota's 3.5-litre V6 — the engine of the larger Camry, Highlander, Sienna, RAV4 and most of the Lexus range for fifteen years, and one of the most-praised engines of its era.

Its one genuinely notorious fault is specific and worth naming: on a defined range of early production, an oil line running to the VVT-i system was part rubber, and that hose could rupture — dumping oil rapidly and destroying the engine if the driver kept going. A recall replaced it with an all-metal line. On any early 2GR the question is whether that work has been done, and it is a VIN check rather than an inspection.

Beyond that it is a durable engine whose recurring items are the water pump, the timing-chain cover gasket on high-mileage examples, and — because it sits transversely in most applications — very poor access to the rear bank. Rear-bank spark plugs or coils are a substantially larger job than front-bank, which is worth telling an owner before the estimate rather than after.

This page answers for the GR V6 family, so the cars listed below run 2.5 to 3.5 litres — the 3GR-FE and 3GR-FSE at 3.0 and the 4GR-FSE at 2.5, alongside the 2GR itself and the 8GR-FXS hybrid. The rubber VVT-i oil line is a 2GR fact and a VIN question; it is not a reason to inspect a 4GR.