I don't know that I agree at all
The 3.5 has been a reliable engine for some time now. I'm pretty sure failure rates are within an acceptable percentage....We're talking about an eleven to thirteen year old powerplant don't forget.
Any forum like this has the "Looky-Lou" shoppers that don't know any question other than engine reliability, and then there is the folks yelling about the engine they just shredded (for whatever reason)
No one comes on and talks about the car that just starts and runs every day...for a decade. That's not nearly so much fun as being a Chicken Little, spreading a message of engine doom to all that will listen.
Just human nature, but all you'll hear is the negative.
Far far more VXs soldier on with their god given V6 intact and smooth as it ever was, than have suffered any catastrophic engine failures.Mine won't burn or leak a bit, and has been dead nutz reliable since late 2001. I wouldn't hesitate to set out for Alaska in it tomorrow.
More than a few are well past 100k , a couple are past 200k
What more could you want?