resale on V8 vs V6
I have been watching this for a while avoiding the V8 vs V6 battle, but the resale issue is just plain stupid... Looking up resale values at face value, yea, the V8 is worth more (average about $400 if you trust kelly blue book) for '04 and '03 4Runners. The V8 option when new was about $1400 on both model years (this is an SR5 by the way with identical milage of 30k and identical options). If you look at it that way, then the resale is actually less because of the higher initial investment (netting a loss of $1000).
I have the V6, I'm happy with it and my 22 mpg avg (and 450 miles per tank). I drove both the V6 and the V8 and really didn't feel that much difference and the differences I did feel I attributed to a 4 spd vs a 5 spd. I also did not need a vehicle that could tow 7000 lbs.
Based on most people's input from this web site, people are not interested in the short term resale anyway, and long term resale tends to hit a plateau regardless of the engine or tranny, but takes in factors such as milage, overall condition, long term reliability, etc. In that case, I doubt you will see any appreciable difference in resale value from either engine.
If you are thinking about V6 vs V8... You can't go wrong with either engine, especially now that they have the same tranny. Go with what you think you will need or what you really want. All of the V6 people are going to push the advantages of the V6. All of the V8 people are going to push the advantages of the V8. A little bashing from either side is just part of the debate. Take your time and drive lots of the 4runners... Take a V8 one overnight and a V6 another overnight if they will let you and keep in mind how long you want to keep the vehicle and how many hours a day you will be spending in it.
edit.. After re-reading this post, I really didn't mean to sound like I was bashing those discussing the resale, I just feel that the raw numbers for short term show something different than what is being stated, and long term resale will not have an appreciable difference between engines.