What car should I buy
 

Hello all, new here and have been reading the forum for the last few hours. Can anyone point me in the right direction on which model year and engine I should look for? Seems to me like I should stay away from the 4cyl all together? Which years have the v6? Working with 7k max budget here so more then likely a 5th gen or 6th gen car if possible. Thanks in advance.

Gen 5 and 6 all offered a V6.

Gen 5 is 2002 to 2006. If you go this route avoid the 2AZFE 4 cylinder. The V-6 was good. This V6 eventually was modified for VVTi.

Gen 6 is 2007 to 2011. Year 2007 to 2009 was supposed to be the worst years. Thought that Camry switched to a 2ARFE 4-cylinder in 2009 that is a better engine.

In my opinion the best Camry years were 1994 to 2001. However these are getting long in the tooth now.

The 2007-9 was supposed to be the worst year.

Toyota had both engine and transmission problems in some years. Some trans models had torque converter issues.

Many state that 2012 to 2014 was good which extends to 2017 as same the design but minor changes. This is the 7th generation.

As you know Camry goes in generations. Here a new generation brings a major redesign. Then during a generation Camry has a facelift but the basic design is the same.

Suggest doing a search at Toyotanation.com. The site has enough Camry members that every Camry year is/was owned by someone who may have commented. If you want to know what can go wrong with a Camry, read up the year of car you are interested at the site.

You can also search the net for Camry Technical Service Bulletins (TSB). These as service bulletins issues for problems that affected enough vehicles to warrant a bulletin. These bulletins can cover a range of Toyota products as Toyota uses the same engine and trans in many of their models.

Reddit has a site for Camry.

Given the year of cars you looking at, all problems should be known by now. I might look for a V-6, maybe 2002-2006. Toyota seemed to have lost its way after 2006 for time.