You can't call it a "lemon" as it's had so many owners and is obviously well-used and even abused. The parts that have broken are common failure points when these things are handled roughly. Well, other than that back bumper thing. I don't know what to say about that other than agreeing with Nate that maybe the trailer caused the back to come down a little too far and the oversized wheel caught it. Kids yank outward and downward on the flimsy plastic door handles and they rest their feet on the seat back pockets which pulls the panels off, so that probably explains those issues. They're all relatively easy fixes, though. My '08 has 172,000 miles on it and it looks like it has maybe 30,000 miles of use. I'm the third owner. The original was some sort of professional that apparently didn't have kids, and judging by the nicks in the hanger hooks, I'd say they bought a full-sized 4-door SUV just to be able to hang their business suits in the back when they carry them to and from the dry cleaners. The second owner was the wife of the used car lot owner from where I bought it. So, it's all in how well it's taken care of. The rest of the issues are gonna happen no matter how well you care for it because they're design flaws. Mine has the cracked dash, broken motor mount and failing hatch lock assembly. Your motor going out so early was probably due to the AFM system failing, which could very well be from poor maintenance by the previous owners (irregular oil changes/cheap oil causing sludge buildup in sensitive AFM lifters).
As far as the '00-'06 generation, I believe they are all-around a better built vehicle. My opinion is that if reliability/longevity is more important to you than looks, then you'd be better-suited to get the older one. Just shop carefully for one that was cared for.
