Notice that you are all talking about modifying the 22RE. Let's pretend he has no money left after buying this new vehicle. I think the 3.0 would be the better choice because it has more power and torque. If you say he has money to modify the vehicle, then you need to specify how much money is available to modify with. That changes the initial question. How much $$$ does it take to put into a 22RE for it to match the output of the 3.0? $500, $1000, $1500? He needs to clarify his question better or none of us can help him.

As a side note, my 87 turbo 4Runner was better than my 3.0 trucks. I took a little time and ported the exhaust manifold and turbo exhaust housing to open them up to flow better and that truck kicked butt after that. No cost other than the $2.50 grinding stone from the hardware store. When that truck spooled up it would outpull the 3.0 easily. But it also got 14 mpg in the process, so much for 4 cyl fuel mileage.