I'm at 6'0 255lbs, and my brother is 6'1 285 (my most frequent pax). I bought an arrow (PA-28R-200) and we're able to have a great time flying (had it 18 months now and 220h on it). It's not the most spacious cabin w.r.t shoulder-width, and sure we're brushing shoulders a lot, but my experience is that you kind of forget about that once you're up in the air (assuming you enjoy flying). W&B all works fine for my plane with some ballast in baggage compartment. I'm able to do 300-450nm trips with passengers without any issue at all. But no question that we're ready to stretch our legs when we get there. My older mom/dad, my brothers, friends, etc -- they've never had an issue with comfort in the plane. Climb rate is meager in the summer with a heavy load pax/fuel, but that's probably unavoidable for many single engine piston, non-turbo'd planes.
Advice:
I would advise to really think about how often you're going to have pax. As a newly minted pilot and plane buyer I completely overestimated how often I'd be flying with passengers (I'm 35 and my friends/fam have their own work/family lives). If you think you'll have pax half the time, you might want to place a lot of emphasis on cabin comfort and useful load. But if you're like me, and spend the wide majority of the time flying solo (~80% solo, 15% w/1pax, 5% w/2pax), then I'd just get the aircraft that is the least expensive to own and operate that will still allow you to carry a passenger. That will encourage you to fly a lot and get the most out of it, which is really what matters, especially as someone with a new PPL. Because I can tell you one thing for certain: you're not going to feel good about paying for 15gph in a cherokee 6 300, or a V-Tail bonanza if you're flying alone and have all that extra capacity that's not being used (esp with gas a 6-7$ a gallon!), when you know you could be getting away with a lot less. Also, when you make your insurance payment for those other planes you're going to want to hurl.
Plane pick: I'd probably roll with a 182 for my first plane (and I very nearly did when I bought a plane). It'll be able to haul you and your son without issue, is pretty cheap to operate, easy to fly, has fixed gear and insurance will be cheap. Plus your maintenance will be cheaper than some of the other options. It'll give you a basis to see what you do/don't like, and you can always sell it later an upgrade to something bigger/faster when you have more hours. From an investment POV, I'd think a 182 is about the safest.
Avoidance: I would avoid any complex 6 seater since there was an enormous jump in insurance for those when I looked (for a new pilot). Those 2 extra seats do some real damage. I briefly looked at Lance's in 2020 and insurance was a hard NO on those. Debonair insurance was going to be catastrophic in terms of the number of hours I'd need to fly dual before I could fly it myself.
Note on bonanzas: I have had 2 acquaintances buy older V-Tail bonanza models in the last 1 year. I absolutely love the V-Tails, but I think they've found the planes low sticker price to be for a reason. One of the guys used to fly his cherokee 140 all the time and now never flies. The other was so suspicious of the low price that he went into freakin' closing day calling me with an uneasy feeling that he was missing something (prev owner had just put 35k in avionics into plane that year and was selling it for 60k). He was even talking about "parting-out-the-plane" to recooperate the costs if it didn't work out (and this was AFTER a prebuy). Generally speaking if the price is too good to be true, it usually is. Reminds me, I should check in with him and see if he's got any remorse from buying!
Re: The socata. Never flown one but they look neat. But I would do a lot of research on maintenance costs. Even flying a piper arrow I get sticker shock on some parts and that's a common plane. I imagine it'd be worse for a Socata.
Insurance:
FWIW, my insurance as a pilot in October 2020 with 55 hours and ink still went on the PPL was ~$3600/year for complex/retractable having $85000 covg. For a 182 with same coverage AVEMCO quoted me $1800. The lance quote I got was N/A since they wouldn't insure me!
With my current hours (265 TT, with the bulk in the arrow) has gotten it down to ~$2300.
