I'm with DJ. Look for a partnership in a more expensive plane. Don't be one of those pilots that buys a plane to buy a plane and then can't afford to fly it.
True enough in a Cessna but in a Cherokee it is likely enough. In KS or TX I can own a Cherokee and fly it 6-8-10 hrs a month on $300 average monthly expenses.
I never paid more than $670 for an annual inspection and often paid much less. Including inspections and all other annual maintenance I paid about $10 per hour so if I was flying 100 hrs a year i might have $1000 total inspection and maintenance that year. however, when I had A&P friends who wanted to fly my ship I paid little or no maintenance other than cost of a hose, battery or tire. Even when paying for labor if I were flying 200 hrs that year the maintenance and inspection tended to be $2000 and that was the highest year maintenance I had. So it is almost exactly $10 per flight hour for inspection and maintenance on a lycoming 0320 in a Cherokee.
In that $10 per hour cost I rebuilt the 4 jugs over the years and Overhauled all accessories: Mags, bought a new carburetor, OH starter, new battery 2 times in 10 years, tach cable, rebuilt DG, new vacuum pump, radio work once, put new seat covers in, changed out a whealen light strob. So I put a complete top OH and rebuilt or purchased new, all accessories within that $10 per flight hour. The only work I ever did myself was one Oil change and I made a mess so I did not do it again.
On an early model Cessna, Not so in the Conti 300 or Lyc in Cessna. The Lycoming in the Cherokee is bullit proof but in the Cessna it is a hard case problem because of Cessnas implementation. In 10 years of reading 3 different pilots forums I read nothing but problems with early model cessnas, jugs, Over hauls and that is seldom the case with Cherokees.
There is always an A&P if not IA who will work for flight time in your plane and do trade outs. I have 3 CFI's who give me BFR's and and check outs on trade out. It costs you nothing to let someone fly your plane an hour.
I do not do my own maintenance but I do know how to spot a good mechanic, Savvy aviator seminars helps you to know when they are going crazy on you so you can pull them back down to earth. It helps to own a Cherokee to begin with.
The other things I like about the Cherokee is we have high winds in KS. Low wing aircraft are easier to take off and land in high crosswind situations as you have more control just before you sit it on the runway. They are more stable in that situation. Beside they look cooler.
True story: I was the home computer repair guy for Jack Pelton and one time Rosy his wife asked me why I bought a Cherokee living in Cessna country and I told her my son and I thought they looked cooler, it was the first deal I found that I could live with. She said it a little snarky so I threw in "when my grandmother starts flying with me I would consider the Cessna." Of course that was the last time i was at Jack Peltons house at crestview.
I know plenty of people who work for Cessna and they are not bad aircraft. You can be happy with either Piper or Cessna or Grumman possibly even beach but the pre mid 60's early Cessnas are not as good of airplanes as Cherokees IMO.
