If you don't mind me asking, just how much more was the straight tail compared to a slant tail? I've always loved straight tails, even the cramped 172s.
How much more expensive to maintain? I never had a slant tail, so not sure. The maintenance expenses are probably highly variable from airplane to airplane as well. It was about $6k per year to maintain our 182B including the annual and oil changes (oil done by me). In the 2 years I had it we had to overhaul the airbox, overhaul the carb, refresh the magnetos, replace a fuel bladder, replace a pilot seat, overhaul the nose gear, replace a main gear tire, replace the cowl flap control, and replace the mixture control. That's just the stuff that broke through no fault of the the pilots, because there was more if you consider that. There are probably a bunch of other issues I'm forgetting. I know people on here will say these expenses are child's play, but I'm not insanely wealthy like some.