Talk me out of this...

THANKS a ton for all the responses. This place is great!

I have just read each and every line of each and every one of them and I
can say that at the moment I am certainly considerably less enthused
about this deal- I would say shying away from it, but I will do some
thinking.

I should have said a bit about my mission in the original post. It's
basically time-building with XC mostly within a 100 nm radius or so.
While a four-seater would definitely be nice, most of the time it will
be me & the girlfriend (she flew with me first time today and loved it)
with no real need for two more seats. I had actually been drawn to
150s/152s because of the fuel economy, but on second thought I can just
throttle back a 172 or Cherokee to 55% if I want to, right?

Performance is not a big concern right now. Although, after the flying
I did today (3.7 on the hobbs, fighting 40 knot headwinds part of the
trip), I can at least say I don't want to go any *slower* than a 152
does. :-)

I have to admit that I have not up to this point considered Pipers much
at all. I just certainly start looking that way as well, especially if
they do give more bang for the buck.

I guess the price is not really as good as I'd thought. I was figuring
it as $17,200 with the hangaring which did seem at least competitive.
And the rest of the plane is indeed in good shape. But- to those who
pointed to the fact that it's been a trainer- I hear ya. That does
bother me. I have seen what students do to airplanes and 25 years is a
long time!

In short, I definitely won't be doing anything soon and my feeling is
that I will likely pass this one by, or possibly make them an offer
considerably below asking.

~Paul

If fuel economy is your goal, then let me do some math for you.

Let's presume you want to put, oh, say 500 hours on this rascal before you trade
up. Let's also presume you go at 6 gallons/hour. This means that in 500 hours
you will burn about 3000 gallons of fuel.

In a 150, you can burn autogas at $1.50 a gallon for a total cost of $4500.

In a 152 you have to burn 100(LL) at $2.50 a gallon for a total cost of $7500.

Factor the extra $3 grand into your equation.

Jim


Paul Folbrecht
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

I had actually been drawn to
-150s/152s because of the fuel economy

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Jim Weir wrote:

In a 152 you have to burn 100(LL) at $2.50 a gallon for a total cost of $7500.

Or you can get an auto gas STC from either Petersen or the EAA. The EAA page notes
that modifications to the engine are required; even so, it's going to be cheaper
than running avgas.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.

"Jim Weir" wrote in message ...

In a 152 you have to burn 100(LL) at $2.50 a gallon for a total cost of $7500.

I believe both the EAA and Petersen have the STC for the 152/O-235. I believe
Petersen requires 91 Octane in this application.

But I can't seem to get autogas at most airports.

Jim Weir wrote:

If fuel economy is your goal, then let me do some math for you.

Let's presume you want to put, oh, say 500 hours on this rascal before you trade
up. Let's also presume you go at 6 gallons/hour. This means that in 500 hours
you will burn about 3000 gallons of fuel.

In a 150, you can burn autogas at $1.50 a gallon for a total cost of $4500.

In a 152 you have to burn 100(LL) at $2.50 a gallon for a total cost of $7500.

Factor the extra $3 grand into your equation.

Jim


Paul Folbrecht
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

I had actually been drawn to
-150s/152s because of the fuel economy

Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, come in here and teach this foundling about the Grapes of
Wrath.

Jim



Paul Folbrecht
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:

-But I can't seem to get autogas at most airports.



Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com