Do you ever have regrets about your purchase?

[Strummin4christ]

Those of you who own a single engine Piper, or have owned in the past, do you ever regret your purchase? I'm a new pilot - coming up on 100 hours - and I'm seriously considering purchasing a Cherokee 235. I'm a member of a local club, but I really like the idea of having my own plane that I can fly whenever and take on weekend trips. I've got some time in a 172, 182, Archer, and an Arrow, so I know that I want something with a little more under the cowling and a larger useful load. Reading about some of these horror stories of ownership, even with clean pre-purchase inspections, has put this very real fear of paying $50-70k for an airplane, only to have something catastrophic happen that is expensive enough that I either can't or don't want to fix it and I end up paying for an airplane that I can't use. I understand there are recurring costs, and flying isn't a cheap hobby, so I don't have a problem with normal operating costs...I'm just scared of the big-ticket gotchas. Somebody give me some uplifting anecdotal evidence that you made the correct decision to buy an airplane!

 

[kf6iat]

 

[N33GG]

 

[jruhnke]

 

[flyguydon]

 

[JimW]

 

[Markus Vogt]

 

[bombaybruce]

 

[gmohr]

 

[Strummin4christ]