Submitted by cajun98 on February 12, 2011.
It's a big step, that's for sure. I had a student of mine buy a Cherokee Six 300 and we got him his private license in it. His insurance required him to get, I believe, at least 20 hrs of dual instruction before he was covered to solo. Of course, this was back in about 1987. From what I remember, he had a few hours in a C172 before getting the Cherokee, but he progressed at about the same pace as my other students who were flying C152/172's. I'd check carefully with your insurance carrier before making a decision. That and have the airplane thoroughly checked out by a good A&P.
You can buy the plane but I would first learn in something a bit less complex. Getting insured for something like a Cherokee Six as a student pilot would be prohibitively expensive if not impossible. I bought a wrecked T-210 and rebuilt it. I had just recently got my high performance sign-off but the insurance just about killed me in cost. And that was in 1980. I am not saying you couldn't learn to fly in it but it might prove to be impossible to solo in it.