The 207 is a beast, and I mean that in a positive way.
I bought one from the Mexican Government, which was a seized drug plane. It had been stripped out, no engine, prop, instruments or radios. I got it all put together and put in into the rental fleet.

It was amazing how much some folks got in it, between the huge cabin and the nose baggage area. One guy even put 2) IO470s in the back from his baron, and flew them to the engine shop.

It was an easy, forgiving airplane to fly, just like an oversized 182.

Unfortunately, it didn't rent enough to pay it's way, so I sold it.

I took this picture at Sun n Fun this year of the new 206. The club seating looks like a much better option than the old configuration.

Jimmy Elza

Now, that is impressive.

930 lbs of engines plus pilot and fuel. Wow just wow...

One more thing about the 207.

If the nose wheel is touching the ground, it is in CG.

Mahindra Airvan.

Loud, slow, thirsty . Pick two, no pick three.

That is also true of the 206, or so I've heard. They went on to say that you need a line guy to hold the tail off the ground until the prop is turning...

Pavement to pavement the Cherokee is great. Out in the bush......not so great.

Cessna 206 and 207 with their simple, strong steel gear is best for rough terrain.

If you can find a Robertson STOL C6 - 300 I'll put it in the bush just about anywhere. One thing, I've never touched a 207, but a C6 is a heavy nose bird. You want to land off airport, you put on off airport tires. Not quite tundras, but you won't be using wheel pants. You can get a C6 with that STOL package to do some crazy things, and you can actually strip them out nicely and get the UL close 1600lbs.

Most have 30+ years of garbage in them, heck completely stripping the panel alone can save you a few pounds in dead end wiring.

One note about that STOL - you can start to feel like you can do anything. No, you can't. She's still nose heavy, and even with big tires it's not a taildragger.

I missed buying a C6 - 300 with that STOL a while back. They're great family SUV's, but they aren't fast. Figure 130 no wind, but it can haul pretty much everything you pack into it without a cg issue. One guy in Canada used to fly partially butchered moose in the dang thing. Moose aren't light...

I hope they designed it the same way as in the A36 where you have the flexibility of turning the middle seats around. The useful load on the current T206H is such that they are not really 6 seaters. If you fly with 4+luggage, that club-seating is less than optimal. You either have 2 people travelling backwards staring at a pile of luggage, or you have them cramped in the last row staring at a pile of luggage.

I recently sold my 1973 NA 206--bought it as a factory demo in 1974. I've owned 3 206s--4 Cherokee 6s (I have one for sale now), and operated a T-207 for 1500 hours. Some items on all of them......

With a 206--buy a 73 or newer--has the cambered wing, larger baggage area, and wider horizontal stabilizer. My airplane was well-equipped--and had a useful of 1600 pounds. Not true in later models.

207--it is so long, it may not fit your T-Hangar--check. Didn't have the cambered wing. Fuel is 74 gallons vs. 84 in a 206--can be an issue with a turbo. We regularly went from Minnesota to Toronto--climbed to FL 250 going over the lakes. Though it grosses 200# more than the 206, the extra structure eats up much of that. It is quieter with the nose baggage than the 206 and the turbo--but also 5-7 knots slower.

Cherokee 6--my 71 has a useful of 1450#--almost 150# less than the 206--and is not as well equipped. Buy one with the modern panel and circuit breakers instead of fuses. There is more interior cubic inches than the 206--but the floor is not flat. Cherokee can have an optional 7th seat (three across the middle if they are small)--but watch out for the zero fuel weight limitation--cabin weight is limited to about 1200# people and baggage. The better use for the extra seat is if you have small people and a lot of baggage to haul--put 3 across the middle and take out the rear seats. I really hate having the fuel divided up into 4 tanks--you may have 20 gallons of fuel left in the airplane--but only 5 in each tank. I'm surprised that someone didn't come out with a fuel transfer STC so you know exactly how much fuel remains. More than once, I've drained the fuel from 3 tanks and filled one tank before taking off from a short strip.

On pavement, the 6 is about the same performance as the Cessna's--but if the strip is soft or rough, the Cessnas win hands down with their tougher gear and better flaps--the reason they are so revered in the bush.

The 6 will match the Cessnas in low-altitude climb, but the low-aspect wing runs out of steam above 7000 feet and slows both climb and cruise--if you need high altitude performance, the Cessna are much better (consider the Turbo Lance--though it was turbo charged, it could barely make 20,000 feet under GOOD conditions).

Unlike air taxi operators--few private pilots have to operate to the extremes. If that is the case for you--buy the Cherokee 6--the marketplace has set the value lower than the Cessnas--it will do almost anything you need to do. If you really NEED the performance, buy the Cessna.

My family owned a '79 Cherokee 6 300 and I put about 1000 hours on it. It was a great airplane. The '79 was the first year with better wheel fairings and it was 5+ knots faster than the previous model. Our airplane was a legitimate 150kt airplane.

The downside is the fairings aren't terribly durable. I think grass strips would be fine, but they would need to be in decent condition.

It has been so long ago, I don't remember there being 4 tanks. I don't think there was, but I could have that wrong.

Having a small luggage compartment between the engine and cockpit was nice. People liked the club seating in the back, although you had to mix/mingle your legs as you were sitting fairly close together. I don't have any 206/207 experience, but I would buy another Cherokee 6 in a heartbeat. I also like the 540 Lycoming.

After '77 the cherokee six has only two tanks instead of 4

I thought so. Thank you for confirming that.

If you've got the $$$ and want the ultimate:

http://soloy.com/products/fixed-wing/c206/

Ive flown them and they are spectacular performers...and quite cool on the ramp.

or....

http://soloy.com/products/fixed-wing/c207/