Does anyone have recent cost of ownership numbers for a Cherokee Six? It looks like a comfortable, affordable family hauler.

It is.

Insurance will be cheap
Annuals will be cheap (no gear swing - can be done in your hangar)
Parts are cheap
Lycoming 540's are solid engines

It is slow and thirsty. Figure 135 kts and 16 gph. Costs are so variable with luck and situation that it's hard to say. Probably about the same as a 172 with twice the fuel burn.

What's your typical mission?

Charles nailed it.

You looking at the 260 or 300?

300 you say? Good choice!

Great choice. About 10-12 more kts with the 300. Much stronger climb performance.

I really like the Cherokee 6's.

Probably the Hershey Bar wing? I'm old... but I love those. We just bought an Archer I for our group and I like the Hershey Bar.

Not many still have the fixed pitch. Most (if I recall) were with the constant speed (an option).

Roomiest of the 6 place aircraft of the day. Sturdy. Stable. Great birds.

Not a great plane for hauling 6 guys and their shotguns ... but perfect for a family without too many teens.

Highly, highly, highly recommend this bird as an economical family cruiser. Charles summed it up very nicely. For a roomy six seater with plenty of room and UL for bags and people, it doesn't get much better in this category. The downsides are lack of Known Ice capability (no option to add it), somewhat slow and no A/C. I worked around the lack of A/C buy using a portable A/C unit (the type that use ice) and it worked reasonably well.

Insurance will mostly be a function of hull value, which is quite low. I would guess you'd be $2K or less on insurance in most cases. Fuel burn is in the 16-17 gph range as Charles pointed out and I echo his performance. A very clean example may get to 140 kts in cruise. Annuals (assuming a clean airframe) should be relatively low.

A friend of mine just recently bought a Six-300 but probably looked at 5-10 examples before pulling the trigger. Many had corrosion issues, so make sure you do a thorough prebuy with someone who knows what to look for.

Between owning airplanes I had a dry lease on a Cherokee 260. For having to fly with the gear hanging out all the time, there is nothing better for hauling 5-6 people and a ton of stuff. Slow, yes. Handles like a truck, yes. But it is like a flying Suburban.

Some of them are priced at or near A36 territory though.

Charles, we'll use it for <500nm trips with one 1400nm trip each year. Two adults, two kids, maybe a dog, and stuff for a two week trip.

I'm not really interested in anything but the 6/300. I do see a RayJay STC for the 6/260 though.

As far as purchase price goes, I don't need glass and won't pay a premium for it. Just a basic IFR panel that can handle an ILS/DME, an AP w/alt hold, a decent interior, and 50' paint. Everything else is just icing on the cake. I can always haggle an GDL82 into the deal if it's not ADS-B compliant.

I'm not looking to buy now but I am feeling the itch. CFI-ing and rentals aren't doing it for me.

That works. Just about any 260-300hp bonanza probably would work too. Overall cost/nm probably somewhat similar to a C6.

Total cost, fixed and operating, for my twin engine retractable gear beech is less than for the pa32-300 I had. That’s per mile, not per seat*mile. The lead sled is very economical if you are filling the seats. If you are taking 4 or less then it is pretty expensive.

I did a quick search for 95s on barnstormers after reading Jeff's post. I'm sure there's a story and I wish we could hear it.

Probably the Hershey Bar wing? I'm old... but I love those. We just bought an Archer I for our group and I like the Hershey Bar.

Not many still have the fixed pitch. Most (if I recall) were with the constant speed (an option).

Roomiest of the 6 place aircraft of the day. Sturdy. Stable. Great birds.

What can you expect for indicated airspeed of Cherokee 6 at say 5,000 ft?

115-120