I'm a student pilot with over 40 hours and close to taking my check ride. I started my flying in a Cessna 172 and then changed over to a Cherokee 180. I've also flown a Warrior and a Tampico. My question is regarding a 235. How difficult is it to fly and compared to the Warrior and the 180?
A 235 flies about the same, not difficult at all except it is a fair amount heavier on the controls, but not too bad. It's a *lot* more nose-heavy and you'll need to learn to use the trim while landing to help get and keep the nose up during the flare and landing to keep from landing on the nosewheel first, which can ruin your day if you porpoise and end up having a prop strike. Think like driving an old 1960's car with a big V-8 engine and no power steering. Also learning to manage a constant speed prop has a bit of a learning curve at first too, although there are some early Cherokee 235's with fixed pitch props... and they're slightly faster than a CS-prop 235 too! The climb power of a 235 will spoil you but the fuel consumption will make you much happier with a 150 thru 180 hp PA28 unless your mission profile actually needs the heavy lifting ability of a 235.