I have had several students who owned there own A36 Bonanza.
The had lots of money and very little free time. It was my
opinion that their lack of steady lesson time was more
important than the differences in the airplanes. It might
add several hours to solo, but the practical test for the
private would still come at about the same average as
anybody else who only was able to fly an hour a week.


This is outside my personal experience, but anecdotal evidence suggests that
most students who are not sent by an employer are learning because they
simply want to fly. Thus, for most students, the initial ownership will not
be high performance or complex, and neither will their first move-up
aircraft. Therefore, it would make little sense to learn and then move
down.

In other words, by way of agreement, if a candidate already owns an
aircraft, then that aircraft probably makes sense as his trainer.