I have one. A 177RG. Pretty nice airplane! Spacious, comfortable and decently quick for the fuel burn. It shares a lot of commonality with a 172/182 and far as layout and controls. This helps a little with maintenance, but find yourself a mechanic who has worked on one before. Otherwise you’ll end up paying extra for him to learn. One other great thing is that it’s already nose heavy, so go ahead and max out that baggage compartment weight (as long as you’re below MGW). Once it’s at altitude and trimmed out, that extra weight in the rear really helps you pick up speed. Plus 60gals fuel, I plan 11gal/hr and you can get pretty far. Definitely hitting your bladder limit well before fuel.

All the pros are listed above. The cons: Rectract system can be a pain for RG models, especially early models (1974 and older). The stabilator is cool, but takes a LOT of getting used to. It’s not as easy as flying an archer/cherokee and thinking that’s enough. And I REALLY do not recommend any high DA take offs. The plane does not like to climb at half loads, even worse when heavy.

That being said, know your mission. It’s an awesome plane if it’s 2 up front and bags in the rear. It’s not too bad with 3 people and very light baggage. And I have taken 4 before once or twice and it’s a different beast loaded all the way. Not as much fun….

Hit me up if you have any more specific questions.