Flown C152 throught to 402s. Found the 172RG a great aircraft. Maybe not the pick up "i.e. rate of climb, not payload" but it does have a nice cruise speed. The great thing about them is the high gear and flap(first stage) speed relative to the cruise speed. Need to stop, hit the air brakes. The bigger faster aircraft (C210s, Mooneys) tend not to like slowing down.