A good ab initio trainer should be forgiving, fairly easy to fly and quite difficult to fly well. That allows margin for error and allows the good pilots to shine. I have flown many SEP civvie aircraft plus military Chippy/Bulldog/Tutor/JP5
All offer advantages and disadvantages, but the Tutor is cheap and cheerful, quite forgiving and offers a good platform for the first 30-40 hours. IF not so good, but if you fly the techniques, it works