Don't forget as well that the twin training can be done as part of your hour building. So if in the US you can do the 6 hours for the same price or less as renting a complex single over here.
The way i did it was more by luck than Judgment.
Hour building in the US got bored flogging around FL. So started to commute from Winterhaven down to Naples to do twin training.
Started CPL/IR with 150hours on the dot 6 of which were multi.
Wx in Leeds in Jan was utter pants for VFR so spent what seemed like 30mins in the sim doing basic figure of 8's on the approaches at Leeds after doing basic instrument scans etc (actually turned out to be 2 hours). Kevin said that because he had a clean canvas to be worked with (no IMC) he would accept me straight onto IR. So did that plus 1 hour extra for the MEP skills test which you need to have passed to be able to sit the IR with only a PPL.
So thats 6 + 35 + 3.5 MEP so far 44.5
Did the 15 hour CPL course half way through decided I really couldn't be bothered learning all the single complex stuff so after the 172 training getting used to looking out of the window again I went back to the twin. All in i ended up with 55hours MEP time.
The twin cpl test is I think easier than the SEP especially after the IR. The circuit work is just a repeat of the IR apart from you can see out of the window. And no nasty PFL's or glide to lands to be mucking about with.
There is a point which can be made that the MEP CPL's have missed out what some would regard as important training regarding the PFL's etc. But then again how many single engined public transport jobs are there out there. Not many I should think and most if not all other jobs which use singles will be none complex types. And the best way of getting good at rescuing SEPs from trouble is 500 hours + of instructing.
I think it cost an extra £800 quid to do the extra hours in the twin and most of that was solo time for the flight test. The twin was only 20-30 pounds an hour more than the complex single for CPL training. And I prefer the twin hours in the log book than additional single so for 300 ish pounds I got an extra 7-8 twin hours logged.
The IR was bloody hard work but very enjoyable and challanging.
Different ways suit different people. It worked for me.
I for one am looking forward to FFF's diary of his IR.
MJ