I know absolutely nothing about Z142s but I do work occasionally on other single engine GA aircraft so here's my thoughts.
- don't get it because it eats up a ton of fuel - So do older Piper and Cessna aircraft, is there a huge difference between say a P28 and a Z142 ?
don't do it, they're like 50 years old, must be trash, you'll just die - There plenty of Piper and Cessna aircraft out there the same age or older, some are fine, others are flying deathtraps, it depends upon how they've been maintained.
- some guy died in a Z142 some time ago because of a cracked wing spar so you'll just die too - There's ADs on the Cessna 152 & 172 and the PA 28 for inspection of the wing spars so the Z142 is not the only light aircraft with this problem.
- oh it's a school plane, must be trash by now because of all the students who plowed the fields with them tractors - Not unique to the Z142, this would apply to any ex-flying school aircraft, again its down to the maintenance. I recently worked on an old ex-flying school C172 and I'm sure there wasn't a straight panel left on it, I certainly wouldn't have bought it 😁
- it's hard to fly, our school's flying-gimmick-at-250EUR-per-hour is easier - I don't fly so I'm hardly qualified to answer this question but I would say if it's harder to fly surely then if you can fly a Z142 then you can fly anything.