I agree using the FAA IR in the USA us 7th heaven. But this is restricted to a couple of trips a year for me and probably most other people as well.
My G-Reg aircraft are fully IFR equipped (apart from icing) and everything works. There enough photos of the cockpit here! They cost me around £60 an hour to run and meet my needs.
I am not knocking the N-reg or the FAA system, I think it is superb and practical for a number of reasons which was why I did the CPL/IR stuff in the first place. But self maintanance is something I would never do on an aircraft the same as I wont do on a car. I have a swollen thumb from stabbing myself with a corkscrew, imagine the damage I could do trying maintain an aircraft!! So there are no cost savings for me to put them on the N-reg and rather a lot of costs involved in transferring them!
The N-reg aircraft I will is extremely well equipped with GNS530/430 mode S, stormscope, ADF DME etc all brand new and tip top condition but it costs me around £250 an hour to fly.
So it was bite the bullet time and convert. Nothing hard about the JAR IR it is just padded it with excessive time wasting material that goes way to far into details that are uneeded. It is all ATPL stuff and the exams are just drawn from the ATPL pool. Why, why, why????
But I have to say very impressed with Atlantic Flight Training at Coventry so far.