Hey White Bear and MonococK
I would not have gone as far to say the 177 is more superior to the 172, because it just depends on what you want to use it for!
Quite interesting to note is the A model had troubles with the all flying tail plane stalling at certain angles when you really didnt want it too! Cessna fixed this in the B model by including two slots just aft of the leading edge of the horizontal plane. Correct me if I'm wrong but A models had 160 hp stock standard.
B models have 180hp O-360.
They are okay to fly, reasonably comfortable, much more room than the 172. They take a bit of gettin use to at first because of the laminar flow wing, slab tail, most people cant get the thing to slow down when they need too. The laminar wing also requires an element of respect because unlike the standard cessna wing you can not raise the nose too soon during takeoff and pull the thing off the ground...it tends to want to slow down instead! So from this angle, the 177 tends to not be the best on and off short strips, depending on the load and experience that you have, the 172 would be better for this! However the 177 comes to its own on trips greater than an hour or so, just because of its faster cruise speed which depending on the AC can be between 110 - 130kts (fixed gear).
Better visibilty than the 172 because of the obvious no struts and the big slant windscreen!
Yes those doors are big! Bad news if you find yourself parked in a tail wind and the breeze gets hold of them!
I think they are a good machine to take a step up from the 172 with the extra horses and the CSU. Appart from this and the speed increase the 172 will do just about anything the fixed gear cardinal will do and is probably more diverse in its work capablilites.
Thats my point of view anyway...I fly both types on a regular basis (172/177B), if you would like some more detailed information about this machine feel free to ask away