Having flown them for 500 hours in the military, I found them enormous fun. They have simple systems that work and starting the beast is simplicity itself. It is a sturdy machine and certainly got me out of one or two sticky situations. In the summer, we generally flew with doors off which added to the excitement, particularly when operating at 7000' at ISA+25-30!. I would certainly recommend the Lark as an excellent entry level turbine machine. I'm afraid that I cannot comment on running costs, parts availability etc as I have not flown them since.
Hope this helps.