4-5 hours - total rot and a rip-off as others have said.
I did my PPL on a PA38. It wasn't even a full one - 20 hours from start to GFT because it was a gliding conversion.
As soon as I had my licence I went to the states, got a US PPL issued on the basis of my UK one and went to a local flying school. They had mainly Cessnas, but I wanted to stick to a low wing so the only option was an Archer (180HP - a bit different from a Tommy
).
Total length of checkout - 1 hour in the air plus 45 minutes in the classroom going over the aircraft and U.S flying differences. They were happy to let me loose after that.
I think this is more to do with relieveing you and your friend of your hard earned cash than any safety / comfort reason
(To add further I did a check out on a C172 when I got back to the UK, which included being at Max Take-Off Weight - again, this was only an hour).