Being in IMC is illegal for most PPLs, and even the ones with an IMC rating are illegal outside the UK. The remaining PPL IR holders are a very small % at the moment and would not go for a permit aircraft.
My aircraft has all the bits necessary to survive and navigate in IMC, though it is not full IFR. I also intend to practice and do mock IMC renewals in her. This is not because I cannot tour in VMC, as only about 20 of my 800 hours is in touring IMC, as opposed to practice. It is because I might inadvertently end up in the soup and I want to live to tell the tail!
Between 1/3 to ½ of my hours will be in non UK airspace, my IMC is not worth very much (lets not start the VFR on top debate), and in practice the PFA permit restrictions are very close to the basic PPL restrictions most of us have to live with.
I take your point on the hours issue, but all my “interesting” moments have been due to poor maintenance or faulty parts, so I view doing it myself as the only way to know it is done properly. Besides this, most of the time I enjoy working on them and because of the cost spiral on the AA5 I would have had to switch to cheaper flying in the next few years or give up.
Rod1