You beat me to it Mad Girl, excellent answer by HFD.
moosp, how did the committee arrive at it's short list? What were the original selection criteria? You want to avoid a situation where some people in a position of influence decide they want a certain plane and they will get the rank-and-file to pay for it. If you get something too hard to handle and you spend all your time getting recurrent checkouts then you will not get into the air yourself, then you will get bored. The goal is to fly the plane yourself and not with an instructor. More hours in the air, the lower the hourly rate. One poster seemed to suggest that currency was not a big thing in this club, and some of the suggestions might suit the very capable pilots who are posting on this thread, but not the target audience.