As the above have mentioned get an experienced LAME to survey aircraft,
Your friendly local propshop can measure the prop on the aircraft to see if its dimensionally within limits and also look at corrosion etc.
With high wing Cessnas make sure somebody has checked seat rails, lower door post cracks and internal corrosion of wings and fuselage all of these can cause large labour bills. Inspect flap skins for cracks along trailing edge. also have condition of engine baffles checked as these also can consume a lot of time on engine overhaul.
An aircraft with high usage is actually less likely to give engine OH problems as oil is changed often causing corrosive oil build ups to be flushed out.Its the very low usage engines that can bite you in the hip pocket.
So long as lower fuselage / fire wall shows no signs of buckles the training enviroment should not be too big an issue ,you can also get the LAME to check main gear elastomeric bushings for extrusion as well.
I have looked after a number of 172's with over 10000 hrs training on them and they are still sound if not a bit tatty around the edges.
One way to go is to have the aircraft sold with a fresh hundred hourly from a reputatable workshop.
Hope the above is of some help
West aussie LAME
Last edited by Westaussielame; 23rd July 2007 at 14:03.