Oh I see a hot debate going on with the old Ford V Holden (as flyitboy put it) analogy. How many of us in here have flown both types? Probably 99% of us. Did they both get you back to earth safely? (they always will return you to earth, no matter what!) As long as it has wings, & flies to where you are pointing it it matters little if it's a high or low wing.
One day you might be flying a C210 with 20 kts H/W, the next time you maybe flying with a 20 kt T/W in a Bo, end result? about the same time enroute so speed doesn't always matter. That's a rough analogy, not meant to be type specific.
The C210 would have to be the high performance 'ute' of the sky, the best view for pax, can't better it there. The C185 (for eg.) would have to be the best 'farm ute' of all time (although C182 good bush plane if you know what yr doing). The A36 & it's bros would have to be the 'fairmonts' of the sky with quality oozing from them. The point is they all have 'labels' attached to them & do certain tasks better than others. I myself would prefer the C210 for outright speed for say 4 bums, more than that & yr looking at 'legless' for pax No's 5 & 6! The A36/V35(latter more for roller coaster rides) are for 'class'. Not the fastest nor the best load carriers but the classiest with good off field survivablity due to it's 'brick shti-house' construction. You hire a roller to look the part with the feel to go with it, enter the Bonaza range. You hire the Cessna's for the farm work & to have shade whilst yr out there doing it.
Look at the end of the day 10 kts or so means little over an average leg, it gets down to comfort & reliablity.
Now to where it all started by the looks of things. Cost of owning/hiring either types? EXPENSIVE! No two ways about it.
I used to fly a C210M model for it's owner many years ago, he was rated but only VFR with low exp. Was in perfect cond. due to one thing, he was RICH! & never hired it out so it stayed in good shape. Fast plane, flew straight as an arrow but you always knew you where in a Cessna, there was no escaping that fact.
I wouldn't hire either types out if I owned one, but then again why would I want to own a plane & burn $100 notes at a rate faster than handing them over to the misses !
CW