Start with baby steps
Why learn to fly in a simple airplane? Because you can't join the army as a general. Because learning to fly starting with a Learjet isn't going to make you a great pilot, it is going to make you a statistic. Because learning to fly in a simple airplane means you will be able to find one locally, you will be able to afford to rent it, the owner will be able to afford to keep it maintained, the instructors will be familiar with it, and it isn't going to turn around and bite you or kill you from a moment's inattention or distraction - and there ARE airplanes that WILL. From the discussion, I get the impression that you have not actually started your flight training. Rest assured you will be adequately challenged during the course of your training by even the most humble, tatty, slow, low-status, monkey-drivable Cessna 150, busted interior plastic and all. Yes, you could learn in a DA-40, unless it has one of the whiz-bang Thierlert engines, the financial problems of which portend the imminent grounding of the entire fleet . . . and it is hard to learn to fly in an airplane with a busted engine and no parts available. Flight schools use 150s, 152s, PA28s and such-like disgusting beginner aircraft because THEY WORK - they do the job - you can learn to fly in them, and both you and your wallet are likely to survive the experience. Once you HAVE your license (and it is going to be harder than you think, it may even give you some respect for the lowly Cessna-driving monkey crowd), you can fly absolutely anything your ego demands, as long as your wallet can support it - and here's a hint - oh, boy are you in for an unpleasant surprise. Flying *anything* beats driving - look down FROM the Cessna, not down AT it. If you can find a DA-40 at a price you can afford, great, go for it. But don't get caught up in the idea that if it isn't new, it isn't any good - that just means you've bought into all the advertising about longer-lower-wider-more chrome means better - and it doesn't. Tell you what, I do the ground school at a well known and very busy FTO here, and you should SEE the hotshot ace pilot (candidates) after a session doing unusual attitudes under the hood in the so-called meek and mild Cessna 150. Another happy Cessna driving monkey here . . . (since 1976) Best Regards, Echo Mike