My opinion is that if you have to borrow money to buy the plane, don't buy it, because you can't afford to maintain and operate it after you get it
I have to agree with that. I'm not an owner, but see our club's maintenance bills. The cost of the aircraft is not the most significant cost of ownership, but a long way! Something like a C150 will be old, and require lots of maintenance. You can expect a LARGE maintenance bill every couple of years, which won't be too far off the realistic value of the aircraft.
Only a while ago, there was someone on here looking to scrap a PA28-140 because the cost of maintenance exceeded the value of the hull.
Our club also found ourselves in a similar position with an aircraft recently.
Maintenance is the real cost of ownership of an old aircraft....not the purchase price of the hull.
If you really want to buy something with lower maintenance bills, where the hull represents the cost of ownership, then you need to buy something newer. If that is to fit your budget, then it may need to be a microlight of some sort, or one of the new VLA's.
There are many good reasons for buying your own aircraft, but I don't think cost saving is one. Often ownership is a more expensive way of flying.
If you want to save costs, try group ownership.
dp