Its horses for courses
Training wise cruise speed doesn't really count for all that much. In fact slower is more profitable because the xc's take longer to do. Climb rate anything over 1000ft/min will do. If it gets much more than that it becomes a pain in the bum doing circuits because they will end up turning crosswind half way down the runway.
The main thing is that it needs to be robust. That doesn't just meant the gear etc. Inside trim has to be up for some abuse no use it all cracked and looking shagged after a couple of years.
The simple fact you can run at 16ltrs an hour of mogas is going to kill the old machines off. You have basically paid for your maintence with the fuel saving.
Its not a touring machine but it is a bimble machine. I will reserve comment of what its like to teach in until I get my hands on it.