I have about 550 hrs on a 600 Aerostar and few hours on a 601P. I loved flying the aircraft but there is no way I would own one, especially the pressurized ones. They are absolute maintenance pigs. Everything is almost impossible to access and you will see huge maintenance bills. Like how about $ 4500 to change a rear cylinder ($2000 for parts, $ 2500 for labour) because you have to remove the whole engine to access it
. The twin turbo system is a bitch to rig and seems to require constant fussing to keep the engine happy. etc etc
To me the best ratio of dollars vs capability is a Turbo 310 R. The later ones are FIKI, the 285 hp TSIO520 has a good reliability record, it is a a very nice instrument platform and with deice and radar and good performance in the low to mid 20 K altitudes is a practical go places airplane. You will see 40 kts more cruise speed on the same fuel flow as you Aero Commander and there are tons available at very reasonable prices. If you really want pressurization then you can step up to the Cessna 340. I have 350 hrs hours on a beautiful corporate snag free C 340 and like the machine, but the extra systems significantly increase the maintenance costs. The owner of the one I fly wants everything perfect and budgets 50K a year for maintenance. Personally while pressurization is nice I am not sure it is worth the cost for a private owner.
The Turbo Aztec is also worth considering. A very honest flying airplane with a big fat wing and great short field performance but pretty slow and not as maintainer friendly as the Cessna twins.
What ever you decide buy the absolutely nicest one you can find it will be the cheapest way to to go. I ferried a C 421 to its new owner once. I had a 58 item snag list when I landed and the initial bill to fix it was 40K. For the next 6 months it was in the shop
after every single flight. In addition to being very frustrating he dropped another 80 K in repairs before we got to the point of having a reliable airplane.
BTW I am skeptical about 190 kts on 25 GPH. The best I ever saw was 190 kt TAS at 34 GPH. The Aerostar is a niche orphan airframe. Parts are OK now but who knows in 5 years ?
However I own a Nanchang CJ6A, a completely impractical airplane that is just heaps of fun, so If you heart just goes pitter patter at the thought of being at the controls of your own Aerostar, then don't bother trying to justify it just go out and buy the sucker ! But make sure you get a deiced one as the airplane will from personal experience carry almost no ice
