Join he LAA, join your local strut, ask about types, performance, maintenance, get to know people, fly with them. At that point you will probably not want to know about CofA spam cans, club rentals etc. you could buy a wood & fabric 90knot two seat taildragger in better condition than a 152 for less than £15k, & sell it for much the same in 5yrs, having had loads of fun and hour building in the process. And learned how to look after it.
Cessna & Piper groups and club rentals are for people with huge flight bags & big pilot watches.
