i bought the mooney prior to starting training, did my first 10 hours in a 152 then switched over - took a little longer overall to finish the PPL (i think i did around 60 hours total) but learned a lot about the airplane and became very comfortable with the quirks - i agree the hardest part was staying ahead of the aircraft especially in the circuit as it is just so hard to get the damned thing to slow down so you really need to work out your numbers and stick to it. i'm in canada so things are probably a little different, our insurance options are limited so i went with NO IN-MOTION HULL COVERAGE - just to make it that much more exciting on those first couple hundred landings (if i bounce and have a prop strike it's coming out of my pocket!)
overall very happy with my choice to train in my own a/c - didn't actually save any money though, as the wet-rental + instructor in the 152 was maybe $10/h more than my fuel cost+instructor, and so factor in the actual operating cost (insurance, planned maintenance, etc) of the a/c and it was definitely more expensive to do it that way
best to create a cost spreadsheet and be honest with yourself about the true hourly costs of owning/operating if that is the basis for your decision
