My wife gave me a choice. Nice fancy car to drive or an airplane. I didn't bat an eye on that decision. Airplane won hands down.
Ditto for me! I bought 'Pokey' (8138U) and then gave my old car to daughter for college and said, I'll pay for your flying lessons too if you'll let me borrow 'your' car occasionally!
So, to answer your original question on ownership costs; I've been surprised by bad mag, failed dry vac pump, misc details to the tune of ~$5000 since aquiring it in September 05' However I've got to say that it's in way better shape than it was when I first got it.
Sorta amazed that I purchased it with my limited knowledge and flew it home w/ my pilot buddy w/o more unknown issues! Knowing what I know now I realize that I was taking more of a gamble than I thought!
