a cessna 172 burns 8gallons of 100octane fuel an hour. add min $60K for an airplane, depreciation, insurance, etc.

Unless you go the homebuilt/experimental route. In which case you can fly something like a quickie q2 ($20-30K) and burn ~4gallons/hr of autogas.

Oh also, the zenair zodiac 601 recently had a problem with its wings folding up in flight. Check that they've been corrected before you take a trip in one.

Personally the sport pilot license bores me to death. Can't fly into busy airspace, can't fly more than 120mph or so, vfr only, single passenger, essentially overgrown ultralights.