Hung,
I researched the supposed problems with the 601XL and have concluded it is not a concern, any more than any other homebuilt. Builders fall into four categories (in fact, these four stages could be applied to a lot of life's challenges):
1. They complete a small part (at Zenith you can built just the rudder), decide building is not for them, and stop the project.
2. The second type of builder completes the project without much fanfare to finish.
3. The third type gets much farther in, hits a wall in building and has to reluctantly admit that the effort is beyond them. No big deal to them. They sell what they have completed and move on.
4. The fourth type also hits a wall, but he has announced to the world that he is building a plane and cannot admit that he has failed in doing so. Instead, he looks for someone or something else to blame. One solution is to set up a hue and cry that the plane is unsafe. Yes, that's why they stopped working on it. In the internet this can take a life of its own and have a far greater effect in giving a plane a bad reputation than some isolated builder who only talks to his hanger neighbors.
In the last five years the number of fatal crashes have been small: 2 factory planes, 2 homebuilt.
I built everything in sections (rudder, elevator, horiz stabilizer, ailerons, flaps, wings, and fuselage) in a room that was 11 x 15 feet, and one wall had bookcases that took up 1 foot. For the fuselage, I had to open the door into the wash room and Jeanene let the tail stick into that space a couple of feet. So it can be built in a really small space -- but I do need room to put it together.
The taxes are a concern to me in Missouri. But it is $15K for the kit, $15K for the engine. I'll keep the instruments basic and not paint the plane at first, so I can come in at about $30K. The extra taxes over the Cessna 150 will be mitigated by the fact I can maintain and repair the plane myself.
But, your idea of buying a used plane that qualifies as a light sport plane is a way to go, too. For $10,000 or so, I can buy an enclosed proper little two-place airplane that flies at least as well as a Cub, and fly it without going through the medical. The trick is to go sport pilot before your medical is denied.
