[sokoloff]

Every new airplane type takes some type-specific instruction. True, it could count towards the FAA-minimum 40 hours, but almost no one takes a checkride with 40.0 hours in their logbook. I was a pretty dedicated student and at least a fair stick, and I was still in the 55-57 hour range when I took the checkride. Most people training at towered fields are in the 60-75 hour range at the ride.

Fuel isn't the dominant cost in flight training. (Source: I bought my first airplane during flight training and have been flying for almost 2 decades now. Fuel is more than a rounding error, but tends to run around 1/4 of my all-in costs.)