I found some context to my answer in old picts.
My Moms boyfriend (Mike- the Pablo Escobar looking guy) flew us from Peoria, to Palwaukee (now Chicago exec) approx 20 times a year for about 5 years to see my dad. My dad also paid for commercial flights, but Palwaukee was way closer than Ohare and he'd rather pitch in more for private so he didn't have to drive.
I also flew other routes with Mike frequently as a companion and flew as well. I took off and landed the 172 from the right seat 2 years into this.
The preference for the Cessna 210P was built around hundreds of flights over 4 years in these aircraft, plus another model or two that snuck in. Wed occasionally fly a piper something and a mooney 201. Looking back it was not nearly as big a deal as it is today.
Pretty sure it was a Cessna 340, A version(I think) something about superior deicing over the base version I recall.
Fast comfy, a real handful on one engine. Expensive for not a lot of if any safety gain.
Bonanza - fast but harder to deal with in terms of balance and terrible for sight based work like checking fence line. I remember Mike saying it could do scary things occasionally and never wanted to let it get into a spin , I struggled to keep it flying level
172 - nuff said. Never preference but the workhorse of the trips.
210 (oddly Im struggling to find a picture of it) - Was about as fast as the bonanza, and just under 340 - way cheaper than the 340, Its was simply a super machine and I see great ones for 750K+ now.
I have tremendous hours as a young man in the right front seat of these 4 planes.