As Jester says bigger wheels will help a lot, but I think the power plant is more than capable of doing the job. I just finished putting an FP 40 in a trainer to replace a 46FX and the difference was amazing. It was way easyer to land with the slower air speed and a little less nose weight helped it slow down a bit more to boot.
I am now flying my Ultra Sport 40 (after a 15 year hiatas)(three flights) and find it easyer in a lot of respects to fly than my friends old Hobbico trainer.
I think you can repair your Avistar in very short order, a lot less time than putting another aircraft together anyway, but it never hurts to have another plane in the hangar so you don't have to be grounded when this type of thing happens.
Calvi.