IMHO the SSE would not be a great pattern trainer, but it is a great 3-D trainer.

The GP Rapture 40, Sig FourStar and Goldberg Tiger series would be better pattern 'lil-ships. All of 'em are great sport planes, just have different strong points. You want steady and smooth for pattern but extremely manueverable with fast acceleration for 3-D. (And don't confuse acceletration with top end speed). Using a car analogy: 3-D planes are stop-light to stop-light, inner-city right-angle-cornering torquey cars and pattern ships are winding country road turbo-boost handling machines.