The price which incidentally was comparatively high, was not the main objection. That was the lack of suitable fuel in Poland. We have been over this before. Unless you can suggest how import of the fuel into Poland at a reasonable cost during wartime could be GUARANTEED, this is a dead end. The point is that unlike the early 30ties, the late 30ties were a sellers' market in armaments The reason for example why Poland developed its own 75mm AA gun was not because that was the preferred option, but because it proved impossible to purchase these items abroad despite significant efforts made in that direction. No one was selling.I have already suggested Curtiss Hawk 75 - but maybe too expensive.
We seem to be going round in circles like a dogfight The orders were made clearly because the Poles were well aware of the deficit int heir fighter defence and had been aware since 1936 at least. However being aware and being in a position to do something about it are two different things The reasons the orders were made when they were made was because firstly some capacity became available and secondly the financing became available. Neither was available any earlier. There was absolutely zero chance of getting Hurricanes in quantity or any earlier. The 14 obtained was everything that could be squeezed out of the British with a vague promise maybe 'a few more' 'in the autumn'.Poles made hurriedly orders of both Hurricane and MS 406 in summer 1939, but it was too late by then. These undelivered hasty orders show that Poles were well aware of the unsatisfactory situation of their fighter force. It also confirmed that ambitious projects based on the idea of "designed and made in Poland" had failed and Poles also recognised that.
Unless you can suggest how airplanes could be made to fly without an adequate engine it pretty much does make all the other shortcomings irrelevant. And if there are other shortcomings, without an engine you can't even begin to address them. The fact is that when designing an airplane from scratch, designing the power plant was the most complex and lengthiest part of the process. It also meant that a country with a neofite aero-engineering industry would struggle to produce the cutting edge engines required in a period of rapid development - and the 30ties probably saw, arguably, more rapid aeronautical development than any period before or since. That is why Poland had to turn to foreign suppliers for this kit and live with the consequences which were what they were. It is precisely because of Polands heavy reliance on foreign power plant (instead of 'designed and built in Poland') that most of the delays occurred not because of a lack of it.The engine problem does not explain it all - it feels like an excuse of a designer team which tries to explain all of its shortcomings with one all-covering reason.
I'd be curious to know of a good or decent fighter produced in quantity by any other country of a similar industrial capacity to Poland in the timeframe of interest.How did other foreign manufacturers find good or decent engines which made it possible to build good or decent fighter planes in late 1930´s?
In summary no one is saying that there was no other way. However no one (apart from perhaps the Norns) can say if any of the other potential options would have turned out any better. Had they turned out the same or worse, we would most probably be sitting here now criticising the Polish decision makers for not doing exactly what they did in reality.