Diamond DA40 or Cirrus SR20

A 2005 DA40 owner, I tried a 2011 SR20 today for comparison. Nice plane and several important safety features (chute, LVL, correction of steep turns) and not as sensitive to turbulence but I found it confining and quite uncomfortable, hard to get in and out of, (more so for passengers) and with limited view. It was like looking at the world through a mail box. So, I’m staying with the DA40. It’s easier to fly, still a good IFR platform, and you can better see the world. My $0.02 (Cdn) worth. Marc

You lost me with the mailbox view. Were the side windows taped over.[:)]

The Cirrus has good visibility, but not compared to a DA40. Speaking of the DA40. Check out this beast. The Tundra 40. Land almost anywhere with those 22 inch tires on Beringer wheels…

  • Deleted -

I have more time in the DA40 than the SR20 or SR22. I think it is not fair to compare the DA40 with the SR20 because they are completely different kinds of aircraft for different missions. The DA40 is probably the easiest to fly and safest aircraft ever created. But, the DA40 is not a comfortable traveling machine. The SR20 is a traveling machine.

I think they both have their niches and would chose one over the other based upon the primary mission of the aircraft.

Anyone taken a look at the new DA40NG? turbo diesel, low fuel burn and keeps climb performance up at higher altitudes. Options include A/C and adjustable seats … I also see that they use a FADEC system on the new engine - one lever …

Not sure how the flight characteristics have changed over the Avgas/Lycoming versions, if at all … Or reliability, TBO, etc. But this sure is interesting. Appears that Diamond is moving fully into the turbo diesel/Jet A world and marketing this more globally than primarily to the North American market where avgas is still plentiful. Be very curious if anyone has taken a ride or done a demo in this one … The new DA62 has similar engines… And that’s a beautiful airplane for sure.

Cheers

I’ve just read on the diamond forums that there have been more accidents in those, they are more nose heavy and not as stall forgiving as the AV gas version.

Still not a bad option…just fly the numbers.

Interesting thing about the DA40, it is light aerobatic approved. Authorized for up 90 degree turns among others. It is very spin resistant and super easy to get out of a spin, like the spin certified DA20. I was told they did not certify for spins because of the original avionics which would tumble. Although the later G1000 installations won’t tumble, would still probably be hard on the backup instruments. They also probably from a liability standpoint did not certify it for spins, since being a 4 seater and having a weight and CG limit between its normal and utility category, thought some idiot might hefties in the back seat and try to show off a spin and get it in a a flat spin. [:O]

FWIW, I’ve been talking to the Diamond folks the last few weeks while waiting for my final medical clearance (got it today!), and tried to set up a demo in an NG but finally gave up - they were more interested in trying to sell me a regular DA40, but even that was a lackadaisical effort. They weren’t very responsive - phone/email not returned, vague answers to questions, etc. Apparently not many NG over here. On the Diamond Owner forums, lots of dislike for both the NG and Tundra. Several changes including CG and the wing, and old-timers suspect it’s not as safe. “Nose Heavy” was the complaint of those who have flown it. Apparently a couple of suspicious crashes in Russia recently.

I was able to find the manuals and spenf some time with them. On paper it’s an interesting airplane, above 3k beats the 100LL Lycoming, holds power to 12k then starts tailing off, max authorized altitude is 16,400 due to restart issues. Only back seats adjustable - fronts are fixed. When you dig in to things it’s got some quirks, especially the fuel system. Only draws fuel from the left tank except in “emergency” mode, but still sends the return line to the left tank, where that fuel may be inaccessible if there is a problem. You have to manually switch on a pump to transfer from the right tank - which isn’t much different from switching tanks procedurally, but given the fuel tank indicator sensors only read to 14 gal per side, and with the 19 gallon “long range” tanks (which seem essential for a traveling airplane), you have no way of telling how much fuel you have on each side until it goes below 14 gallons. The pump will transfer fuel from right to left until the left is topped off, and the transfer pump is pretty fast, so it seems if you aren’t careful you can exceed the imbalance limits. A big issue would be maintenance - not that many shops work on the engines yet. Will that change if the DA62 sells well? Maybe. I asked about maintenance support and they were pretty vague. Also got the feeling their dealer network is in a bit of turmoil right now - for example, KCAC is dropping Diamond and other dealers are trying to unload their birds. Again FWIW I just got a weird feeling from talking with them. Maybe it was just me.

Congratulations on your medical! As for Diamond’s lackadaisical sales efforts, that has been their SOP in North America for years. I see you are in Savannah. I’ve purchased three Diamond aircraft from Premier in Ft. Lauderdale even though they are 150 miles from my home base. They have been good to work with.

Flying in the US, I would prefer the avgas DA40 over the NG model. My last DA40 would go 150 kts TAS on 10 gallons an hour at 5-10,000 feet. It was a pleasure to fly and it is by far the safest four seat, production piston aircraft, and to reference the original post, safer than even the SR20. The Lycoming 360 series are considered the most reliable of avgas engines.

The problem with the Austro diesel NG DA40 is that the aircraft was not designed for such a large, heavy engine. The Theilert/Centurion diesel engine that Diamond used for a while was a bit heavier and larger than the Lycoming but it mostly fit in the cowling and the plane handled well, if a little under-powered. The Austro adds another 100 lbs in front of the firewall. The larger cowling adds drag and just looks wrong on an otherwise svelte airframe.

The DA42 handling also suffered when they switched from Thielerts to the Austro/NG but not as much since the airframe is larger to start with. The DA62 was designed for the Austro engines from the beginning however and I believe is a fantastic plane.

I still miss my avgas DA40. Oregon Aero seat cushions made it comfortable for long flights, I flew it all over the country.

I owned a DA40 for six years. Everything Dan says is spot on. If I lived a 150 miles from Premier I wouldn’t worry too much about service but for the reasons Dan mentioned, I’d never buy a diesel DA40.