THERE MUST BE A NUMBER OF FORMER MOONEY OVATION AND A36 BONANZA OWNERS OUT THERE THAT ARE NOW FLYING SR22’S. I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS ON YOUR DECISION TO BUY A CIRRUS. HOW DOES IT RATE IN PERFORMANCE, MAINTENANCE PROBLEMS, OPERATING COSTS, EASE OF FLYING, OVERALL PILOT AND PASSENGER SATISFACTION, ETC ? I AM TRYING TO DECIDE BETWEEN THOSE THREE AIRCRAFT. THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENTS.
I haven’t flown a Mooney or Bonanza so I won’t try to address your question, but it might be helpful to those who have to know what price range you are considering.
I AM CONSIDERING THE EARLIER MODELS. 2001, 2002
As background I owned a Mooney until 2007. At that point I was searching and test flying a Bonanza, SR22 and newer Ovation. My mission required being able to carry my family of 4 non stop with reserves from Atlanta to Miami. The Bonanza offered the most stable platform and nicest interior (comparing mostly 2004 models or newer at that point). To my surprise I couldn’t carry my family (two adults and two children) with my personal reserve minimums to fly IFR from Atlanta to Miami plus the model I was looking at was slower than the Ovation and Cirrus at similar power settings. The Bonanza was kicked out early. The Cirrus and Mooney were able to accomplish this hurdle fairly easy. I was probably a little biased to the Mooney given recent experience, but for the model year comparisions the interior/exterior fit/finish of the Ovation was superior to the Cirrus. The Mooney Ovation I was looking at was 6 to 12kts faster at various power settings compared to the Cirrus. Obviously fuel burn at similar TAS / Altitude favors the Mooney by 1 to 2 GPH. Most of these tests were prior to me converting to LOP operation for comparison purposes. I can only compare the maintenance cost of my older Mooney and that is likely not a fair comparison but the Cirrus is 30% higher at least. Again that is comparing apples and oranges given the TAA Cirrus vs Steam Mooney. I have friends that own a 2005 Mooney with G1000 and their maintenance costs have been slightly less though. If it were just me flying with one other person - a year ago I would say the Mooney, but the chute has a big psyhcological benefit for the family. The biggest factor for the family though is two doors and nice cabin width & visibility of the Cirrus. Mooney has been in and out of bankruptcy but parts have always been available for the most part. Cirrus probably has one foot in the bankruptcy door, but keeps surprising us with innovation. I think there are enough Cirrus out there that someone will always find value in the parts business alone if they were to file. Bonanza, I think is still part of a bigger diversified entity albeit owned by PE firm.
I’ve been flying an 01 for 3 years. Maintance hasnt been to bad but the few parts i have had to buy seem way over priced compared to the 182 i had before.
Dont know what you mission is but the price on 01 02 's seems like a steal to me concidering they still go just as fast as the new nonturbos. If your plan is to fly lots of nonflying friend and family the cirrus is hard to beat. Never ceases to amase me how relieved nonpilots are to learn the plane has a chute and the big windows seem to do wonders for motion sickness and general relaxation on long flights. My wife would barely go places with me in the cessna and cryed a lot. but now she almost enjoys it.
If most of the flying is just you and other pilot friends then i think a mooney would be great, speed and effecancy but my experiance is the cirrus really wows nonpilots.
i have a lot of A36 time. owned one 15 yrs. both the bonanza and cirrus are great flying planes; my decision came down to price and age of the plane. bonanzas cost more. you can get a 07 cirrus for the same cost as a 2000 A36. if the 4 seats dont bother you, go for the cirrus