Peter:
Since all SR22s since 2003 had glass there’s not really a market for retrofits. Best upgrade for older SR22 is the DFC90 A/P. If you want to spend $60K you can upgrade to Avidyne R9, a very nice product – but i would rather invest that money in fuel. R8 plus DFC90 is more than most pilots will ever need.
Bosco: I didn’t know there’s a spare part for 90 dollars! While that’s a bad joke for a SEAL – the SR22 decal (no, not the vertical fin, the decal!) is $500 – plus tax. I guess i will have to change those seals too …(could you send me the part # please)
Other: 2006 was an incredible year for Cirrus, but the 2014 production sold out until July. Many good used planes coming!
I wonder if the real issue behind the wheel bearing seals is that nobody put any grease into the wheel bearing at the last Annual, or the one before that, etc?
On a TB20 you have the same issues, and one packs the bearings with grease every year. The wheels on most GA planes are off the shelf Cleveland ones, and perhaps Cirrus use the same ones. Some details here. Near the end are some Timken wheen bearing part numbers; also worth a check. €90 for a straight bearing seal is about 5x the Socata price which is about 5x the OEM price. On a private aircraft you can put in OEM parts if they come with a simple CofC; the problem is finding enough other owners of the same type to make the usually necessarybulk buy worthwhile.
R8 plus DFC90 is more than most pilots will ever need.
Yes but you are being pragmatic 
Cirrus didn’t sell 5-6k new planes to pragmatic customers
I can not buy airplanes for other people’s motives :-)
Of course, if I had money to burn, I’d buy the latest model too … But if you keep your feet on the ground just a bit then an SR22-G2 or G3 is really enough for all but the most experienced IFR pilots. The other day I flew with an A320 captain and he said “looks like my workplace, only the airbus can’t do all these things”.
I would have NEVER bought a Cirrus for +700K Euro, and that’s what a new one with all the equipment that’s in mine costs today. I’d buy a house in the South of France and fly my old Warrior! And you know what, I am absolutely not “pragmatic”, more the dreamer type. But there’s really a point where I couldn’t justify it anymore, although nobody wants me to justify anything.
Cirrus didn’t sell 5-6k new planes to pragmatic customers
Why do we need to keep demonising Cirrus buyers on here? I am not a fan of Cirrus but there is this constant undercurrent that owners of the type don’t know what they are doing and are victims of a marketing campaign. Every aircraft sold has a section of buyers who make decisions for the wrong reasons when viewed objectively. Indeed any of us owning an aircraft are probably crazy.
Can we please accept that people can be good, bad or indifferent pilots and decision makers no matter what aircraft they fly?
I agree. This stuff has been repeated too often, just like the “CAPS for wife” or “CAPS because can’t recover from spin” stuff. It is actually good for the industry – and therefore for GA – that there’s people buying these planes.
Why do we need to keep demonising Cirrus buyers on here?
If I had time I would dig out and quote countless posts explaining why buying used is smarter (many from Alexis, for example).
So, Jason, consider taking out the “personal tone” out of your posts. You and I have never met, never had any dealings (that I know of) and there is no subtle agenda in what I write. Like almost everything on here, it is opinion. I suggest you try to stick to informative detailed postings, which I know you are capable of (you post them elsewhere on the internet with no problem at all, and in a very different tone too).
And, as Alexis says above, It is actually good for the industry – and therefore for GA – that there’s people buying these [new] planes. I bought a new TB20 too, so who am I “demonising”? Of course Cirrus didn’t sell 5-6k new planes to pragmatic customers! Pragmatic customers do what a number of Cirrus owners on Euroga recommend regularly: buy a slightly used one.
Finally, my “pragmatic” comment has this after it -—>>>>
Cirrus keeps adding value to its product which makes it desirable to buy new. The G5 is a very impressive product by all standards. The difference between a 2014 C182 and a 2000 C182 is that nobody has farted in the seats yet.
Cirrus didn’t sell 5-6k new planes to pragmatic customers
Nor did anyone else for that matter.
Why do we need to keep demonising Cirrus buyers on here?
I see no reason to. Cirrus has challenged the market and changed the outlook for many people which in total did GA a whole lot of good. The fact is, like any revolutionary product, there will be those who rave and those who shun, (see the Iphone/Android saga or equal) mostly without “real” reasons but simply because of the way we “feel” about a product.
I agree with Alexis, the fact that the Cirrus marketing campaign is discussed is good for the industry, mainly because Cirrus did a lot more right than wrong ever since they appeared on the market. A lot of the other companies have missed the bus on this, they simply felt they could go on like before (marketing wise) and nothing would change. Well, you can see the difference between the success of Cirrus and Columbia/Corvalis. Cirrus managed to get the message of a sexy, fast, roomy and safe airplane across better than anyone else in recent years, with due justification, and that is why they took off as they did.
And personally I don’t think there is a typical “Cirrus buyer” but people buy them for various reasons. Which again shows the power of the product Cirrus offers, it does not appeal to just one niche of pilots but to a pretty wide group of them for individual and not necessarily similar reasons. They are reasonably fast, which appeals to those coming from the Lancair/Mooney/Columbia corner of prospective buyers, they look good, which always helps, they are roomy and look nice inside, which helps with the prospective passengers and they have the shute, which appeals to everyone for obvious reasons. The Cirrus product appeals to many who groundbound would look at comfortable and nice cars like the upper Mecedes or BMW classes, Avalons, Lexus e.t.c. and who can also afford them, even though that hurdle is coming down with the massive influx of pre-owned airplanes.
In contrast, you have the conventional Cessna crowd who look for a roomy family van which can fly for a club of a 500m grass strip with a lot of weight, the clubs who’ve always had them and who need an easy “everyday” airplane to rent out and others. You have the Mooney or Corvalis or Lancair type of customer who looks for speed, range and performance. And you have those who will outgrow all of those and are looking into the Meridian / TBM / Eclipse segment.
And then there are a huge portion of lower middle class pilots who are looking in disbelief onto the “used” market and who will find that “maybe now is the time to make the dream come true”. This is reflected in the almost constant fleet sizes. Used planes are quite nicely sold on at low prices and people can today buy into plane classes they could not dream off 10 years ago.
Peter, it wasn’t personal at all other than disagreeing with your opinion which you repeat in various ways frequently. Do you not think that could alienate some of your potential readers?
I am sorry my posts aren’t detailed or informative enough for you.
Haha, Achim … you are SO right!
Let’s put it THIS way: If ANYBODY here was pragmatic we’d all be part of a chess or gardening forum :-)
