The two best certified four-seaters in the high-performance niche are the Cirrus SR22T and the Diamond DA42VI….But Diamond is selling very few aircraft..in fact only two sold in the USA last quarter of the DA42. I love the product, but it’s much tougher for people to get into because it’s multi-engine, retractable and has to be ferry-flown from Europe to Canada and then to a customer. And it’s $100k USD more than the SR22T.
Europe designers are WAY ahead of the Cessna, Beech, Piper et al. They are going for diesel, carbon fiber, in cockpit weather radar, and advanced fly-by-wire as the next benchmark in GA. But for now, Cirrus has the best value proposition in the high-performance four-seater niche, and Flight Design will take away Cessna’s 172 and 182 with a low cost C4 that also has the latest in avionics G3x, BRS chute, and multi-fuel in the lower-performance four-seater niche.
Cirrus is not more to maintain than other aircraft in it’s niche. It uses a Continental IO-550 engine, Garmin G1000, and standard components from the industry. It has the largest installed based in it’s niche and is supported by more FBOs than all aircraft except Cessna. Many Cessna FBOs are also Cirrus FBOs. The aircraft comes with a standard two-year warranty that can be extended to five years for $7k at time of purchase. The average annual cost is $3k to $4k dependent on location which is average for aircraft in it’s niche. The fuel burn for the Cirrus SR22T is between 13.5gph and 18gph dependent on altitude and power, respectable for a 215ktas cruise.
Michael wrote:
Here is just 1 more example of why the Cirrus SR22 maintenance costs are higher than most in the category.There are many other “off the shelf” components that are “packaged” by Cirrus so that one cannot just replace the simple and in-expensive component .
Result is higher overall maintenance cost.
You’ve picked a terrible example there. The FCM is not an off the shelf part, it’s a custom Cirrus part. Also, it’s not packaged up in anything else – the whole point of the FCM is that it is a (relatively) inexpensive part to replace within the much more expensive MCU.
http://cirrusengineering.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/fcm-march-update.html
The thread drift posts on the Flight Design C4 etc have been moved “here”:
It takes me ages to move posts and if I am travelling I can’t do it (because it needs a proper user interface, not a tablet etc) so I will just lock such a thread. I did suggest starting a new one but nobody did it. I have also removed some non-material posts.
I am privy to the new features of the 2016 Cirrus SR22 and SR22T. There will be new colors to choose. New car-like keyless FOB for the doors. New seats. Full 2020 compliant ADS-B in/out. New Garmin equipment added. The order queue is full for 2015…the only new Cirrus you can buy is the 2016 now.
Why on earth do you need a keyless fob for a plane?
New colours?
Really that is the USP for the 2016 Cirrus?
That’s all fantasy.
I have not seen any of that on COPA, and that’s the place where you see that stuff first. Keyless FOB is completely useless in a plane … I’d rather see the Garmin 2000 Avionics.
Edited: G2000 not 3000
The keyless FOB turns on lighting in the plane and on the foot supports and opens the doors. It makes entry at night safer. Part of the upgrade is also a better latching mechanism on the doors as well. I can’t give more details since Cirrus has not announced this stuff yet.
USFlyer wrote:
The keyless FOB turns on lighting in the plane and on the foot supports and opens the doors. It makes entry at night safer. Part of the upgrade is also a better latching mechanism on the doors as well.
Welcome to flat batteries I guess. That sounds like a silly upgrade to me. But who knows.
I can’t give more details since Cirrus has not announced this stuff yet.
You seem to have just announced it.
Flyer59 wrote:
I’d rather see the Garmin 3000 Avionics.
You mean G2000, right?
Martin wrote:
You mean G2000, right?
G3000 is in the M600. I would expect that in the Cirrus too.
