An early 182 is a 180 with a nose wheel. 180s are cool and I can fly a TW aircraft but my choice given the difference in price would be an early 182, although prices on those are rising too.
In Alaska I understand that tailwheel converted Piper Tri-Pacers have been catching on. This must be influenced by their modest cost in relation to other similar options. What they have going for them otherwise is reliable four cylinder Lycoming power, easily repairable tube and fabric construction, two doors, four seat with OK-ish payload. A lot in common with a Supercub or Supercruiser, but less money. Again, if it were me and for my use I wouldn’t convert to tailwheel, the Tri-Pacer nosewheel assembiy is hugely overbuilt.
@Silvaire I also agree the 182 through B with a trimmed tailplane is the original four place Super Cub and probably can get into tighter fields, but obviously not softer, than the 180.
They, early 182, could be found for $35k, now $70k plus. The 206 could be found for $90k, and despite the Mexican government impounding hundreds of them operated by the ‘cartels’, the good condition pre 206H (E through G) seems to start today at $200k.
My impression is that the 180 Skywagon market is softer these days.
The slab wing Cherokee 235 probably out STOLs the Cessnas, and with a stronger nose wheel. But has not been adopted by the Backcountry crowd, despite giving good service in Alaska etc.
RobertL18C wrote:
The slab wing Cherokee 235 probably out STOLs the Cessnas
I looked at plenty of these, and the issue is most of them don’t have a VP prop which is a big drawback. The Rallye 235 would eat one for breakfast 
The issue with bigger STOL airplanes over 200hp is getting them to stop without skidding on wet grass strips. You see lots of videos on gravel and uplsopes which help stopping enormously. You can easily stop something like a Carbon Cub because it has no inertia and the skill factor to exploit it is low. If you go into a level 300m wet field in a 182 the brakes can lock up and you will slide in the lap of the gods. God forbid you need to land slightly downhill in a bigger STOL aeroplane on wet grass in something like 300m…. then you really need come over the hedge at the bare minimum airspeed and pray. There is no comparison in the skill factor between bringing a low weight aeroplane into a short field, and a heavy brute. The addition of VG’s, bigger tires, optimum ballast or drooped tips could be the difference between getting stopped and being in the hedge. I have stopped at 90 degrees to the hedge with a wing over it more than once.
RobertL18C wrote:
The 206 could be found for $90k, and despite the Mexican government impounding hundreds of them operated by the ‘cartels’, the good condition pre 206H (E through G) seems to start today at $200k.
Wow!
(Google)
In delivering drugs from Mexico to the United States, adding to land routes and sophisticated tunnels in border cities, expedited transport by air was accomplished in most cases by low-altitude flights which landed in one of the deserts in New Mexico or Arizona at a previously agreed time and place — and then the plane would be set on fire. Alternatively, packages were ejected with radio beacons, which enabled men on the ground to locate them. The plane would then be directed towards the Pacific Ocean. Before reaching the ocean the pilots would jump into the void, equipped with parachutes.
According to information received from the Mexican Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA), Mexican authorities between 2006 and 2015 confiscated 599 aircraft, of which 586 were airplanes and 13 were helicopters, which the Sinaloa Cartel used to use to send drugs to the United States and all of Mexico.
In the first three years of the mandate of former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (2012 to 2015), the army confiscated 55 planes and closed 894 airstrips. Of the planes captured in Culiacán, Navolato and Ahome, which are municipalities in the state of Sinaloa, 60 of them were none other than the Cessna 206
By the end of the 90s, the theft of some 150 King 200 and King 300 series aircraft had been reported. Those thefts took place mostly in countries like the United States, the Bahamas, Brazil and Venezuela. The stolen aircraft were infiltrated to Colombia through the area of the eastern plains, to be painted and provided with new initials and identification in Colombia’s Putumayo region.
…the cartels have more recently been modifying their modes of operation. Aircraft used earlier, mostly turboprop, are being replaced. The cartels are currently using mostly jet aircraft, which reach greater speeds and have more space for cargo.
Even the cartels are upgrading…
Now, where can I buy a couple of these impounded 206?
I’d say Google is way off on that. If you follow the Mexicans and Brazilian accounts on Instagram for these guys, you will see if they are still putting the Cessna brand to the test. If it’s not finished product in bales, it’s illegal mining in the rainforest. You might see the odd King Air, but mostly 182/210/206 are what they like.
There’s no surplus, they are rebuilding the damaged ones and buying more. I exported a damaged 206 for top brass in a container last year. I’ve a prop to go South America next week for a 206 that’s being rebuilt.
