"Dude" wrote in message
...
If I were you , I would talk to as many FBO owners as I could about the
situation with Cessna. They all seem to know that market well. When I
was
looking over a year ago, there were several instances of deep discounts in
both new and nearly new skyhawks. Several people discussed it here. I
think those deals may be gone for now, but there may be an echo later.

Bonus depreciation is a great thing, but I would tell you to look at other
models as well. Diamond and Tiger are my favorites in this class. I
would
only buy the Cessna if the others were not good ergonomically, or if I
were
planning to land on a rough strips (but then I would not buy new in spite
of
depreciation).



Before anyone takes my last line out of context let me point out that I
would and did by a new plane, but I would not do so if I were using it on a
rough strip.

Has anyone ever wondered who buys new SUV's for over 50k, and then goes out
rock hopping? I guess if you have lots of bucks...

Also, it appears that Cessna's discounting schemes continue. You might try
working your way up the chain. As I understand it, Cessna has a 3 layer
distribution model, so cutting out the middleman may work in your favor (or
it may not, you never know).