David's advice is about right.

New Mooney's are most often bought by former Mooney owners. So there has to
be something to that.

They are not that small at all. That's a big myth in many ways. Don't
write them off as small without sitting in one to see how well it fits you.
If you are long legged, it can be a good choice (Mooney's have LONG seat
rails that can turn it into a 3 seater if the pilot is tall enough).

They are short from floor to ceiling, but they are actually pretty wide.
You also sit close to the panel (which I think will be good with the new
glass panels). I think the size myth is caused by the short gear and short
cockpit comobined with the small windows. The interior dimensions are really
pretty good over all.

My biggest caveat on a Mooney this old (or anything complex or high
performance this old) is that it can be a reasonably cheap to own bird, OR
NOT. Older planes can end up costing more than new ones if you don't do due
diligence. Mooney gear is some of the less damage prone according to some
owners, but I never owned one.



"Dave Butler" wrote in message
...
Jon Kraus wrote:
They have a 1975 Mooney M20 N6832V, I think model "C" at my home
airport. The owners have had it for years and have traded up to a twin
Comanche (sp?). It has a new engine (250 hours) and a new 3 blade
McCaulley prop. The avionics are decent (Bendix KMA 24 audio, 2 - KX155
nav/com KT76a transponder, KR87 ADF and Garmin 150xl GPS). It has
7150 hours on the tach which seems quite high to me but I am really
quite the novice when it comes to airplanes. The interior and paint are
decent (6 for the interior, 8 for the paint). They are asking $45,000
for it. I have done some research and this seems like an OK price but I
haven't seen too many of these with this many hours. Please give me
some feeback without flaming me too bad. :-)

Like all airplanes, Mooney's design is a compromise. In the Mooney, they
have
biased the compromise in favor of going fast and economically, at the
expense of
ease of entry and exit, and (some say) comfort and space. Personally I
think you
have to admire the engineering tailored for a particular mission,
high-speed,
economical cross-country personal travelling.

If you "get it" you can overlook the comfort and space issues. It's more
like
sitting in a sports car with your fanny close to the belly pan and your
legs
straight out in front of you. I find it a comfortable seating position,
others
may not. By contrast, brands C and P (particularly C) are more like a
kitchen
chair seating position.

The windscreen is close to your face, which gives a wide angle of view,
but
makes some feel claustrophbic.

The landing gear is so simple and reliable that you can almost ignore the
extra
expense. You do have to swing the gear at annual, but compared to brands C
and
P, the landing gear is trouble-free. It's an all mechanical system with no
hydraulics. It just works.

The "suspension" is hard with no hydraulic struts to absorb the bumps. You
will
not be taxiing as fast as brands C or P. It's also unforgiving of
misjudged
landings. You -will- bounce. If you're buying used, find out when the
"hockey
pucks" hard rubber suspension was last replaced. Mooney recommends every
10
years. It's about a $2K repair. If you take the weight off the wheels and
the
pucks don't expand to fill the extra space, it's time to replace them.

As someone else mentioned, fuel leaks are another potential problem and
expensive repair.

The ground clearance of the main landing gear fairings is a consideration
if you
plan on operating from rough fields.

Get a good instructor with lots of Mooney experience to check you out.
Type
knowledge will save you lots of time in learning to land it. It's not
hard, but
it's definitely different.

I'm biased because I have a J model, but you might consider whether you
want to
hold out for a J. It has a lot of aerodynamic cleanup and goes a little
faster
and farther then the earlier models on the same amount of fuel. Prices
are, of
course, correspondingly higher.

I love mine, wouldn't go back to Cessna for anything, but it's not for
everybody.