i have flown a Cirrus 500+ hrs and find it to be very passenger
friendly / pilot neutral. what i mean is that non-aviation passengers
like the interior, the parachute, xm radio in the headsets - you get
the picture. as a pilot the plane is OK to fly but difficult to keep
in trim unlike several other planes i have flown. The discussion about
Cirrus and spins is not current. Cirrus has shown spin recovery in
doing their JAA flight tests but chose not to go that route in the US
where it was not necessary.

i currently fly a Lancair Legacy discussed earlier in this forum. The
plane is kit-built so the best glide speeds vary but the 13.3 to 1
glide ratio is respectable ( a little better than 2 nm per 1000 ft
altitude lost ) this is nowhere near the 2000 ft per minute descent
rate erroneously described. many owners have installed full feathering
props (like used in twins) and have glide ratios over 20 to 1. These
planes climb between 2 - 3K ft/min and cruise at 235 kts so there is
not alot of time spent under 10,000 ft.