Cessna developing new LSA

On 2006-06-09, Dave Stadt wrote:
Then why did Diamond dump Rotax in favor of Continental.

The Continental engine is much more powerful - 125hp IIRC. That little
85 hp engine was never enough for the Katana. The issue of a very
conservative US market which won't buy anything other than
Lyc/Continental probably didn't help, and as you point out the
lack of decent after sales service in the US just compounded the problem.

We'll probably see the same thing with Thierlert - they will do well in
Europe but despite burning half the fuel of a Lycontisaurus, probably
won't sell at all in the US.

Kept properly maintained (just like any other 4 stroke engine), the 4
stroke Rotaxes are reliable.

--
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Dylan Smith wrote:

On 2006-06-09, Dave Stadt wrote:

Then why did Diamond dump Rotax in favor of Continental.


The Continental engine is much more powerful - 125hp IIRC. That little
85 hp engine was never enough for the Katana. The issue of a very
conservative US market which won't buy anything other than
Lyc/Continental probably didn't help, and as you point out the
lack of decent after sales service in the US just compounded the problem.

It isn't a "conservative US market", it is the lack of an overall better
product. The same was said about Japanese cars in the 70s. Nobody
would ever buy Japanese cars. Well, you don't hear that much now. They
got their act together and made a better product. There is certainly a
time lag as folks catch on to the product being better, but Rotax has
been around long enough to overcome that ... if only they had a better
product.


Matt

Cool. But if you've flown the "CT", you know that the "modern 152" is
already on the market, brand new, for less than $90K.
http://www.flightdesignusa.com/

$92,900 for the base price does not sound like "less than $90K." :-)

They were selling for "only" $86K here in Iowa City...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Actually, its sounds like they're going to have a scale model, not a
full size mockup. I could be wrong though.

You must be thinking of 2 stroke rotax's. The 4 strokes are very
reliable. Lots of 2 strokes of different makes deadstick, mostly due to
old fuel.

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Dylan Smith wrote:

On 2006-06-09, Dave Stadt wrote:

Then why did Diamond dump Rotax in favor of Continental.


The Continental engine is much more powerful - 125hp IIRC. That little 85
hp engine was never enough for the Katana. The issue of a very
conservative US market which won't buy anything other than
Lyc/Continental probably didn't help, and as you point out the lack of
decent after sales service in the US just compounded the problem.

It isn't a "conservative US market", it is the lack of an overall better
product. The same was said about Japanese cars in the 70s. Nobody would
ever buy Japanese cars. Well, you don't hear that much now. They got
their act together and made a better product. There is certainly a time
lag as folks catch on to the product being better, but Rotax has been
around long enough to overcome that ... if only they had a better product.

And if they had anything approaching a support network.

Matt

"John T" wrote in message
...
You must be thinking of 2 stroke rotax's. The 4 strokes are very reliable.
Lots of 2 strokes of different makes deadstick, mostly due to old fuel.

Yep, the two strokes are "very" unreliable. The 4 strokes are "just"
unreliable.

Do some looking around, out there in cyberspace. There are plenty of folks
that have had bad experiences with the 4 strokes.
--
Jim in NC