Cirrus and Lancair Make Bonanza Obsolete?

Plural for Cirrus is Cirri!
BTW, I completely agree that whether a Bo' is better or not, what the
overall health of GA requires is new aircraft entering the fleet at rates
that exceed what we've seen of late (say the last, sadly, 20 years?).
Cessna hasn't done anything of note that wasn't powered by Jet-A. Piper's
best offerings have been problematic but at least they're trying. Beech is
slowly but surely working it's way out of the "low" end (say less than
$million). Diamond, Cirrus, Lancair and a few others are turning out some
terrific aircraft at much more reasonable prices. I hope that the Piper 6X
entries do well too. It's good for all.


"Windecks" wrote in message
. com...
We have a 1974 V35B with a Millenium reman IO-520, Garmin GNS430, Avidyne
MX20, Sandel EHSI, some other assorted doo-dads. The paint and interior
are
a solid 9/10, 'almost new'.

While it's not the state of the art glass panel in the Cirrus line, it's
more than adeqaute, with 3 moving maps, terrain readout and an approach
coupled autopilot. Cruise is 170 KTAS at 8000', burning less than 15gph.
The plane is easy to fly, and becomes a docile little puppy when you drop
the gear.

Total acquisition and upgrade cost was just shy of $185k. I can't imagine
calling it obsolete when compared to a $300k+ SR22. Then again, I prefer
my
50 year old remodeled house over any of the more expensive newly
constructed
ones in our neck of the woods... Go figure.

That said, I'm happy to see the Cirruses (Cirrae?), LANCAIRS and Diamonds
roll of the production line. In the long run competition is a good thing,
and it's nice to see there's a choice when it comes to spending your
aviation Dollars and Euros. Some like the latest and greatest, and prefer
to buy new. For me, having researched, priced and flown all the
alternatives
it was an easy choice: Old reliable Beech.

"Potential Bo Buyer" wrote in message
om...
Why is the market for late model V35B's and F33A's so flat. The
economic climate (real and perceived) and 90's run-up have a lot to do
with it, I'll acknowledge that. But there seems to be something else
at work in this market.

Are the Lancair Columbia and Cirrus SR22 substitute products for the
4-place Bonanzas? (For the sake of this post V35B's and F33A's are 4
place not 6 place airplanes. Keep it real.) To be honest, if I had
300K + in my budget I would probably evaluate the Columbia and SR22
first before considering a Bonanza. After all, they're faster with
fixed gear, won't corrode, have modern avionics and are 30 years newer
than the Bonanzas I'm considering.

It looks as if the once assumed appreciation rate for Bonanzas is in
for a big change. Agree? Thoughts?

Flynn,

total agreement.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)