cougar for multi/ir?

[yorky drifter]

Hi guys and girls,
Just after a bit of advice,im doing the rounds looking for a decent school for multi/ir.One that i have seen uses grumman cougars for all the multi stuff but i have never heard of one before.Just wondered if anyone can enlighten me a little as to what they are like in comparison to a seneca/duchess in terms of performance/handling/xwind limits etc.

Many thanks

Yorky

[lady in red]

More robust than a Seneca to land and better crosswind performance - 25 knots. Not very exciting in the single engine climb, but then nor is the Seneca 1 . Easy to learn on compared to the Seneca 3 where you have to fiddle with the throttle levers rather a lot to avoid over boosting. Should cost a fair bit less than the Duchess or Seneca as it only has 2x160HP normally aspirated engines and the Seneca 2 and 3 are somewhat more powerful than that.
Hope this helps

[silverknapper]

Certainly easier to land than the Seneca. But Seneca outperforms it in all areas. Cougar is nice and stable, and also slow enough to give you time to think. From memory cruise is 20kts less than Seneca. It is an absolute dog on one engine, but then most light twins are, the Duchess certainly is. Don't eat breakfast if your flying on one!!!
Not many Cougars are fitted with de-icing gear, a factor worth considering depending on when you are training. Cougar also has carbs, so you have to mess about with carb heat.
Finally, parts for Cougars are a pain to get , bear it in mind if the school only has one.

Cheers