There is no way I could have completed many of the flights I have been able to over the last few years in a Cirrus without lots of extra fuel stops. Could you make Greece in 6h @12gph LOP from the UK in a Cirrus? I don't think so!
Scooter boy I have never heard the Cirrus being quoted as slow, fat or especially thirsty or not suitable for long missions. Now my wife that is another story.
This year we did Elba (Italy) in around 5 hours with a leisurely stop for lunch en route, we ran at about 13 gph us LOP, 65% power @ 155 knots, no complaints from me. Other Cirrus did it non stop which is more than my Girlfriend's bladder takes - Feel free to crtiicise my wife or my Cirrus as much as you wish though.
My longest trip this year was Miami to Duluth Minnesota (on the canadian border) in one day and 2 en route fuel stops, This was 10 hours flying and as I recall about 1800 miles. The only point being that I think that is plenty of distance and utility and the main factor I was not totally exhausted and felt absolutely fine, that many hours in my car would cripple me. Also I am 6' 4" and it has oodles of leg and width room
I am not trying to say my dads car is better than yours etc, and I have never flown a Mooney of any sort but understand they are perfectly good aircraft, my only point is that from what I have seen in my limited experience the Cirrus is a phenominal aircraft with superior performance, avionics, reliability and comfort than any other compareable GA 4 seater SEP in a similar category that I am aware of.
In terms of the original posters question about safety I think because of the missions the Cirrus tends to fly it is often exposed to higher risk situations like night, IFR, icing risk, over water and mountains compared to perhaps your average cessna which might typically be used for training and spends half its life in the circuit (no offense to cessna) This combined with the early years bad accident record does give an impression of a safety issue compounded by a lot of myth and BS. Also pilots not informed or knowledgeable about the BRS parrachute tend to take the piss or mock it as a gimmick with a macho I would allways rather control it into a forced landing and put it where I choose attitude. Again there is many situations BRS would be preferable to a forced landing.
It is a powerful and fast aircraft that needs appropriate training to operate safely but is certainly not beyond the scope of any reasonable average pilot to operate with a few hours extra training.
Scooter Boy, You are welcome to come to lunch at Rochester for a flight at my expense, bring your passport and the R44
Duncan