Let me summarize the items so far on the Cirrus that are really worrisome :
* Depreciation on a cirrus is stunning, how much value drops the Cirrus compared to other planes after 10 years ?
* the BRS parachute needs to be replaced every 10 years, IMHO at least a $25.000 job in Europe.
* Insurance rates are higher on a Cirrus than on a Bonanza, Mooney or Cessna Corvallis
* Have high post crash fires
* Sidestick always needs trimming
* Lack of a prop rpm lever (10% waste of fuel)
* Noisy cockpit
* Cirrus airframe limit is 15.000 hours ( I rather have a plane with a non-life limit)
* A cirrus wing with ice up drops the speed much more than the same type of laminar wing than on a mooney
* Cirrus planes looks beat up after 400 hours inside/outside
* Aviation consumer : "The cirrus accident record can be summed in a single word: disapointing" The fleetwide fatal rate for Cirrus is 2.2/100.000 compared to a GA fatal rate of 1.2/100.000 according tot he NTSB
* Financial status of Cirrus, it depends on 1 oil sheik. I give another example here :
At AOPA convention a week ago Cirrus was selling "takeover" positions from prior depositors on the cirrus jet. Basically, you could buy a prior depositor out for their deposit, get the benefit of "5,000 a year in upgrades" and take over the original depositor's delivery position for the price of the original deposit plus a $15k transfer fee. On a question to Cirrus why are they doing this since these deposits were supposed to be fully refundable they answered: "because we are refunding them from cash flow and there isn't much of that right now."
I want potential Cirrus buyers to look out for other things and think twice before they go with the marketing lie. Ofcorse Mooney and Beechcraft planes have their problems. Just not as much as Cirrus.
Last edited by sternone; 15th Nov 2009 at 09:32.