Sternone
Now you know the reason why there are a good many Cirrus for sale at the moment. It is equally true of Diamonds and I suspect true of just about every other aircraft in curent production with the number for sale being approximately proportionate to the number produced.
As I was attempting to explain earlier there is still a niche market in aviation. Really good Mooneys or Bonanazas are hard to find. Moreover I think we would agree, they are built in a different way, although I am still not sure the build quality is enormously better. However just like my analogy with yachts there are some people who will pay the going rate for quality or simply to be different. Mind you even that market is temperamental at the moment - you could get lucky and sell a good Ovation quickly and you might not be so lucky.
When I thought of buying a 42 everyone wanted one - the market was really strong and prices reflected the strengh - how that has changed, you cant give them away now.
I dont know why you are so fixated on depreciation. Have you looked at the price of some cars when new and compared this price with their second hand value a year after?
Finally I dont know why you apply logic to an illogical situation. Look on eBay at some of the consumer items purchased weeks before and being sold for a fraction of their new price. You have only got to discuss with a woman the logic of spending £4,000 on a bag and I know of some men who are worse; well come to that any man that buys a new light aircraft! I can think of at least one chap I know who has sold three cars in the last 14 months each pruchased new and each involving a very signficant loss; one of the cars he had for three weeks and it cost him £8K - I make that nearly £16 for every single hour he owned it.
In short you are wasting your time trying to make a rational financial argument for ever buying a new aircraft.
If you want value for money buy something a few years old - it has always been that way. Most of the depreciation works itself off in that period but with any luck you will not have to spend too much on the item for a few more years. I was always fond of telling people that I actually sold the first aircraft I owned for more than I paid for it - I really did. However, in reality the maintenance costs were high, much higher than on an aircraft a few years old and of course I didnt add the "capital" running costs onto the purchase price.