Best affordable plane for IFR?

Blueangel said:
At this point the Bonanza, 182RG and Mooney work. Commander is hard to find parts for as they no longer are in production. Yeah I know about the COG but thats still a stretch if an airframe part goes bad.
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So....what are we calling affordable? :goofy::D
 
hindsight2020 said:
Indeed. But to be clear, the semi-tapered PA28s have superior climb and glide qualities to the hershey bar wing, and the post-78 wheel pants are 7 knot pants over the zero knot improvement of the classic wheel pants, which makes the Archer/Warrior II objectively faster than the cherokee 180/160. Is it 60K's worth of a difference over a classic cherokee? Of course not.

I used to own a warrior ii and now own an arrow ii. I miss the semi tapered wing terribly. The glide qualities of the pre-III Arrrow are horrible. Every now and then I pull the throttle in the pattern and play "can I make it". I just laugh as I sink short. It's such a pointless pursuit. Alas, money talks and I was able to get into a waas and OEM autopilot equipped II for a lot less than a comparable III. Life is a compromise for us working stiffs.
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Oh yeah, Arrows and Hershey bar Cherokees glide about as well as a brick. I practice pattern work by pulling power abeam the numbers and if I don't head to the numbers at that moment I will most definitely come up short. With a Cessna you could easily float the whole runway heh..

I guess it's just confusing to me why anyone would EVER buy an Archer over an equivalent Cherokee. But it's come up a few times now so wanted to understand what the darned appeal was all about.

Mooney's are good planes too, but I hear them called the Porsche's of the sky a lot. The reason is because while they are fast, they have a SUPER small cramped interior.

If you're looking at Beechcraft, there's a really nice C24R Sierra for sale for like 50K on Jacks right now, cruises around 140, complex and they have roomy interiors.
 
Mooney appear cramped because the cockpit roof is lower than other planes more sports car like. The long body ones are great but cost more like the Ovation and Bravo.
 
Blueangel said:
Mooney appear cramped because the cockpit roof is lower than other planes more sports car like. The long body ones are great but cost more like the Ovation and Bravo.
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Seat is lower, enough leg room for a NBA center, but cabin is not wide, so if you are on the wide side, you probably won't like it.
 
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