Jaime Steel (apologies for the pic I nicked it off her website )
All the usual caveats apply. - this is just my 5 pennyworth
1 have the aircraft checked.
in this respect I was slightly disappointed - I employed the ferry company to do the pre purchase inspection - I did not receive a written report and they missed a couple of SB's which hadn't been done. When we're talking about buying a nearly new Cirrus you want your pre purchase inspector to tell you that maintenance is up to date and if there have been any funnies in the maintenance history. As a European you may not be familiar with FAA documentation and I think it is a tall order to do this paperwork checking yourself.
2 buy from a reputable source
I am less adamant on this one- I did check out a couple of private sales - one went before I got to Duluth to see it. In the end I decided to buy from Steel Aviation rather than Cirrus brokers. From the sales agreement it would appear that the aircraft was owned by Steel rather than them acting as an agent . This is frequently true where aircraft have been taken in part exchange. This is more confidence building as you have a highly visible business to deal with. You are paying as much as for a small house. If it were a property you would have a solicitor and go through conveyancing which means checking
- who owns it
- is there any mortgage outstanding
- do any third parties have rights over it
you may not have to check whether a motorway is being built through it or if the drains smell but its worth getting some professional help in this area. Because I was keeping CD on the US register I needed to set up a US Trust - consequently I had the assistance of Heritage Guernsey who went through all the paperwork.
I would say this is not a job for amateurs.
I very nearly bough from Cirrus used/approved second-hand whatever they call themselves. They do promise a 'factory' going over of the aircraft which sounds utterly reliable. They do however seems to ask premium prices. On the other hand I am sure it would be a hassle free buying route. In the end I am happy with my experience from Steel - they shift enough Cirrus to offer almost as reliable a service
Those are the cautions
I was looking for a 2004 SR22 Gts - with all the options except air con. I
particularly thought that having TKS deicing might be a useful get out of jail
card here in Europe. Funnily enough I flew another 2004 without TKS during my
Cirrus familiarisation - so I could compare directly - though Bill disagreed I
thought there was a notable difference in speed of several knots - better
without TKS - I believe I have seen somewhere in the POH a statement that TKS
can cost 2-3 knots in the cruise - doesn't sound much though. Apart from that I
wanted the G2 generation 2 version - I think quite a lot of improvements were
made after mid 2003.
the GTS version is usually all options - the broker will advertise these heavily
FWIW - the air con is a waste of weight. - the XM weather cannot be used in
Europe though is superb. - the TAWS will need a European database at a price -
ditto the nav boxes(430's) and the Avidyne MFD map.
In my opinion the 2004 and 2005 models are the best for the money- they have the
twin Avidyne PFD and MFD display but still have the backup ASI AI and ALT plus
engine dials for back up.
There seems to be something like $30k difference for each year - for instance a
2006 fully loaded model will be priced at around $379k or $389k while a
2005 will be $359k - The amount of options has a little to do with the price (a
fully loaded SR22 might sell for $15-20k more than a plain vanilla one)
and of course there is negotiation. For instance the 2004 model I helped deliver
to Virginia had minimum options but the owner told me he had been stalking it
for months and threw in a 'curved ball' offer which was accepted at $279k -
about $30k below the going rate. It all depends on the original seller and your
own timing but there are bargains to be had - ALL prices and comments relevant
and current only Sep 07 - there has been a steep fall in SR22 prices this year
possibly because of the introduction of the G3 version
When you then add on the think end of $30k to get the aircraft back to Europe you are still getting a lot of aircraft for your money
