KLRDMD

I recently paid less than that for a very nice SR20 G2. I'm an LOP guy and see 145 KTAS on 8.5-9.0 GPH which falls a bit short of his 160 kt requirement.

Come out to Tucson/Las Vegas and try it for yourself in my airplane

Last summer I had the Electroair push button installed in my Cirrus. It is great! http://www.electroair.net/switchPanel.html

You want a CFI with a lot of Mooney time. This isn't when you choose the flight school CFI with a ton of 172 time and not much else. I recommend at least 500 hours of Mooney time, 1,000 is better.

This ^

WOW. This looks quite a bit different than when I last flew it!

A few years ago the guy in the hangar next to me had one. They are definitely a niche airplane but if it fits your needs, it is very nice. The conversions have been done for probably two decades or so.

This is overly simplistic and not even remotely true, but it is off-topic so I will not comment further.

Also no cowl flaps on the Cirri and 310s.

Since you brought it up. I would offer the SR20 G2 provides the best value today in the Cirrus line. A friend of mine picked me up in Las Vegas last week and flew me home to Tucson. This was in an Ovation 3. I made the same flight, same route, same altitude, and virtually identical winds two weeks prior in my SR20 G2. The Ovation saved 13 minutes but burned 3 gallons more than the Cirrus. I would imagine an Ovation slowed to SR20 speeds would burn about the same amount of fuel, maybe even just a bit less, over the trip. You get a 49" wide cabin, two doors, modern avionics, great autopilot, and an airframe that's less than 20 years old versus 40-60 years old. Insurance is cheaper on the Cirrus for a similar hull value due to the fixed gear.

I can't say that's been my experience. I've never had any cylinder work on any Continenals I have owned and flown. I've had an IO-360 (yes, Continental), TSIO-360s (seven of them), IO-470s (two of them), O-470s (two of them), IO-520 (three of them), and two IO-550s.

Let's see. It hits 115ºF (46ºC) here in the summer and the field elevation is 2,940 ft. At 6,500 ft, that's 39ºC (102ºF). Not my idea of cooling off. At 9,500 ft, it is down to 33ºC (91ºF), not exactly what I would call cool either. To get down to an actual cool temperature of 65ºF (18ºC) would require a climb to 17,000 ft.

I'm now flying back and forth weekly between Tucson and Las Vegas. Hot to hotter. The hangar situation is ridiculous there and shade tie-downs aren't much better. There's even a waitlist for open tie-downs at VGT. The best I can do for now is an open tie-down at HND. And I've been on wait lists for over a year and a half.

If it is below 100º, fly. 100º-110º, only if I have to. Above 110º I really don't want to go.

Primarily efficiency. My Bravo would not run LOP so I cruised at 19.4 GPH to keep the T.I.T. and other parameters in line. My 231 ran well LOP, and I cruised most often at 9.5 GPH. The Bravo was 20-25 knots faster on twice the fuel. It didn't hurt that the 231 purchase price was less than half that of the Bravo but that wasn't a top concern.