Plane & Pilot 2017 Buyer’s Guide: Single-Engine Piston Planes

Newcomers, upgrades, and old favorites: 20 piston singles for 2017.

Plane & Pilot

Tuesday, January 31, 2017 at 08:13 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

The piston single aircraft market offers a diverse range of options, from high-performance pressurized six-seaters like the Piper M350 to versatile fixed-gear trainers such as the Piper Archer, with new and updated models continuously being introduced.
Many leading aircraft, including the best-selling Cirrus SR22 G6 and its competitors like the Cessna TTx, are equipped with advanced Garmin avionics suites (e.g., G1000 NXi, G3000), emphasizing modern cockpit technology and enhanced safety features.
The selection highlights significant advancements in speed, range, and comfort across various price points, with examples like the Mooney Acclaim Ultra boasting the title of the world's fastest piston single and the Piper Matrix offering best-in-class range.

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Piper Matrix

What do you get when you take a pressurized Mirage piston single, take out the pressurization system and price it hundreds of thousands less than the Mirage? A Matrix. Here’s why. The most popular plane in the world is the Cirrus SR22, right? So with the Matrix you get a huge cabin in comparison with room for six (four in club seating configuration in back), SR22-like 213 knots top speed, the Garmin G1000 panel with all of its safety enhancements and an operating profile like other non-pressurized turbocharged singles, so four-seater pilots feel confident stepping up. It’s brilliant. And the Matrix, with its huge 120-gallon capacity, has a range of better than 1300 nm: by far, the best in class. With the big panel of the PA-46 line, the Matrix also has the room for a giant 15-inch multifunction display in the center, bigger than any display in its class.

Niche: Premium retractable-gear piston

Base Price: $899,000

Competitors: G36 Bonanza, Cirrus SR22, Cessna TTx

Read our Piper Matrix pilot report.

Piper Matrix Specifications

Learn more at Piper Aircraft.