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

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The 2017 Buyer's Guide highlights a diverse selection of leading piston singles, ranging from updated existing models to newly certified aircraft, offering options from basic trainers to high-performance, pressurized six-seaters.
Advanced avionics are a prominent feature across many models, with the market-dominating Cirrus SR22 G6 launching Garmin's updated G1000 NXi (Perspective+) suite, and other premium aircraft also boasting state-of-the-art Garmin G1000 or G3000 systems.
The featured aircraft cater to various pilot needs, including pressurized high-altitude cruisers (Piper M350), fast retractable-gear personal aircraft (Beechcraft G36 Bonanza, Mooney Acclaim Ultra/Ovation Ultra), and capable fixed-gear alternatives (Cessna TTx, Cirrus SR22/SR20).

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Cirrus SR22 G6

Once again, the best-selling piston single is the Cirrus SR22. The 2017 model, the G6, has features that will attract new customers and get existing ones to trade up to this year’s model. The SR22, available in normally aspirated and turbocharged models, is a fast, high-flying single with a whole-airplane recovery parachute system. The big news this year is the avionics suite. Cirrus is the launch customer for Garmin’s brand-new G1000 NXi suite with its upgraded Perspective+ cockpit, a great upgraded edition of the avionics maker’s seminal flat-panel solution. With faster, sharper, more user-friendly and more capable functionality, Perspective+ will turn heads and attract even more buyers.

Niche: Premium fixed-gear

Base Price: $639,900

Competitors: Mooney Acclaim Ultra, Cessna TTx, Piper Matrix

Read our Cirrus SR22T G6 pilot report.

Cirrus SR22T G6 Specifications

Learn more at Cirrus Aircraft.