Its really interesting to look at the diversity of opinions here.

I have lots of Mooney time (my first retractable was a Super 21 - back in 1975). My Bro has a 201 which he LOVES and I have had the pleasure of recent Ovation time.

I heard all the stories about how tricky the long body Mooneys are to land. Imagine my surprise to find that if you ignore the OWTs and fly it by the book its just another aeroplane. I don't buy that they are any more difficult to handle than any other common single with power and speed, and the speed brakes solve the main Mooney issue of slowing down. I leave them out until short final.

The Ovation is a hoot to fly...............but if I was going somewhere I wouldn't walk past a good Bonanza to get to the Ovation! I find the seating position (in the Mooney) to be uncomfortable on long trips, while the Bo doesn't have the same issue for me.

I resemble that remark.

I've owned (8) Mooneys. All long bodies except for (2) 201's and a Rocket converted 231. I really like them although I'm not a big fan of the 4 cylinder Lycoming in the 201. Bullet proof but just not smooth enough for me. Never owned an Acclaim but test flew one at Sun-n-Fun one year. Saw 215k TAS at 13,500. That was quite the eye opener as the best I'd ever seen was 205k TAS at 21,000 in a TKS Bravo I owned. Long body Mooneys are 3368lb gross weight airframes but I was told factory pilots routinely fly them at 4100lbs. Not that I'm endorsing flying at that weight that but I wouldn't worry a lot if I ended up in a situation where I was a little overweight. Of course you always want to take into consideration runway length, density altitude, etc. My favorite was the Mooney PFM powered by the Porsche 3200 Flugmotor. Not the fastest thing in the sky (really a 155k TAS airplane) but turbine smooth and just push the lever in when you wanted to go and pull it out when you wanted to slow down. No cowl flaps, no prop control, no mixture control. When considering a G1000 equipped Mooney make sure you determine if it's WAAS certified. It's over $30k to add it later! Some are also equipped with G1000's but the STEC 55 a/p. No way practical to upgrade them to the Garmin 700 a/p and I'm not even sure you can make them WAAS approved. If you don't like the seating position in a Corvette you probably won't like a Mooney as the seating position is similar.

I think right now a Bravo is the best bang for the buck out there if that's the mission. Prices are down for sure. Fortunatly for me, I don't want to sell, after 11 years I'm still as happy as can be. A Bravo would get him 95% of the same airplane for a ton le$$.

Having owned over 30 airplanes over a 50 year period and a Bravo for eight years, I will say that the Bravo, the Queen Air, and the T-Bone, are the only three airplanes I ever missed. Were I to sell the Aerostar, I would probably say the same because I love it.

The Mooney is one of the most straight forward handling airplanes you can own. It is sleek and speed control during landing is to be adhered to, but that's just because it is a clean airframe even with the gear down. On the other hand, it will ride the loc/ils like on rails and I like that.

It does not fly "like" a Skylane or a Bonanza. It flies like "a Mooney". The professional pilot to whom I sold my Bravo flew a Challenger and would not let me give him proper instruction in landing; yes, I am an instructor. Within a week of watching him fly off in my perfect, pristine, Bravo, my mechanic got a call from his mechanic inquiring as to damage from a hard landing on the nose gear. My mechanic got a good laugh out of that. The buyer's agent took about 200 photos of the airplane before purchase which showed an unbroken exhaust manifold and a perfectly smooth engine cowling which was "then" not the case.

There are a couple of idiosyncrasies to flying the Mooney, but I won't delve into them here. As to its less responsive control inputs than a Bonanza, yes, that's true. it is also a far better instrument platform than either the Bonanza or the Baron, IMO, and yes, I've owned both.

If the Mooney fits, wear it.

Jgreen

I owned a 97 m20j model for 3 years and an 06 g1000 Ovation for 7 years. Great planes and very inexpensive to own and operate. Annuals averaged 3k using a reputable Mooney shop.

As another poster mentioned, if you are comfortable with the low seat position and don't need to fly high often, you will likely love owning the plane - they are very well built, efficient, and stable IFR platforms.

Jeff

Here's a picture of the Mooney factory, as seen this weekend.

You flew to China?

Didn't know Mooney made a biplane.

You flew to China?