Florian,

Whether it makes sense or not, HBC has a method to their madness. They build Bonanzas to help fill out the hangar of their corporate fleet customers. If your Bonanza needs more preformance, buy a Baron. If a Baron doesn't meet the challenge, buy a King Air.

The Bonanza is made for the short, 150 mile run. I had a guy that owns a new Lear ask me a bunch of preformance questions one day. He said he makes that kind of run often with just one passenger. I burn $89.00 worth of fuel and he burns $1500. It's usually done in good weather and he only saves a mere 10 minutes off my time due to routing. He was really interested in adding a G36 to his fleet.

Piper is trying to sell the Matrix like a Cirrus.....an all in one solution! Beech wants to move you up and have you keep the Bonanza around. They claim nobody makes money on pistons anyway.....why would you want to sell more?

Rick

Curious about something, Rick, perhaps you know the answer. If you go buy a new matrix, and in a year decide you want to move up to a mirage or meridian, the dealer will give you 90% back on your purchase price on a trade in. Does HBC offer this?

Yeah, but its a PIPER, folks!!! jeez

PMC

No, does Piper really do that?

I don't know but if you can afford to go buy a Meridien why not just do it and skip the year in the Matrix.

Seems like one of those offers that's fun to throw out there but nobody ever takes you up on.

90%? That's not saying much ether for 1 year on an airplane.

I'm sure you'd pay full list for the second Piper!

From someone who did it it's full list to full list including all transfer fees ,we went from a Mirage to a Meridian in a year and a half ,and 450 hrs

Yes, Jason, it is space I run out of, not weight in my Bonanza because my kids are still pretty small, but they require a lot of (let's call it stuff for now) to go on a trip that doesn't weigh that much but fills up the tail with the light stuff and the floor space with the heavy stuff. The decision I am weighing is whether to go Baron or Matrix as both add some cargo space and payload (baron with nose compartment), Matrix with nose and aft storage and appears to have more space between passenger seats, but that could be optical allusion.

I have heard (from my Beech mechanic) that the other P-46s have had some high maintenance issues on the exhausts and the motors, and it is a good question whether the Matrix will follow flying unpressurized and lower missions.

Your kids are small now but that's gonna change quick.

I'd TN your Bo and save your pennies for a King Air or Pilatus.

I just looked at a G58 the other day and considered a trade. It's too much money for too little return. It the exact same size cabin. I just can't bring myself to do it.

I've flown a Meridien. I do not think the Matrix cabin is any larger than a Bonanza. Go sit in one. It's wider but it's also lower.

yes they do offer it, I was there when they offered it to my friend, to try a mirage and if he wanted to step up to the meridian a year after they'd give him 90% back for the mirage. As you said, I'm sure you'd pay full price on the new one.

Jason, I need to do exactly that, i.e. go sit in one as the room in the Matrix seems to be a topic of debate (the Piper sales guy says once you sit in and fly it, the space and comfort sells itself). If I could TN the Bo and put a luggage rack on top that would carry 200 pounds of luggage or 30 cubic feet or so, I would need no other plane. I really like flying my Bonanza and it was once parked next to yours at Epps which makes it that much cooler, in spite of your updated 70s yearbook photo. My kids will not get smaller, but the need to travel with a nanny will hopefully dissipate (if not, I may dissipate).

Let me know if you want to split a PC 12, that may be the end game.

If space is such an issue and you are considering a Piper why not get a 310? same speed as the baron and more space. Back compartment, nose and nacelle lockers. You can buy the 310 and still have money left over to upgrade the panel with all you would ever want and then some.

In my opinion, when it comes to Piper/Cessna vs. Beech, I choose Beech due to the fact its a Beech. Enough said.

I don't think the Matrix is going to give you that either. Not enough to warrant the price difference and the amount of work required to make the change.

For me, the right progression is from a high performance single piston to a single turbine. Overspending on a piston isn't the fastest way into a turbine.