The 4 pax cleanly gives the win to the 210.

Suggest getting one with the most HP you can find. Turbo is okay if you need it, but a big NA engine is simpler to take care of.

If you ever expect to find ice, the 210 wins on that count, too.

I'd also look at a Comanche. I had one before my T210L and it was actually a bit faster at non oxygen altitudes and climbed better. I think the 260B or 260C would be best.

Mike C.

I want something with TKS installed already.

Do some homework on a 550P AA conversion for a 210L/M/N. I recently bought an L. 1498Useful. 14gal/hour LOP 165TAS 7000 feet. Ours has the gear doors. We upgraded from a 182RG, and had a great opportunity to buy into an A36. With a family of 5, my wife rightly said, 'Where is our stuff going to go' in the Bo. RG had a 200lb baggage compartment and a 1250 UL. The 70 lb limitation was tough in the A36, particularly for a lot more $$.

With just 2 of us on the maiden flight in the 210L, the climb rate was 1500ft/min to 7000. Just crazy..in a good way. No need for AC either, since it is a high wing, and ours has rosens and window film.

A mooney would only work for us, if the kids were grown. The bonanza is more 'fun' to fly but the 210 carries a load and has the volume we need for our mission. Also no CG loading issues.

the 550P changes the game. check it out.

What is your home base ? My TLS/Bravo will do that mission in comfort while hauling a$$. Granted if you "have" to have the forth person then a fuel stop OR just a touch longer runway and all is fine.
The question, Just how often will you actually have four large adults has not been asked ? An Ovation is probably an option too if you don't want to fly real high (and fast)
Take the rear seats out of a long body Mooney in one minute and you can move your furniture too :-)

A few comments from a Mooney driver.

Don't let the useful load in the M20K concern you. Full fuel is over 6 hours endurance at 170+ knots, even without extended range tanks. You may have to leave off some fuel to haul 4 adults, instead of just saying "fill 'em up," but you can haul a load a long ways in the planes. You don't need to haul as much gas with you. I've had 4 adults in mine with overnight bags and it works fine, for 2-3 hour legs.

All of that being said, I would expect a 210 to haul a lot more in comfort. But it's a 6-seat plane.

TKS on M20Ks is pretty rare. The 231 models cannot be FIKI, because they have a single alternator. The 252 is available in FIKI, but that is even more rare and comes at a high price premium. If this is an absolute requirement for you, you might have to compromise on other features (run out engine, chipped paint, torn interior, etc) or wait a long time until the plane you want comes on the market.

I think you're comparing a 4-seat go-fast sports-car plane (the M20K) to a 6-seat family-hauler SUV plane (the 210).

The M20K really is in direct competition with the 182, not the 210. I would suggest you pick your class of aircraft first, and then decide on your preferred model.

Hard to go 800nm in 2-3 hours though.

Hard to go 800nm in 2-3 hours though.

When looking at useful load, the question is normally not 'how much weight can I carry with full fuel' but rather, 'how long am I willing to sit in the plane without getting out to stretch'? My wife does not like to sit for more than about 3 hours. That's about 450 NM in my Mooney J (aka 201). I only need about 40 gallons on board at liftoff to do that with 10 gallons of reserve at landing. The plane will hold 64 gallons. That's another 2+40 of flying and 400 miles that I never use and would cost me about 140# of load carrying capability.

So ask yourself how long will my PASSENGERS be willing to sit in the plane? Then figure out how much gas you need to fly that long. Then figure out how much you can haul with that fuel load.

My J has a 970# useful load. I can load up about 740# of people and bags for that 3 hour flight.

A 210L or M will probably have a useful load approaching 1500#. If you assume 60 gallons required, that leaves a very impressive 1150# for people and bags.

The Mooney 231/252 will be faster than the 210 on less fuel. Might be 500 NM rather than 450 NM in 3 hours.

The T210 will probably be about the same speed as the 231/252 but will probably lose about 100# of useful load.

I would love to have a 210L or M because I could load up 6 people, some bags, and still fly for 3 hours. However, I'd be paying 50% more for everything all year long just to be able to do that once or twice each year.

Best of luck,

Bob

I have a 78 T210M and normally plan for 165KTAS at 12K. Go higher and go faster. That's LOP 14ish GPH. With nearly 90 gallons that's nearly 6hrs endurance at cruise consumption. Block to block is higher obviously but still way more gas than I can stand to burn at one time. If I go ROP I can pick up 7-10 kts for a 5 GPH penalty. All this with a useful load of better than 1500#. Plenty of gas and 4 fat guys can be done no worries.

I put down a depsoit on a 210L.

Great!

Go join cessna.org

Ha, congrats or go away ..... You be the judge LOL

Stay here too!

I will. I like the free factor here. It seems like there is a lot of people from all backgrounds here.

I have an '87 252, which has the Encore conversion. That means it's a TSIO-360 with 220hp, and my plane has the gross weight of the '97 Encore which is 3130#.

My useful load is 1030. With TKS which I don't have my useful would be around 970 with TKS fluid.

I can carry two couples - myself and son in front at 400#, my wife and son's fiance in back at 250# in the back row. That's 650# in people. For a weekend, figure 60# in bags. I never have to worry about weight and balance - it's just not an issue although I do check it to be certain, with a full load.

Loaded as above, I can carry 320# in fuel, or 54 gal. Assuming 12gph, that gives me 42 gal with an hour reserve.

I flight plan for 170kts, 12gph at 10-11k feet. If I go higher, say 17,000, I plan for 180kts. If at FL220, I plan on 190kts but actually see 192-195kts TAS. I don't go much higher than that although technically my ceiling is 28,000.

I can and do run lean of peak on 10.7gph, and see consistent 165-166kts TAS at 10-11,000 feet.

Under those parameters, range looks like this with no wind:
At 10-11000ft, 12gph, it's an endurance of 3.5 hours with IFR reserve so a range of 595nm.
LOP, at 10-11,000 and 10.7 gph, 165kts for 4 hours, something like 660nm with IFR reserve.

Up high I'm running ROP to keep things cool, 13.5gph. So a bit more than 3 hours' endurance but TAS of 190+ in the flight levels. Range is, say, 570nm with a full load.

With 2 people I can run full tanks which is 72gal usable. Just did that a couple weeks ago, flew myself, a friend, and a bunch of camping gear out to Flagstaff from Missouri. We had 800nm mile legs, no problem. I hit 282kts coming back, with a decent tailwind at FL210.



I can also carry two full suspension 29er mountain bikes in the back with the rear seats down, and myself and someone else up front.

Hope this helps - I saw this a little late but wanted to share real data.