I don't think you should discount a plane because the pilot is unable to maintain appropriate airspeed control on final. If this is an issue for a pilot of a Mooney, the issue is training, not the airplane.

You're right its not a back country plane - its the wrong plane for the mission, but we've landed ours on grass occasionally, and its no problem for occasional use.

Don't understand why any Mooney aficionado would claim the cabin is larger than a Bonanza. I owned a 252 for about 6 years and 500 hours and found it comfortable on long trips. I am 5'11" and 210 pounds and flew often with a friend who was 6'2" and 235 pounds and didn't find it cramped in the least. Also was very comfortable in cruise with the seat all the way back and legs stretched but it is indeed a lounge chair feel. I do miss being able to stretch my legs out but the A36 is also comfortable on a long haul. However, I notice that the head room is a little less because I have a seat cushion. Different planes with different appeal.

I don't think you should discount a plane because the pilot is unable to maintain appropriate airspeed control on final. If this is an issue for a pilot of a Mooney, the issue is training, not the airplane.

You're right its not a back country plane - its the wrong plane for the mission, but we've landed ours on grass occasionally, and its no problem for occasional use.

I think I found the problem. You need to lose about 70 lbs. It's a good thing life has given you the opportunity to fly something that sits like a truck.

I can lock my knees pretty easily in the bonanza. I simply rest them on top of the rudder pedals. I do it in the pc12 as well. Just make sure you don't have anything that you can kick of disconnect in that area. I took a look and there's nothing on the ones I've flown..

Buy you a bicycle ! ( if the Bo will haul one)

I drove a new Viper from California to Georgia 1/4/2016. Not the first time either. Maybe these folks need to get different sports cars. I know plenty that drive longer time wise than many of us typically fly. I'm 54 so surely younger folks wouldn't have issues if this old man doesn't.
As you can see from my pictures I have plenty of room but I know you are talking about people room. I don't claim there is more, I don't care. My head doesn't hit, there is plenty of hip and shoulder room. I can stretch out fully if the back seat is empty. The perception is what most might have, 3" or 5" of room if you don't hit your head then you don't hit your head.
10-4 on the suits but I don't hold that as a comparison....if it was I wouldn't be flying one.

I have never had a Mooney driver brag on his cabin spaciousness to me. He would have received a ripe, hair-parting guffaw from me if he attempted to do so. I think this is a straw man argument and not something that actually happened.

They do brag, rightly, on their efficiency and one-piece wing design.

I don't find them uncomfortable for flights of around 2 hours, and I'm very much Walter Beech sized. Anything more than that and I get the Jimmy Legs from them being stuck in that ski tube of a footwell.

Hey Fox Guy, I'm bragging.......Mooney way more comfortable for guys with long legs than sitting upright like at a dinner table.......

Baron seat is like crapola, got no articulation like the Mooney......you were most probably in an old school Mooney and not a 94 or newer model.......

Don't get me started on the 182 (flew that damn thing almost 30 hours in 4 days)

and what the hell you know about comfort anyways.......you frigging bought a subaru.....

Hey Fox Guy, I'm bragging.......Mooney way more comfortable for guys with long legs than sitting upright like at a dinner table.......

Baron seat is like crapola, got no articulation like the Mooney......you were most probably in an old school Mooney and not a 94 or newer model.......

Don't get me started on the 182 (flew that damn thing almost 30 hours in 4 days)

and what the hell you know about comfort anyways.......you frigging bought a subaru.....

Foul!!!
Remember who's house you are in!!!
I kinda like having my very own door.

This thread cracks me up, too, Cardinal guy. It's like Ford vs. Chevy or John Deere vs. Case IH, only worse! I love flying, and I think they're all great airplanes (and I think both CIH and JD make good tractors, too). I'm a huge person, 6'6" with a collegiate swimmer's shoulders and chest - and now some additional baggage below that, too. I used to own an M20E, which I flew for a couple of hundred hours. I loved that plane. It was tight but adequate across the front of the cabin. My club has a V35A, which is also an awesome plane. Honestly, I can't tell any difference in the width, though. They're both small enough to make two guys my size rub uncomfortably. The only difference I can see between the two is that the back seat passengers have more leg room in the Bonanza. Though I must say that as the pilot [i]I [i]had more leg room in the Mooney. You know what, though? I love flying so much that I'll gladly trade a day of just about anything else for a day flying either a Mooney or a Bonanza. Heck, I love flying so much, I'll fold up in anything. I have some some 150 time, if you can believe that - and it was DUAL!
The bottom line is this: Doesn't matter whether you're talking about the Bible, politics, history, or whatever. If you begin your investigation with your conclusion already in mind, your odds of changing your own mind are pretty small!

I ate a frickin salad today. You don't know me, so you don't realize the last time I had a salad besides potatoe salad was... The panda in my picture sums up my lifestyle pretty well. I'm willing to become smaller to see if there's validity to this body type argument, plus my wife said I needed to go on a diet, along with my life insurance company, and my AME, and my.. Let's just say it's a list of folks...

Sensible... How very Mooney of you!

This is good stuff.

My body is similar - 6'2", between 175 and 220lbs (175 was 13yrs ago, currently 190), and rather than swimming I rowed in college - lightest and second shortest guy on the team, big legs and back (the weight difference is entirely in the mid-section, which doesn't really impact when my quads or shoulders hit the guy next to me). Also, 32" inseam so long torso and I hit my head a lot in any kind of vehicle. These things sound unimportant, but body geometry and where you're big / small are super important when it comes to fitting into an airplane.

I hit my head in A36's and B58's, can't lay the seat back quite enough, and i find it tight in the shoulders. I would imagine I could modify the seat to fit if it was my plane.

Mooney M20F I fit in better, because I stretched out closer to the floor and more reclined. This is how I sit in my car (a mid-sized German sedan, though I'm also very comfortable in most sports cars). Also very comfortable in my wife's Mini.

Cirrus SR22 is the most comfortable I've flown, can recline and it's 50" wide. C182 is pretty good too, the turbulence has to be pretty bad for my head to hit and there's decent elbow room. I've been comfortable in both doing 2x 5-6hr legs in a day (10+hrs)

I ate a frickin salad today. You don't know me, so you don't realize the last time I had a salad besides potatoe salad was... The panda in my picture sums up my lifestyle pretty well. I'm willing to become smaller to see if there's validity to this body type argument, plus my wife said I needed to go on a diet, along with my life insurance company, and my AME, and my.. Let's just say it's a list of folks...