The smart money says that buying a used piston twin is crazy when avgas costs seven bucks, an engine overhaul runs north of $30,000 and often a twin isn’t that much faster than a comparable single. After looking at the stunning collapse of piston twin prices in this century, we’re tempted to simply say the smart money is right and let things go. The problem is, it’s just not that simple. If you want serious transportation and are realistic enough to know it ain’t cheap, then current prices may mean the right decision for an airplane to go places is either a pressurized piston twin or 170–190-knot light twin.
As a side note, we recognize that airplane purchase decisions are not always steely-eyed, economic choices; they are heavily affected by emotional factors (“I know the chance of engine failure in a single is low, but I fly IFR at night, over the Great Lakes, where there’s ice.”) We never, ever forget that when selecting the family airplane, a happy spouse is often the deciding factor, so space and comfort matter and may tilt the economic equation toward the airplane with the better cabin.