Speed and efficiency go hand in hand with the Mooney M20-series airframe. But bolt on a high-flying turbocharged engine and the performance gets kicked up several notches. These days there is tight competition in the used turbocharged single market—mainly from Cirrus, a company that’s been hugely successful with the fixed-gear turbo SR22T. And though Mooney has stopped cranking out new airplanes, and the future is unknown, owners love their 231 and 252s for the same reasons they always have, accepting the potential for more upkeep than normally aspirated 201 models.
It took a bit for Mooney to get the M20K worked out. It didn’t get the turbocharging system right on the first try and the model developed a reputation as a maintenance hog. At this point that reputation has been mostly burnished and the fact that the M20K bores along between 160 and 200 knots on relatively little fuel has boosted the model’s appeal.