[flyag1]

Thanks for the input from everyone!

Flying the Malibu Mirage:
Let me first say our long trips have not been that bad as we typically don't have to adhere to a tight schedule. Several trips going west we would just overnight picking a cool town to visit, sort of a mini vacation. When headed east we played the winds aloft, if today is the best winds go... if not then we might wait an extra day. KGOO to KVBT is the route and we are batting 250 for east bound no-stop flights in the Malibu. We don't push fuel, so if we made a 1400 mile trip non-stop we definitely had more than an hour reserve.

Based on book numbers the P337 is very close to the Malibu in max flight times @ 65% power. Malibu tanks are 120 gal whereas the 337 with big tanks has a 30 gal advantage. The 350 HP Malibu is going to burn around 20 GPH once you reach cruise altitude. Speed dependent on chosen FL, but once again the books speeds of both the P337 and Malibu are very close @ FL 200.

Payloads with full tanks are also very near the same with both airplanes. Near nothing... LoL

I like the 337 over other twins for one simple reason "inline". I just don't fly the hours per year to feel comfortable in the right / left configuration if we lost one on takeoff. Don't get me wrong I'm a high time pilot and managed to acquire a shit load of hours, but I'm not flying everyday or even every week. I don't want a VMC roll determining my faith when it's not necessary, but I do want a twin.

Maybe there is a P337 that fits the bill, I'm on the hunt.