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Ingo did you pay less than 260'000 € I have been quoted only weeks ago (including GFC700) ?wolfipilot wrote: Unfortunately, according to my latest information, Diamond has more or less stopped the conversion by making the pricing model uninteresting, but I don’t have the exact figures.
Dan, you are describing the regular path of a conversion - which we did not follow. We hadn't have the old frame and thus did not simply order the conversion but purchased the already completely converted -vi from Diamond. This means THEY had the airframe on stock, did the conversion and sold the aircraft to us, not the conversion. Yes, the serial is from somewhat in the past which doesn't bother me since the a/c is sold with full warranty according to Austrian law. We have the GWX86, SVT, GFC700, sun visors, electric pedals etc. in a -vi for a price which is - overall perspective - most probably well below your 2.0 conversion (taking into account that you have bought the DA42 in the past, too).GLDAS wrote:There is a ton of labor involved in the TDi -> -VI conversion, though I don't remember the exact figure. So the cost of doing these conversions now, aggravated by the unavailability of the 1999 KG MTOW for converted airframes, just doesn't make sense for me now. You will wind up with an airframe carrying a 2006 or 2007 serial number and lower MTOW versus new production which costs <$150,000 more, has warranty, and is a 2015 serial number. The numbers just don't work.
What we are doing is 2.0 conversions now. The 2.0 is a good, reliable, well-supported product. A <$400,000 2.0 with new engines, props, and warranty on both is a solid airplane. Yes, it is slower than the -VI and lacks GFC700/WAAS. So let's say it's 80% of a -VI at well less than half the price. There is value there and a much larger pool of potential buyers.
-dan
Some comments on your 3 points:Tommy wrote:The funny thing is, Diamond Austria is doing just about everything they can to discourage sales of Diamond product. Nothing blatantly overt, but a just a whole series of suggestive cues that all tend to somewhat discourage sales. Dries anti gas combustion comments (confirmed), lack of and slow to respond Garmin avionics upgrades (confirmed), general perception of early model 42 owner abandonment all tend to paint a not so rosy picture. Perception is reality.
It's to bad. Diamond has one hands down beautiful product in every sense of the word.
Diamond is doing well, however, they could be doing a whole lot better with little effort. No other manufacturer out there has a product that compares to Diamond's. No one.
Can't argue with that, but it doesn't explain why Diamond haven't produced any G1000 software updates for the DA40TDI since 2006. I understand the arguments about them not helping their customers out financially, when Thielert went under, but they didn't have to completely abandon us.CFIDave wrote:It's not Diamond's fault that Garmin's latest G1000 software won't run on older DA40s/DA42s without WAAS -- that's due to Garmin.