Best aircraft for European trips

If you are intending to fly IFR, bear in mind that min altitudes in Europe have been increasing and tend to be highish (for airspace and coverage reasons) so you’ll frequently be flying >FL100 due to MEA’s or wx or otherwise, even avoiding the Alps. For the budget that means O2 , portable(better) or fixed.

Would that be 200k GBP or 200k USD? would make significant difference.

I would suggest locating a suitable base first. EGTR (Elstree) reasonably easy access from London and in my experience maintenance good and Paul Murphy always happy to give advice and options. Ground handling teams also very friendly and helpful but not so sure they have any space available. EGMC (Southend) might be worth looking at. Nice large runway and full Radar control / ILS with easy rail access to London. From experience not much fun having proudly purchased an aircraft without appreciating lack of places to keep it then having to go begging :). On the matter of purchasing you might also want to identify a good pre-purchase inspector before you start looking.

If C182 is not enough, the cessna 210 will keep the short field ability while carrying more fuel and you can find some good IFR models, although the budget will raise.

That one may do the job while its avionics is dated, but it may be sorted out into he budget (a G3+GTN750 would be ~40k) : https://www.planecheck.com?ent=da&id=54228

Old planes are usually money-pits and probably the last thing the OP would want, IMHO.

Agreed, but I don’t think that turbo money (his previous plane) was an inexpensive one. Of course, having such a plane in Europe is another story.

Another option for consideration. I know an owner of a very well maintained and equipped TB20 at EGTR who recently decided to offer shares. At the moment no takers so you could have 80% TB20 availability for 20% of the cost. There is also an instructor based at EGTR that this person and I use who could provide initial type training / familiarization and perhaps most importantly help you appreciate the joys of flying in such a busy CAS environment. E me if interested and I’ll effect introduction.

Yes; it depends on the condition and history. It may have been a relatively new one at the time. Dated avionics are fine; I fly everywhere just fine with a KLN94+KMD550. No need for LPV; operationally it is barely relevant especially given the UK does not have it, and the 1st/last airport out of the UK usually has an ILS.

We just know way too little here but if I was working in the London financial district, blood pressure 200/140 the last thing I would want is a plane which gives me hassle.

In fact, looking at some people I have known, I would probably be renting an SR22 for £500/hr wet and have someone taking care of everything

If I had to base my TB20 around London I would probably kill myself. It would be the most enormous compromise on so many fronts. I know someone who was Biggin based (actually he rented there) and living in E (yes East) London took him an hour to get to the airport. That was ~10 years ago; traffic is generally much worse now.

I was briefly based at Elstree and collected enough prop hits to need a prop overhaul. The runway start area was covered in rocks; nobody could be bothered to sweep them away.

Skywagons did a video here on the TLS bravo:

It has an odd version of the Lyco 540 with oil cooled parallel valve cylinder heads – I wonder how well that works, and if it helps with the poor cylinder lifespan that these turbo engines usually have.

xavierde wrote:

This [M20M] is one option I’m considering but I’d be limited wrt short runways.

That should tick all your boxes including ARTF (almost ready to fly, as we say in the RC world) except perhaps short-field and payload. It is a seriously fast touring machine but to make use of it you really need to include O2 refilling in the equation (not as straightforward in Europe as in the US).
Having said that, as @Mooneydriver sais, if you are willing to compromise on load, maybe short field is not that bad…maybe you dont always need full fuel
It is a seriously fast airplane but LOP is not its forte, so if you were used to LOP in your former M20K and US Avgas prices, be prepared for carrying a lot more fuel weight for the trip and x2.5 fuel costs .

Comparing to a TB20 we are talking different speed worlds: 150 vs 200 KTAS. The TB20 has an easier access (two doors) and a more ample cabin, but the biggest differences in capability are turbocharger and (possibly) anti-ice.

Comparing to a T210K , specifically the one referred above…(I can speak soundly on later model 210’s , and I fly and maintain an excellent P210N )…well, that T210K is a seriously capable airplane but fails in the ARTF category: it needs avionics and possibly significant initial and surely ongoing maintenance. If I am not wrong it has a hydraulic engine-driven pump which makes recurring gear work trickier needing a specialized shop. I would plan on investing €100k and 4-6 mos to get it up and running. Having said that it ticks all of the other basic boxes with large margin (190 KTAS, 28000ft ceiling, built in O2, de-ice, short-field, huge payload, 6 seats…you probably dont need the latter two)

Now for whoever considers a 210 is not short field, you may be right…if you load it up to MTOW. However, you rarely need to carry so much weight and for med-low weights, it can quite easily handle 600m runways.