"Dude" wrote:
Poor?

For a new, 4-place design, yes. Another 100# of useful load plus the
53-gal. tanks would make it a more interesting airplane.

It has the same engine as a 172 SP or an Archer, but it gets an extra
20
knots.

Those are some ancient designs; I certainly wouldn't be interested in
buying a new model of either one as a cross country cruiser. The D-40
has some nice features, but it falls short in the range/payload
department. If all Diamond was trying to do was make a better Archer,
well, I guess maybe they succeeded -- but so what?

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM