I was seeing about 135kts at altitude while cruising. You may be
interested in the following website with a review of the DA40 by an
owner (who now owns a Cirrus SR-20):

http://philip.greenspun.com/flying/diamond-da40

Visibility is much better than in a 172, in addition to the higher
cruise speed.

I'm also quite interested in DA-40, and will proabably find a rental in
the San Francisco bay area to try out next year.
What is the "usual" cruise speed you can practically get in DA-40 ?
I can only do ~110 kts in the 172 I train in, even though the POH lists
122kts cruise speed.- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -