Got a demo flight in a new Skylane Saturday morning. Very nice airplane.
The G1000 stuff was a bit bewildering at first but otherwise it flew just
like any good 182...

....except for one thing: it trued 147 knots! Non-turbo at 5,500 feet, 10 deg.
C OAT, 135 KIAS. Wow! That is 10 knots faster than my buddy's 1980 model.

The guy who runs the FBO that rents it ($190/hr) says their other Skylane is
just as fast. He said changes Cessna made to the cowl and wheel pants
starting in 2005 make the difference. The bad news is that we were burning
15.5 GPH to get that speed.

Oh, yeah, one other difference I noticed: the view forward is much better
than in older 182s, a combination of new glare shield and seat designs, I
suppose.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM