Mooney Acclaim vs. Columbia 350/400 (which has fixed landing gear??)

Doesn't it bother you Columbia fanatics that the manufacturer designed
the landing gear to be fixed? Here's a pricey high-end aircraft where
most of the design decisions favored speed and range, then they
compromised the aerodynamics of it by using fixed landing gear.

Columbia is claiming their 400 model is the fastest single engine prop
aircraft on the planet (max cruise speed of 235 kts on their
comparison chart), though it's surprising that they can claim that
title with fixed landing gear. That number is probably worthless
since the manual spec'd the never exceed speed to be 230 kias.

Mooney is also claiming to have the fastest single engine - in their
Acclaim which allegedly has a normal cruise speed of 237 kts (at
FL250), yet Columbia is claiming that the same model has a max cruise
of 220 kts. The Columbia has 40 HP more, but I'm inclined to think
that some of that extra horsepower is being wasted on the drag of the
landing gear.

Mooney didn't publish their manual, so a realistic comparison on the
performance is difficult. It's not real useful to compare marketing
spin to marketing spin, or even the Columbia manual to Mooney's
marketing spin. Does anyone have a better idea of the performance and
efficiency differences?

BTW, is the Columbia they only single engine prop that has a side
stick?

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