. . .  There are no competitors at the IV-P or ES price point.  . . .
I think the Evolution is a great airplane but at greater than a million,
you are competing with certified aircraft capable of commercial
operations that do not have to be built.
. . . the Evolution is a great plane but is in a different class as a
1.2 million dollar finished turbine aircraft.  
 
Early in this century when seeking a significant step up in performance
from my GlaStar I evaluated many aircraft, both amateur and commercially
built.  Not being a dot-com genius two of my considerations were the
acquisition and maintenance costs.   So what were the options that could
yield a doubling of seats, doubling of speed, and doubling of range -
with perhaps the attendant feature of doubling of cost?  From 2 to 4
seats, 130kt to 260kt, 600mi to 1200mi, and a build or buy cost increase
USD$150k to USD$300k?  The choice then was a new state-of-the-art
Lancair or a used spam can that could not achieve any of my targets
except for the cost increase.  
 
Today a 4-place Cirrus offers a similar performance package for a bit
more money and an RV-10 offers a bit less performance in exchange for a
lot less less total build cost.  However at the target price/performance
point there is nothing like the ES/ES-P/IV-P line, and two of these
offer pressurization (which from experience I know will really spoil
you).  So today what does the New Lancair offer in its stable of 4-place
high utility aircraft?  The Evolution, and it is a fine aircraft.  
 
My ES-P was advertised as completable for USD$300k - and I blew past
that number when adding "stuff" I wanted like a modified cabin, dual
just-about-everything (triple in some cases) ThermX deice, etc.  Today
the piston Evolution is listed as completable for USD$600k and it
includes some enhancements that I made to my ES-P, but still you just
know that USD$700k+ is going to be a more realistic number for the
piston and for the turbine I have heard that USD$1.2 million complete
number on several occasions.  
 
This change in offerings means that faced with the same situation I
could achieve the doubling my GlaStar performance for nearly 5X the cost
(Evolution) or for 3X buy a new Cirrus and spend the difference on avgas
(that 3500 gallons would take you twice around the earth!), or for 1.5X
get the same target capacity and range at a reduced airspeed (RV-10).
Or, to get the best possible combination of performance and cost, the
choice is obvious: a used ES/ES-P/IV-P!
 
Yes indeed, if funds were available an update the the ES/IV-P might make
sense.  
 
Robert M. Simon
ES-P N301ES