The refined six-seat Bonanza G36 against the rugged Cessna 182 Skylane, comfort and speed against utility and simplicity.
The Bonanza buys meaningful speed and a cabin owners choose for long cross-country flying, but range and practical payload are close enough here that the six-seat badge does not create a six-person mission. The 182 gives up pace in exchange for shorter-field access, fixed-gear simplicity and an ownership model more tolerant of utility work. If every trip joins established airports and hours in the cabin dominate the experience, the G36 premium has a purpose. If the aeroplane must carry awkward loads, visit shorter strips or remain easy to support, the Skylane is not the lesser traveller; it is the more honest tool.
The table below uses the same versioned PlaneFit dataset as the Finder. Prices and operating costs are planning estimates, not quotations.
| Decision factor | Beechcraft Bonanza G36View aircraft profile | Cessna 182T SkylaneView aircraft profile |
|---|---|---|
| Typical market year | 2023 | 2023 |
| Estimated purchase | €1.09m | €580k |
| Annual cash cost at 80 h | €55k | €43k |
| Five-year cash outlay | €1.36m | €797k |
| Cruise speed | 176 kt | 145 kt |
| Advertised range | 930 nm | 915 nm |
| Seats | 6 | 4 |
| Realistic payload | 356 kg | 365 kg |
| Runway need | 583 m | 461 m |
| Landing gear | Retractable tricycle | Fixed tricycle |
| Ratings and endorsements | Complex airplane endorsement | None beyond the certificate |
| Data confidence | Normalized for direct comparison | Normalized for direct comparison |
| Main trade-off | Fast, refined and highly respected, but six seats are mainly a cabin-size claim once fuel and baggage are considered. | A strong real-world four-seat traveller, but fuel burn and nose-heavy handling demand more budget and discipline than a 172. |
A factual first pass. Mission, condition and configuration can outweigh a brochure advantage.
They do not cross. The Cessna 182T Skylane is the cheaper of the two at every utilisation from zero to 300 hours a year, on purchase and running cost together, so there is no break-even point to find. That is worth knowing plainly: on cost alone this is not a trade-off, and the case for the other aircraft has to be made on mission, cabin, speed or access rather than on eventual savings.
| Five-year cash, including purchase | Beechcraft Bonanza G36 | Cessna 182T Skylane | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 h / year | $1.42m (€1.31m) | $811k (€751k) | $605k (€560k) to Cessna 182T Skylane |
| 100 h / year | $1.5m (€1.39m) | $886k (€820k) | $618k (€572k) to Cessna 182T Skylane |
| 200 h / year | $1.65m (€1.53m) | $1.01m (€935k) | $639k (€592k) to Cessna 182T Skylane |
The gap widens as utilisation rises, which is the part a headline price comparison hides. Every figure uses the same planning model as the rest of the site: indicative market prices, a fixed annual base and a direct hourly cost, before financing, depreciation and tax.
Advertised range is a still-air, best-case number. With 4 people aboard and realistic reserves, plan on about 623 nm from the Beechcraft Bonanza G36 against 613 nm from the Cessna 182T Skylane. On a return trip without refuelling, that is the radius that decides which destinations are on the list at all.
Against the 28,815 airports in the PlaneFit database that publish a runway length, the Beechcraft Bonanza G36 has enough runway at 25,146 of them and the Cessna 182T Skylane at 27,184, comparing each aircraft’s take-off requirement of 1,913 ft and 1,512 ft against the longest runway on the field.
This is a planning comparison, not a statement that any particular operation is legal or advisable. It ignores surface, slope, elevation, temperature, obstacles and how heavily the aircraft is loaded, all of which extend the requirement. It also compares take-off distance only: landing distance is frequently the binding constraint and PlaneFit does not hold approved landing distances, so a field in these counts is not necessarily a field you can get back out of, or into.
The Beechcraft Bonanza G36 requires a complex airplane endorsement that the Cessna 182T Skylane does not. That is training time and instructor cost before the first trip, and insurers normally attach minimum-hours conditions to the same requirement, which is where it shows up again in the running cost. US requirements under 14 CFR 61.31, stated for orientation rather than as advice.
Six-seat high-performance personal transport. Its central ownership trade-off is: Fast, refined and highly respected, but six seats are mainly a cabin-size claim once fuel and baggage are considered.
Planning snapshot: $1.18m (€1.09m) indicative price and $59k (€55k) annual cash cost at 80 hours.
Read the full aircraft profileFour-seat high-performance touring and utility aircraft. Its central ownership trade-off is: A strong real-world four-seat traveller, but fuel burn and nose-heavy handling demand more budget and discipline than a 172.
Planning snapshot: $626k (€580k) indicative price and $47k (€43k) annual cash cost at 80 hours.
Read the full aircraft profile