Cirrus SR22buyer’s guide
What to check before buying a Cirrus SR22 or SR22T — CAPS parachute upkeep, airframe generation, engine time, and honest price framing.
What it is
The SR22 is Cirrus's four-seat, composite, low-wing single and has been the best-selling piston aircraft in the world for most of the last two decades. Its mission is fast, IFR-capable personal and family cross-country travel — a side-yoke, glass-cockpit airplane built for owner-pilots who want speed and modern avionics without stepping up to a turboprop. The whole-airframe Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) is the airplane's signature feature and shapes both its safety record and its ownership costs. The line has moved through several generations — G1 and G2 (2001–2006, Avidyne Entegra glass), G3 (2007+, stretched fuselage and higher gross weight), G5 (2013+, more useful load), and G6 (2017+, Cirrus Perspective+ by Garmin, HD displays). The turbocharged SR22T variant (2010+) trades a little TBO margin for real altitude and speed capability. Know which generation you're looking at before comparing specs — a G1 and a G6 are the same model name but very different airplanes.
Key specs to check
TTAF (total time airframe) and engine time since new or since major overhaul — the Continental IO-550-N in normally aspirated SR22s carries a 2,000-hour recommended TBO; the turbocharged TSIO-550 in the SR22T is closer to 1,800 hours. TBO is a recommendation, not a Part 91 requirement, so ask how the engine has actually been run and maintained, not just how many hours are left on paper. Confirm the avionics generation (Avidyne Entegra vs. Cirrus Perspective/Perspective+) since it drives both usability and long-term parts support. Check useful load against your real mission — it varies meaningfully across G1 through G6. Review the logbooks for prop strikes, gear-up events (rare on a fixed-gear SR22, but check anyway for any off-airport excursions), and open Airworthiness Directive compliance, including any fuel-system-related ADs Cirrus has issued over the model's life. Check the engine monitor's downloaded trend data if the seller has it — cylinder head and exhaust gas temperature trends over the last year of flying tell you far more about real engine health than a single compression-test snapshot on the day of inspection.
Common gotchas
CAPS ownership is the single biggest SR22-specific line item buyers underweight. Cirrus specifies scheduled parachute/line maintenance on roughly a 10-year cycle — the exact interval and cost have been revised across the airplane's production history, so confirm the due date and current requirement for that specific serial number with a Cirrus-authorized service center rather than taking a seller's word for it. It's a real, five-figure-class recurring cost that a stale logbook can hide. Beyond CAPS: the composite airframe means impact or hail damage needs a Cirrus-experienced composite shop, not just any A&P; pre-Perspective (G1/G2) avionics parts support has thinned over time; and insurance for lower-time pilots stepping into a high-performance single can be a meaningful, easy-to-underestimate ongoing cost. Ask specifically whether the CAPS system has ever been deployed or serviced out of cycle, and get the answer in writing rather than a verbal assurance — CAPS status is one of the few things on this airplane that's genuinely expensive to get wrong.
What it costs
SR22 pricing spans widely by generation, engine time, avionics, and turbo vs. normally aspirated — an early G1/G2 typically prices well below a late-model G6 SR22T with low engine time and current CAPS service. Rather than quote a single figure that goes stale, see real current asking prices for live SR22 listings below. Weigh CAPS due-date, engine time, and avionics generation together rather than comparing two SR22s on price and total time alone — a cheaper airplane with a CAPS repack due next year isn't actually the better deal.
How BuyJet helps
Every registry-verified SR22 listing on BuyJet has its make, model, and serial matched against the live FAA registry, and its seller's identity and right to sell checked by a person before the badge is granted. That doesn't replace a pre-buy inspection or a CAPS-status check with a Cirrus service center — it means the airplane in the ad is the airplane on the registry, and the person selling it is who they say they are, so you can spend your diligence time on the airplane itself instead of on verifying that it exists.