After looking all the suggestions over and including the king air,the Malibu pretty much wins in my opinion. Insurance for me was at least 3 or 4 times more for anything else. My insurance broker told me,that in fact,the Malibu with a turbine might be slightly cheaper at the same hull values. All of the other choices had either hourly checks or phase checks. Fuel burn was twice or close to it for all other choices for same speeds. I know everyone feels the plane they own is the best but after flying a Malibu it's hard to find anything that will do the same things for close to the cost. The two things I personally don't like about a Malibu, are the ground steering, as its really touchy and the other is engine issues. Mainly keeping it cool. I can live with cabin size and useful load. They also are made in the United States and you can get parts fairly easy, if not cheaply. I really don't haul more than 4 people around often and usually Just my wife and I, and I can leave fuel if I want to load up. The turbine will take me into the flight levels in less than 20 minutes so a fuel stop isn't major. I own other planes also and thought when I bought Malibu that I would use those for short trips but after owning the Malibu few years have found when I go somewhere it's in the Malibu. It is good in low levels,more so than I thought it would be. Only put about 30 hours on the Cessna 205 last year which was my go to plane.
