Cessna 172: prices, price cuts and days on market

Buyer's notes

About the Cessna 172

What it is

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is the four-seat, high-wing, fixed-gear airplane Cessna has built since 1956, with a pause in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and it is the most-produced aircraft of any kind. It started life as a 170 with a nosewheel and a 145 hp six-cylinder Continental, moved to a 150 hp Lycoming O-320 in 1968, to 160 hp in 1977, and to a fuel-injected 180 hp IO-360 in the 172S from 1998.

Nothing about the 172 is the best in its class and everything about it is good enough. It is stable, easy to land, hard to stall badly, and forgiving of the mistakes a new pilot makes. It is also slow, loud, and short on useful load with four adults and full fuel. It is the airplane people learn in, buy first, and often come back to after something faster turns out to cost more than it was worth.

Variants that matter for price

Sellers write the letters: 172 and 172A through 172H (1956 to 1967, Continental O-300, straight tail through 1959), 172I through 172M (1968 to 1976, 150 hp O-320), 172N (1977 to 1980, 160 hp O-320-H2AD), 172P (1981 to 1986, 160 hp O-320-D2J), 172R (1996 on, 160 hp IO-360) and 172S (1998 on, 180 hp). The 172P is the pick of the old airplanes: a good engine and the higher gross weight. The 172N's H2AD engine had a valve train history that Cessna and Lycoming spent years on, and buyers either want proof it was addressed or want a different engine in it.

The Hawk XP (R172K) with a 195 hp Continental, the retractable 172RG Cutlass and the geared-engine 175 are separate animals and sell as such. A 180 hp conversion with the gross weight increase adds real value to any 150 or 160 hp airplane.

What buyers check

Most 172s have been trainers at some point, so read the logs for firewall damage, nose gear repairs, prop strikes and the number of engine overhauls. Look at the lower firewall for wrinkles, the nose gear attach for cracks, the flap tracks and the seat rails, which have a well-known wear inspection. Corrosion collects in the belly, the tailcone and the strut fittings.

On the engine, the O-300 is smooth and increasingly hard to find parts for; the O-320 is the easy one; the H2AD needs its history; the IO-360 in the R and S is fine. A modern radio stack, an autopilot and a 180 hp conversion add value; original avionics and a run-out engine define the bottom of the range. Expect an annual to turn up a cracked exhaust part, brake wear, seat rail wear and a fuel stain.

Who it suits

The 172 suits a first-time owner, a family that flies two or three people on trips of a few hundred miles, and it suits anyone who values a shop on every field over speed. It is not a four-adult airplane with full fuel and it is not fast. The cross-shop is the Piper Cherokee 180 or Archer, the Grumman Tiger, and the Cessna 182 for the buyer who wants to make one more step and stop.