Lack of 4 seat experimentals?

[Challenged]

Are there any 4 seat experimentals that can compete in price/performance with older certified aircraft? I love the RV10, but I could practically fly my old plane for the next 20 years for the purchase price alone, based on what I see on controller at least. I only just joined the EAA, so it's not a segment that I know a lot about, but it seems like that is a lacking segment of the experimental market...maybe it's because they can't compete in price with 30 year old airplanes?

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[Jim Logajan]

Are there any 4 seat experimentals that can compete in price/performance with older certified aircraft? I love the RV10, but I could practically fly my old plane for the next 20 years for the purchase price alone, based on what I see on controller at least. I only just joined the EAA, so it's not a segment that I know a lot about, but it seems like that is a lacking segment of the experimental market...maybe it's because they can't compete in price with 30 year old airplanes?

The newer the airplane, generally the higher the price. This holds true for experimental and certified aircraft.

By my reckoning, an experimental of the same vintage and performance capability as a certified aircraft is generally going to be the less expensive of the two. The "problem" that experimentals have is that they are more likely to be of recent vintage. For a fairer comparison be sure to compare airframes of the same year (or at least decade) and similar performance.

As best I can tell, the market appears to also have added a small premium for the advantages that experimentals offer with regard to lower cost maintenance and upgrades, but of course this appears to be offset somewhat by it also discounting due to the unknown quality of construction of any given aircraft.