Don't know which one you are going to buy, but stay away from N800BT (s/n 1044). It's for sale and it is junk. A real MX HOG!!!! It is based in Kansas City. They paid a little over 5M for it and they painted, so now they are trying to make an additional 1M on the sale. STAY AWAY!!
As for the plane itself, if you have been flying something much smaller, it's a decent plane to upgrade to.
X Winds- PIG! Wind strikes all that surface area of the tail. It makes it tough. Rudder needs more authority
PErformance- Like most airplanes, when it gets hot, it becomes a real dog. Hot and High in the summer is not good for this airplane, more so than others. 100F and 5K feet elevation with 7K runway, with 2 people on board is only going to get you about 300 miles. Needs bigger brakes as well.
Engines- Loaners are very limited and you'll learn all about loaners with this airplane. They are Lycoming and they are junk.
Range- If you get one and you want any range (like making Hawaii comfortably) get the Branson Tanks. It's a mod and they add a few hundred miles, but it is the difference between night and day.
They made less than 80 of them, so be sure to get a late S/N with low time. i would not look at one with a s/n of less then 65-70.
When you start operating it, I am sure your engines will be on a MX program. With that in mind, you see these 600 pilots cycling the starter after every shut down. Don't do that. Only the idiots do that. Here is why. The book says if the ITT is over a certain temp at shut down, to cycle the starter. It is to bring cool air over the compressors. That's fine, and If you see those temps, then cycle them. Most of these idiots cycle them as a SOP, no matter the ITT. How stupid. You are just putting an extra cycle on all those parts, and as picky as those engines are, you are just asking for the life of those parts to be cut signigantly. With those engines, you need all the help you can get, so only cycle the engines after shut down if the AFM calls for that.
APU- 2 things. Change the Ignightor pulgs in the APU often and carry some with you on the road. They fail often, and without the APU, you don't get engine start unless you have a huffer. You'll look like an idiot to your boss having to use a huffer and having to choose ALT airports based on the fact of whether they have a huffer or not. Also, the APUs will never make it to TBO. They all fail long before that. To extend the life of it by more than 2Xs, when cooling the aircraft on the ground, use both ACUs. Once the airplane is cool, turn 1 ACU off and maintain the cool cabin with just 1 ACU. Be sure to alternate evenly which ACU you use. Using just 1 will take SEVERAL hundred degrees off of the APU and we all know what heat does. Doing that will make all the difference in the world and extend the life of the APU considerably. You can use that technique on any Challenger.
If you cross the pond, consider pulling the ADG C/Bs. That thing is loud, and if it deploys, you have to slow to 250KIAS. It'll make for a long day and you'll literally go deaf. Done a ADG ops check, and it suxed!!! Be sure to ask someone how to do that, because pulling the wrong ones or ever the right ones in the wrong order will cause that bad boy come on out.
These planes are popular because they have quite a ramp presence and the cabin is one of a kind in terms of space. From 1995 to about 2000 they were worth 9M. Market got flooded with them and now you are going to get a nice one with low time for about 5M RVSMed. Good luck and if possible, consider a 601-3A or -3A/ER. Even better choice would be a 601-3R
