RV-7 or RV-8? Side-by-Side vs Tandem

Van's lists the RV-7 cabin at 43 inches across and the RV-8 cockpit at 24.5 inches. That 18.5-inch gap is the whole argument in one number. It decides whether your spouse can sit next to you, whether an instructor can reach the panel during your checkout, and how many people will raise a hand when you eventually sell. Everything else about these two airplanes — the wing, the engine options, the fuel load, the speed — is close enough that most buyers could not tell them apart from the numbers alone.

That is why the RV-7 vs RV-8 decision is worth slowing down on. The two kits cost within a few thousand dollars of each other, burn the same fuel and cruise within about five miles an hour. The money shows up later, in insurance quotes, in how hard it is to get trained, and in how long the airplane sits when you list it.

Same Wing Spirit, Different Seating

Both airplanes are two-seat, all-metal, aerobatic-capable kits from Van's Aircraft in Aurora, Oregon. Both take Lycoming four-cylinder engines from 150 to 200 horsepower, both carry 42 gallons of usable fuel, and both are offered as a taildragger or with a nosewheel — the RV-7A and RV-8A.

The RV-7 seats two people shoulder to shoulder under a tip-up or slider canopy. It is the direct descendant of the RV-6, and it is the model most RV owners picture when someone says "RV." If you are looking at the older airframe, our guide to buying a Van's RV-6A covers inspection points that carry straight over to the -7.

The RV-8 seats two in line, pilot in front. It is narrower, a foot shorter in span, and it looks like a scaled-down warbird on the ramp. Solo, you sit on the centerline with your head above the wing — the view is closer to a fighter than a family cruiser. The rear seat sits close to the center of gravity, so loading a passenger back there is less dramatic than it looks.

Good to Know: Van's approves both airplanes for aerobatics at a 1,600-pound aerobatic gross weight, with a 1,800-pound normal gross. The structure is designed to +6/-3 G at that lower weight. Two adults plus full fuel puts most RV-7s and RV-8s over 1,600 pounds, so "aerobatic" usually means solo or with a light passenger and partial tanks.

What Each One Costs to Build or Buy

Van's prices the RV-7 and RV-8 kits within a few thousand dollars of each other. Neither one is the cheap option. The company filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in December 2023 and emerged in 2024, and kit prices rose substantially through that period across the whole model line. Whatever you were quoted in 2021 is not what you will pay now.

The parts you buy after the kit

The airframe kit is roughly a third of the project. A new Lycoming IO-360, a constant-speed propeller, a two-screen EFIS panel with autopilot, an ADS-B transponder, paint and upholstery will each take a bite. As of 2025, builders completing either airplane new and well-equipped generally report finished costs in the $110,000 to $160,000 range. Builders who fit a mid-time used engine, a fixed-pitch propeller and a single-screen panel land well below that — $70,000 to $90,000 is achievable and still common.

Build hours are close. Van's estimates roughly 2,000 hours for a standard kit of either model, with quickbuild wings and fuselage cutting several hundred hours off at added cost. Builders who have done both tend to say the RV-8 fuselage and the longer tailcone take a little more fiddling, while the RV-7 canopy — tip-up or slider — is the part people lose sleep over. Our walkthrough of how to build your own airplane kit step by step lays out the sequence if you have not committed yet.

Heads Up: Van's issued builder notifications and service information in 2023 and 2024 about laser-cut parts supplied in certain kits, which could develop cracks around holes. If you are buying a partly finished project or a recently completed airplane, ask the seller directly whether the kit contained laser-cut parts and what was done about them. That paperwork is worth real money at resale.

Flying411 keeps completed RV-7 and RV-8 listings in one place, so you can compare engine time, panel fit and builder documentation before you commit to two thousand hours in your garage.

How They Fly, and Where the Five Miles an Hour Go

With the same 180-horsepower O-360, Van's publishes a 75 percent cruise of about 197 mph for the RV-7 and about 202 mph for the RV-8 at 8,000 feet. The RV-8 is slightly slimmer and slightly shorter in span, which is where the difference comes from. Step up to 200 horsepower and both gain, with Van's quoting a 220 mph top speed for the 200-hp RV-8.

Five miles an hour is nothing on a two-hour trip. What you actually feel is different. The RV-8's centerline seating makes aerobatics and formation flying more natural — your visual references are symmetric, and a lot of civilian formation teams fly -8s for exactly that reason. The RV-7 gives you a second set of eyes right beside you, a shared panel, and the ability to hand someone a chart without a long reach over your shoulder.

On the ground, the RV-8's long nose blocks more of your taxi view, so S-turns become a habit. Both taildraggers demand attention on landing. Loss of directional control during landing roll remains one of the most common accident categories in the experimental taildragger fleet, which is exactly what underwriters are pricing when they ask about your tailwheel time.

Nosewheel or tailwheel

The RV-7A is popular and sells readily. The RV-8A is comparatively rare — most people who want a tandem RV want the taildragger look that goes with it. If you plan on a nosewheel, that alone points you toward the -7A, because the -8A has a thinner buyer pool on both ends of the transaction.

Keep in Mind: Phase I flight testing is governed by the aircraft's FAA operating limitations, not by Van's. Traditional requirements generally call for at least 25 hours with an eligible type-certificated engine and propeller combination, or 40 hours when the combination is not type-certificated or has been modified outside its approved type design. The FAA also provides a task-based flight-test option under Advisory Circular 90-89C, allowing eligible builders to complete a documented test plan instead of simply accumulating flight hours. Check the aircraft's specific operating limitations to determine which method applies.

Insurance: Where Tandem Costs You

Experimental amateur-built insurance is underwritten on the pilot far more than on the airframe. Brokers who write this business consistently say the three questions that move a quote are total time, tailwheel time and make-and-model time. Hull value matters for the premium dollars, but your logbook decides whether you get a quote at all.

As a rough guide for 2025, a private pilot with an instrument rating, several hundred hours and real tailwheel currency insuring a $120,000 RV-7 or RV-8 is generally looking at something in the $1,800 to $3,000 a year range for hull and liability combined. The nosewheel versions tend to quote lower. A pilot with little or no tailwheel time can be quoted well north of that, required to complete a set number of dual hours in type, or declined outright.

Here is where seating arrangement bites. Satisfying a "ten hours dual in make and model" requirement is straightforward in an RV-7 — plenty of transition-training instructors own side-by-side RVs, and you sit next to them. In an RV-8, the instructor is behind you. Many RV-8s are built with a rear control stick and rudder pedals, and some with a rear throttle, but the panel, the fuel selector and most switches are out of reach from the back seat, and the instructor's forward view is limited. Underwriters know this. The practical answer most RV-8 buyers use is to do their tailwheel and RV transition training in an RV-6, -7 or a Super Decathlon, then move into the -8 solo after a careful briefing.

Why It Matters: If you buy a completed RV rather than build it, you cannot obtain its original builder's repairman certificate under 14 CFR Section 65.104. That certificate is issued to one qualified primary builder and does not transfer with the airplane. However, FAA rules expanded in 2025 allow appropriately rated light-sport repairmen to conduct condition inspections on certain experimental amateur-built aircraft when the aircraft's operating limitations permit it. An A&P can also perform the inspection. As an owner, you can still perform most maintenance yourself, even without a repairman certificate.

Running Costs Are Nearly Identical

Fuel dominates, and both airplanes drink the same. A 180-horsepower O-360 at 75 percent burns roughly 8.5 gallons an hour. At $6.50 a gallon for 100LL that is about $55 an hour. Pull back to 65 percent and you are closer to 7 gallons and 190 mph, which is one of the reasons RV owners put so many hours on their airplanes.

Engine reserve is the next line. Under Lycoming Service Instruction 1009BF, issued July 20, 2026, eligible factory-new and factory-rebuilt O-360 and IO-360 engines can have a recommended TBO of up to 2,600 hours. Previously overhauled engines generally follow shorter intervals, often 2,000 hours, depending on the exact model and overhaul history. With an illustrative $30,000 to $40,000 overhaul budget, setting aside $15 to $20 per hour based on a conservative 2,000-hour planning interval remains reasonable. Add oil, tires, brakes, condition inspections, hangar and insurance, and owners should calculate their actual hourly costs using their own aircraft's maintenance history and operating expenses.

Neither model has a model-specific money pit the other avoids. The canopy is the main difference in long-term grief: the RV-7 tip-up and slider canopies are big, expensive pieces of acrylic, while the RV-8's narrower canopy and separate forward windscreen are cheaper to replace but still not cheap. Both airplanes are vulnerable to the same hangar-rash and corrosion issues as any aluminum airframe — our piece on corrosion found at your annual is worth reading before you buy anything that has lived near salt water.

Flying411 keeps experimental and certificated singles in one place, so you can compare an RV against a Cirrus or a Cardinal on real asking prices rather than on hangar opinion.

Resale: The 43-Inch Advantage

Both models sell. Van's reports well over a thousand of each flying, and the RV fleet has the deepest parts, support and type-club network in experimental aviation. But the buyer pools are different sizes.

An RV-7 appeals to anyone who wants a fast, aerobatic-capable two-seater they can also use to take a spouse, a friend or a business partner somewhere. An RV-8 appeals to the subset of those people who are happy flying alone most of the time and whose passenger does not mind sitting behind them. That is a smaller group, and a smaller group means a longer listing time more often than a lower price.

What actually sets the price on either model is not the seating. It is build quality, engine time, panel, paint, damage history and documentation. A beautifully built RV-8 with a 300-hour engine, a modern EFIS and complete builder logs will outsell a tired RV-7 with a runout O-320 and photocopied paperwork every single time. The spread between a good example and a poor one within either model is far wider than the spread between the two models. Engine time in particular drives the number more than airframe time does on experimentals, a dynamic we cover in how airframe hours affect aircraft value.

Pro Tip: When you inspect either airplane, ask for the builder's log, the weight and balance with the dated scale sheet, the Phase I flight test records, the airworthiness certificate with its operating limitations attached, and every Van's service bulletin or notification applicable to that serial number. Missing operating limitations are a real problem — they are part of the airworthiness certificate, and the airplane is not legal without them.

One more resale note: if you are weighing whether to spend money before listing, the math on experimentals is the same as on certificated airplanes. Our analysis of whether to overhaul before selling applies directly.

Which One Is Right for You

Buy or build the RV-7 if you will regularly carry a passenger, if you want to get instruction or a flight review in your own airplane, if you want the easiest path to an insurance quote as a lower-time pilot, or if you want the broadest resale market. It is the better all-around airplane for most people, and saying otherwise would be sentimental rather than honest.

Buy or build the RV-8 if you mostly fly alone, if formation or aerobatics is the point rather than a bonus, if you want the fighter-style view over the nose, and if you already have solid tailwheel time or a clear plan to get it elsewhere. It is marginally faster, slightly lighter, and it gives you something the RV-7 cannot: the feel of sitting on the centerline.

If you are leaning toward four seats instead, our RV-14A vs RV-10 comparison covers the next step up, and RV-10 vs SR22 ownership costs shows what trading the experimental certificate for a factory airplane really costs per hour. The RV-7 vs RV-8 choice, though, is not about capability. It is about who is sitting next to you, or whether anyone is.

Flying411 keeps Van's RV listings in one place, so you can compare tandem and side-by-side airframes, engine hours and panels before you choose.

When you are ready to compare listings, visitFlying411 and see what is on the market today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the RV-8 actually faster than the RV-7?

Slightly. With the same 180-horsepower engine, Van's publishes about 202 mph for the RV-8 against about 197 mph for the RV-7 at 75 percent power and 8,000 feet. On a 400-mile leg that is a difference of a few minutes. Propeller choice, wheel pants, gear leg fairings and how carefully the builder sealed the airframe will swing the real number more than the model does.

Can you get flight instruction in an RV-8?

You can, if the airplane was built with rear controls, but it is awkward. The instructor sits behind you with a limited forward view and cannot reach the panel, fuel selector or most switches. Most RV-8 buyers do their tailwheel and RV transition training in a side-by-side airplane such as an RV-6, RV-7 or a Decathlon, then fly the -8 solo. Check with your insurer first — the required dual hours are usually spelled out in the policy.

Which is cheaper to insure?

The RV-7, in practice, and the RV-7A more so. The difference is not the airframe so much as the training path: it is easier to log in-type dual, and the nosewheel versions historically generate fewer landing-accident claims. Your own tailwheel time and make-and-model time will move the quote far more than the choice between the two models.

Can I do my own maintenance if I buy a used RV?

Yes. Owners of experimental amateur-built aircraft can generally perform and document maintenance themselves. The annual condition inspection must be performed by someone authorized under the aircraft's operating limitations. This can include an A&P, the aircraft's qualified original-builder repairman, or an appropriately rated light-sport repairman when permitted under the updated FAA rules. The original builder's certificate does not transfer with the aircraft.

How long does each take to build?

Van's estimates roughly 2,000 hours for a standard kit of either model. Quickbuild wings and fuselage remove several hundred hours at added cost. Real-world calendar time ranges from about two years for a focused builder with shop help to seven or more years for someone working weekends. Buying a partly completed project can shorten that dramatically, but only if the work already done is good and documented.

Does the RV-8 hold its value as well as the RV-7?

Broadly yes, though RV-8s often sit on the market a bit longer because fewer buyers want tandem seating. Within either model, build quality, engine time since overhaul, avionics and complete builder documentation drive the final number far more than the seating layout does.