So I traded like a raped banshee last night. Got my first Cobra MkIII:
I like the Cobra, a lot. Kitted it up to 40T cargo space and started trading. By the time I had extra credits to play with I decided to axe the shields and basic scanner and outfitted it full of cargo racks to give it 60T cargo space, and then the credits really started rolling in. I ended up the night at about 820,000 credits to my name, and that's after buying a few things for the Cobra like a better FSD and power distributor.
One thing I really like about this game is that you can outfit, buy, and sell ships at your fancy and you never really lose any credits for doing so other than when getting blown up and paying insurance. I sold my Eagle and now only own one ship, the Cobra. As far as I can tell I could simply buy the Eagle back and it would be a net zero change in my credits, there isn't any penalty. If I trade the Cobra in for a Lakon 6 and make lots of credits with it, then later trade the Lakon 6 back in for my Cobra again, I don't lose anything in doing so. The way it's set up gives you the freedom to try new ships without fear really. I like that!
Think I'll trade up to a Lakon 6 today and truck some more cargo across the 'verse...