Landing in 17 knot crosswind

Fall is a very windy season here in Northeast.
I flew 3 weeks ago in a crosswind. It was very hard to keep airplane aligned with the runway in these wind conditions. I made two landings and none were very satisfying. I was not in my comfort zone. Need more practice in crosswind landings.

The Cabin

The cabin in Cirrus is much larger and more comfortable than in Piper. Large and bright windows and higher sitting position lets you enjoy the view and look for traffic. Two doors on both sides of the cabin make it easier to enter the cabin as appose to Piper's one door on one side.

Landing Lesson

Landing Cirrus SR20 is quite different from Piper Archer 181.

• The controls feel much more responsive than in Piper. You must be gentle with this airplane. After Piper, I easily over control it when I start flying it until I get comfortable again.
  
• Cirrus landing speed is 1o knots faster than Piper. Piper's landing speed is 70 knots whereas Cirrus's landing speed is 75-80 knots.
• In Cirrus, I sit higher than in Piper so the visual frame of reference is different. It almost looks like you are high when landing.
• I have an interesting issue when landing/flaring. In Cirrus, the instrument panel is slightly turned toward a pilot. So, when visually aligning the airplane with the runway, I tend to align the panel with the runway and so I end up landing slightly cross ways. I tend to turn it right.
• After the flare, you start controlling the airplane on the runway using differential braking. Differential braking is a big difference from Piper. It is much easier to control Piper on the ground because you can turn the nose wheel with the rudder pedals. Not so in Cirrus.