Farm UTV/RTV Purchase

[Dan Dargeloh]

I own a 2018 Kubota RTV1100C. Not a bad machine if you have all day to get there. Trying to get ahold of a technician at Kubota is basically impossible. Email them and all they do is tell you to see your dealer. I would look elsewhere than Kubota. In their day they were quite the machine, but they are out of date now. Painfully slow, underpowered and a manufacturer who doesn't seem to care are not strong points.

 

[slider909]

Have a 2016 Polaris 570, have used it every day, never had any problems. Did change out the clutch for a DuraClutch, well worth it. Have a 30 gal water tank and feed boxes in the back. Can't imagine how it would be working the place without it. We looked at a Honda a few months ago, have 3 Honda ATV's, but I think it's a great machine for driving and playing with, it's not a work machine like the Polaris. Am interested in the new electric Polaris, I could see getting one of those.

 

[Sapper50]

We have the Kubota Diesel 4 seater, RTV-X1140 with Hydro dump bed. Max speed is 25 MPH, but honestly I dont get it up to that speed - not the purpose, I want to zoom around the ranch I have dirt bikes.
Its a farm utility vehicle/work rig, and the ease of going from 2-4 seats, the dump bed, diesel engine etc for us is priceless. Cannot believe how much we use the rig here on the ranch (NE Texas) - easily the most used tool we have, its driven every single day. we have had the dump bed FULL of dirt - rig didnt even know it was there and the dump bed raised without even a bit of struggle.
We consolidated to single fuel as much as we could (except the chain saw and pole saw) our full line up is diesel. Both pickups, tractor, lawn mower and the SxS. So much easier getting/storing fuel.
Nice thing too is Kubota always offers 0% financing for their equipment - and we you go with them for financing, the required insurance covers EVERYTHING on the rig for the life of the loan.
Good luck !!!

 

[slider909]

One other thing, lots of talk about the dump bed. Only used that a few times, if anything needs loading and dumping I always go to the tractor, 1000% easier.

 

[Robert walker]

Didn't realize that about Kubota. Although, I have no hills to speak of, I hate to get neutered in the future.

I have a Kubota RTV900. When I go uphill it will bog down because it doesn’t downshift automatically it seems. I can let completely off the throttle and then get back on it and it go’s uphill with no problems. It will run about 25 but doesn’t jump to that speed in a hurry. It has a lot of power though. I raise cows and mine is perfect. I don’t need a UTV that will go 50 mph across a pasture. In my opinion the Kubota are perfect, I had a diesel Kawasaki Mule before I got my Kubota.

 

[Pete in Reno NV]

Perhaps some of you very wise farmers out there can direct me to determining what UTV/RTV to purchase for my new farm. It will need to have 4 seats (Family) and a lift bed. Kubota is an interesting one. Any help would be appreciated. A couple of things. Farm is 22 acres of pasture, few trees in North Texas. Plan to have cattle, orchard, vegetable and berry farm.

I live outside Reno NEVADA and have 54 acres. I have a 2011 Kubota RTV900, 2016 Can Am Defender and a 2021 Kawasaki Teryx4 4 seater.
The Kubota (diesel) is by far the slowest, designed totally for utility but is iron-clad. No issues in 10 years and it gets the call 90+% of the time. The Can Am is the fastest and the Kawasaki the mostly family friendly for off road use. They are both gas models, not diesel.
The 4 passenger Kawasaki cost me about $22,000 all in. I shopped all brands this summer. There are Polaris models that can be ginger-breaded up to $35,000.
My elevation is 5800 ft. We can trail on adjacent BLM land and be near near 6000 ft in minutes. I wouldn’t try that with the Kubota. The other two-easy. If you anticipate more than 50% utility usage I strongly recommend the Kubota. Slow with a lot of diesel torque. If you anticipate more than 50% recreation, the diesel Kubota is not the choice.

 

[Snowflakes]

I bought an Hisun E1 electric UTV. There are other brands just as good or possibly even better. I love the electric UTV over a gas rig because you just hop in it and go, whenever. No starting issues, no warm-up, little or no maintenance, highly reliable, lots of torque, 2 or 4wd, winch, good ground clearance, adequate cargo capacity. Even my wife will drive it. (she wouldn't touch a gas powered UTV) No drawbacks really. I plug it in at night once every few days to recharge (it usually doesn't need plugged in yet). Never have ran out of battery. I use it for several things that I used to use my tractor (drag harrowing, pesticide spraying). It is the most frequently used vehicle on my place, by far, including our automobiles. If I was using it to go hunting or exploring out in the woods I would probably prefer a gas powered rig for better range and higher top speed. But around the farm, I would consider a gas powered rig to be substantially inferior. It is sort of like a golf cart on a heavy dose of steroids.

We could not find an electric UTV when we bought our Canam Defender a few years ago. The Defender was the only one my wife could work as its seat adjusted farther than the rest. The Defender has proven to be a workhorse. It gets used more times than our tractor now. It saves so much staff time by carrying everything we need. It has, knock on wood, needed little to no maintenance. We use it for plowing in the winter too with all the snow we get. We only use it on the farm except for the about two mile trip to get gas for it so speed is not an issue. It generally is powerful enough to handle everything we throw at it. The tractor's PTO makes it able to do more things of course.

An Electric UTV though would have more torque and would be more gradual in increasing speed. It would also need so little maintenance. The thought alone is making me think .

 

[nolewatcher]

When I was in the market to buy one for our farm a bit ago I did research on all popular brands - JD, Kawasaki, Kubota, etc. Most of them all said "Compare to the Polaris" as they had a feature the Polaris didn't have. Well, I compared them all to the Polaris and ended up buying a Polaris 900. We have been very happy with it since. We used it today as most every day.

 

[GJohnson]

For what it’s worth…I have a Kawasaki teryx, Kawasaki mule pro and two kubota RTV x900s. I do a lot of ranch work and all have their benefits. The first is…Kawasaki offers a three year warranty. Every other mfg offers one year. This is huge for me. That being said, the kubota machines are strong as an ox, comparatively…gas vs diesel. I pull a cake feeder with a kubota with a ton of feed. The trailer plus the cubes is around 3000 lbs. can’t do that with the Kawasaki comfortably as the steering is lacking and machine struggles mechanically. They have the power, but it seems to put the teryx under a lot of stress. Plus the hitch is beefy on the kubota as opposed to the Kawasaki. All that said, at least test a Kawasaki mule pro vs a kubota RTV x series. Both will impress in different ways. I use the teryx when I need to go fast, the pro when just tooling around (rides extremely smooth, like a car) and the kubotas are definitely the work horses. Hope that helps.

 

[bavrit]

I also have about the same acreage. I have a Ranger xp 900. I average a whopping 5mph. I use it for farming. I looked at the Kubota a while back. It did not have a true one wheel drive, meaning, it will tear up my ground when doing sharp turns. The ranger has that option to only drive one rear wheel.
I am looking at the next generation electric ranger. Otherwise I would buy another ranger or a CanAm ..

 

[GJohnson]

For what it’s worth…I have a Kawasaki teryx, Kawasaki mule pro and two kubota RTV x900s. I do a lot of ranch work and all have their benefits. The first is…Kawasaki offers a three year warranty. Every other mfg offers one year. This is huge for me. That being said, the kubota machines are strong as an ox, comparatively…gas vs diesel. I pull a cake feeder with a kubota with a ton of feed. The trailer plus the cubes is around 3000 lbs. can’t do that with the Kawasaki comfortably as the steering is lacking and machine struggles mechanically. They have the power, but it seems to put the teryx under a lot of stress. Plus the hitch is beefy on the kubota as opposed to the Kawasaki. All that said, at least test a Kawasaki mule pro vs a kubota RTV x series. Both will impress in different ways. I use the teryx when I need to go fast, the pro when just tooling around (rides extremely smooth, like a car) and the kubotas are definitely the work horses. Hope that helps.

I should also add…speeds of the teryx are way faster than I ever want to go, that leaves me power and torque to get moving. Like I said before, the mule pro is very car like and can go pretty fast, never topped out, don’t know but probably 40 ish. The kubotas will go 26 mph if you have the distance to get them there. So if you’re planning to go fast, kubota isn’t going to suit you. I didn’t mention it before, but I also have a Polaris. It is constantly broken or needs something, so I won’t be buying that brand ever again.

 

[AbbiesFarm]

+1 for polaris ranger. I had a 2007 700 then bought a 2017 570. I have 20 acres some hills, but cruising the neighborhood, 7 miles of private roads. No one can beat the smooth ride of polaris. Neighbors that have the Kubota all complain about how painfully slow they are. I pull an assortment of things with the 570, never once have I thought "wish I had more power". It has pleanty.

 

[BMcColley]

Like you, I have about 25 acres of pasture. I also have horses, and some trees, especially along the outside of my fence line. I have found my Polaris Ranger extremely helpful working the fence lines to clean up trees which fell over my fence line, spray herbicide, spread seed, work deer food plots, maneuvering through horse lanes and woods, towing a DR brush mower, as well as towing hay equipment or hay trailer with eight 4x5 hay bales at a time. A front winch has been helpful in pulling posts that have rotted below ground. I haven’t had any mechanical problems, but I did have a fan relay go bad. I don’t drive fast, but I appreciate the soft ride. I’ve had this 50 hp Ranger for 10 years, but I’m upgrading this year for comfort more than anything wrong with the unit. The new model has three throttle options, self leveling suspension, 30% stronger drivetrain and upgradeable to 100 hp.

I have a farm truck, but it isn’t as versatile as the ranger in the fields, woods or horse lanes. With the Ranger, I also appreciate the ability to slide in and out quickly and easily for short hops on the property.

I tow a DR trailer for hauling cut up trees. The truck is a bit more difficult to load/unload cut up trees/brush vs. a trailer closer to the ground (kinder on my back). The trailer can dump as well. I use it a lot to haul cedar fence posts as well.

You’ve gotten a lot of helpful opinions. I’m sure you’ll find something suitable for you needs.

 

[lilranch2001]

I have had 2-570 midsize unites, I traded the first one for a EPS model because I mostly use it in the woods and I am not as young as I once was.

I rarely use the high speed gear, and it seems to do me well. I finally gave it a good bath yesterday, it was beginning to get pretty gummed up with chain saw bar lube

I have looked at Mule, Honda, and Kawsaki, and reviewed the specs on Bota, but price on bota was mostly (IMHO) way overpriced.

I went back to what I knew when I traded, and really have not ever regretted it.

 

[lilranch2001]

For what it’s worth…I have a Kawasaki teryx, Kawasaki mule pro and two kubota RTV x900s. I do a lot of ranch work and all have their benefits. The first is…Kawasaki offers a three year warranty. Every other mfg offers one year. This is huge for me. That being said, the kubota machines are strong as an ox, comparatively…gas vs diesel. I pull a cake feeder with a kubota with a ton of feed. The trailer plus the cubes is around 3000 lbs. can’t do that with the Kawasaki comfortably as the steering is lacking and machine struggles mechanically. They have the power, but it seems to put the teryx under a lot of stress. Plus the hitch is beefy on the kubota as opposed to the Kawasaki. All that said, at least test a Kawasaki mule pro vs a kubota RTV x series. Both will impress in different ways. I use the teryx when I need to go fast, the pro when just tooling around (rides extremely smooth, like a car) and the kubotas are definitely the work horses. Hope that helps.

You are right, The Mule does have a 3 year warranty, but in two units that I have owned, I had no need to ever use the warranty, so I am not sure how much value it adds......

 

[kellerw]

I'm kind of where you are (AGreenFarmer), still doing some research. I had thought the belt driven machines were mainly for joy riding and speed, but I read here that other have found them as good workers. The Kubota's I think are generally more $'s, and are built on a tractor frame. Since I've had 20 years of Kubota tractor experience, my tendency was to stick with the Orange. But now I'll have to look further into the Ranger, etc. I'd like to know what you end up doing and what your basic drivers were towards your decision

 

[ruffdog]

The Mule is made in Lincoln Nebraska and that plant has been there since the mid 70s.

 

[GJohnson]

You are right, The Mule does have a 3 year warranty, but in two units that I have owned, I had no need to ever use the warranty, so I am not sure how much value it adds......

That’s pretty awesome. But, it’s better to have it and not need it than vise versa. I just can’t be a cheerleader for the Polaris company. Mine has a lot of issues, small, but always something. Plus I know three different guys that have issues with transmission levers. Not sure why, I’d have to ask them more detail. My home place is a lot bigger than what this man is trying to cover, so my usage of these machines is likely greater. I think the Kubota Im using this morning has 8500 miles on it. Was bought new and only went to shop for a recall on back stabilizer bushings.

 

[bavrit]

Whatever I have, it must be able to turn in a tight circle without tearing up the turf. Can the Kubota do that?

 

[GJohnson]

Whatever I have, it must be able to turn in a tight circle without tearing up the turf. Can the Kubota do that?

Well…I install artificial turf for a living and use the kubotas for that a lot! You see my work on Sundays. Those aren’t torn up….