Current pricing L2501 and transmission choice

[2manyrocks]

I found one HST/Loader in stock at a dealer who was willing to give me the equine discount on the HST/Loader, but who said the discount didn't apply to the Land Pride branded grapple. He didn't have one in stock anyway. Looks like it will save me about $1,500 compared to the quotes from two other dealers who gave me price quotes.

One dealer didn't have any HSTs in stock. Hadn't heard about the equine discount and didn't offer it.

One looked into it and said they wouldn't give me the equine discount because of the shortage of Kubota inventory. He said they had 3 HST models in stock at their 5 locations. He gave me a high quote and then later backed off after his own sales manager told him he had put in too much margin.

I called the sales department of another dealer. They never answered the phone during regular business hours.

I called and email the sales manager of yet another dealer. He hasn't responded, either.

Only one out of 5 dealers was willing to honor the discount. I'm not sure why only one was immediately familiar with it as soon as I called except his dealership is right in the heart of horse country in Tennessee.

The salesmen at two dealers said Kubota was implementing a 4% price increase effective April 1. One dealer salesman at a third dealer thought it was 5%.

Sort of feel like I'm paying more than I should be except I think we are currently living in a bubble where people want to put money into hard assets. Buy now while you can get it at this price....I suppose. This is different from the late 1970s when you knew it was going to cost more later, but there was no money to buy it now. Could actually be more dangerous today to have too much money chasing too few goods.

As for the NCHA, I called them before joining and had an interesting chat. They are a very professional organization running an impressive number of cutting horse competitions. To say that they are serious about what they do is an understatement.

Thanks to all of you for your helpful suggestions. Special thanks to drumminj for alerting me to the discount.

 

[tradosaurus]

I would contact someone at Kubota corporate and mention the dealers that won't honor the NCHA discounts. I didn't read anywhere in the disclaimers where the discount is up to the dealer.

 

[2manyrocks]

Well I thought about that.

My thinking is I'd prefer to do business with a dealer who is honest with me and willing to offer the discount without having to be forced into it. If a dealer isn't going to offer the discount without me having to go to Kubotausa, I'm not sure that I want to do any business with that dealer. How would that dealer treat me if I needed warranty service? Are they really the people I want to do business with?

Overall, the negative experience I've had with four out of five dealers while shopping for this tractor makes me appreciate the one who has been reasonable to deal with.

 

[Forky]

Good to hear you found the dealer you like. Did you actually purchase a tractor then? They won't be any cheaper than they are now. I could sell mine for more now than I paid for it a year ago.

 

[2manyrocks]

The dealer said he'd setup the tractor (still in a crate), deliver it to my house, and pick up my check.

 

[2manyrocks]

The cleanest it will ever be.

 

[varmint]

Like others have already said, HST tractors seem to be dead reliable. Having had both a gear drive and two HST's, there's no way I would ever go back to a gear drive. Maybe if all you were using the tractor for was mowing, then gear drive might be OK. As for stability issues, simply installing some wheel spacers (I have 2" on each side) works wonders. I did it to help with snow blade "pushing" the tractor around when I had a big mound of snow I was plowing- really helped keep the rear end going straight. On inclines, the tractor feels much more planted, too.

 

[2manyrocks]

The delivery guy said the only problems they see from these units are people abusing them because they don't know how to operate a tractor and problems from using fuel that isn't clean. He said they are not like the older tractors that would tolerate about any kind of diesel.

I am surprised at how tight this machine is. I don't know if it is Kubota quality control or being a new tractor, but it really feels well put together compared to my older tractors ....

But I'm dismayed at the front plastic grill and the lack of protection against sticks and things. Have begun dealing with those things that could be issues based on my personal experience over the years.

Not sure whether to start another thread or just keep the entire adventure in one place. I'm sort of thinking these are matters that prospective buyers should factor into their purchase so I'm leaning towards keeping it all in one place.

 

[rScotty]

Congratulations. It sounds like you had a real good buying experience - though one out of 5 dealers.... I don't know....is that good or bad? Gotta agree with what you said about the bubble and hard assets back in message #51.

Now that you have the tractor its custom time! In the last half century tractors toolboxes have actually gotten smaller, still no grab hooks on the loader, no hat hook, or place to put your sunglasses, and even less protection for critical parts.
However ours features not one, but two drink holders....

You may find that the same lack of accessability also applies to maintenance items..... I doubt that it's less important now than it used to be, but making things easy to access is no longer a priority.

For example we had to extend the wiring under the shifter cover so the cover would come off to access the grease points beneath. Come on now Kubota; was it worth it for saving 3" of wire??

Still, it's all stuff you can do and no doubt will. Be fun to read about it.

I've found the same thing about our Kubota being much tighter than what I recall from new machines in the past. Not just tighter everywhere, but more consistently so. What I'm saying is that when new it wasn't that one lever was set a little tight and another loose. They were ALL set up just exactly the same.

If you want it to stay tightly knit together, just don't force it. Use it normally, and when you use it to its max, do so slowly. I think it is throwing them around and forcing the limits that makes them old. Ours is still pretty tight at 1000 hrs.

rScotty

 

[drumminj]

But I'm dismayed at the front plastic grill and the lack of protection against sticks and things. Have begun dealing with those things that could be issues based on my personal experience over the years.

This is addressed in the L02s (I see you have the new LA526 loader, but looks like there's only a 3302 and 3902 at the moment), but there's a number of good options in the aftermarket (or fabricate your own). Yes, it sucks to have to do it yourself, but this seems to be true of many things in life (adding accessories for cars, trucks, etc).