Pros & Cons Kawasaki Mule SX vs Honda Pioneer 520

[John_Mc]

Awesome. Hope you got a good deal.

I have 40 acres of woods and there are times I wish I had more dump bed capacity in my Honda 700-4.

I was happy with the deal. I would have liked to get a bit more off compared to the price of a new one, but they were really tough to find when I was shopping. The dealers in my area wouldn't even take an order for a new one. They just said "we'll put you on a list and give you a call if one comes in. I've been on their list for a year now, and never heard a thing from them.

The bed is small, but I just haul chainsaws and related tools in that. I have a variety of trailers for when I need to haul more. The trailer I seem to use the most with the Honda 520 is a lightweight Polar tandem axle (model 8262) with the side rail extensions. With the extensions, it holds about 35 cu. ft.

I have 144 acres, basically all woods except around the house and a couple of acres of meadows/brush habitat. I'm also joint owner with 15 other area families of a 115 Acre conserved, working forest that is just a few miles down the road from me. That one is slightly more rugged terrain than my own property, but we have some very good access trails there.

 

[RalphVa]

I went with a Kubota RTV 520. The one they had came with a heavy duty bumper in front and alloy wheels. The alloy wheels are kind of silly.

Bought the Kubota because it's probably the only one with HST similar to what is on our tractors. Gives gobs of engine braking on the hills in L.

Could not find either a Mule nor a Pioneer to even look at in our Charlottesville, Va area. Honda with its possibly non CV drive might give more engine braking but not if it has a centrifugal clutch.

 

[tradosaurus]

I went with a Kubota RTV 520. The one they had came with a heavy duty bumper in front and alloy wheels. The alloy wheels are kind of silly.

Bought the Kubota because it's probably the only one with HST similar to what is on our tractors. Gives gobs of engine braking on the hills in L.

Could not find either a Mule nor a Pioneer to even look at in our Charlottesville, Va area. Honda with its possibly non CV drive might give more engine braking but not if it has a centrifugal clutch.

It's too bad you couldn't have test drove a Honda Pioneer.
Before I bought my Honda Pioneer 700-4 I looked at the Kubota RTV. I wanted to buy one just to match my Kubota tractor but was blown away by the cost.
I just built the RTV 520 to the equivalent spec of my 700-4 and it came to $17,300.
My 700-4 is 38 hp (700 cc) compared to the 17.4 hp of the RTV 520. Plus the 700-4 has a second row seat.

 

[Milo]

I ended up buying a used 2022 Honda 520. The key in my initial post was "small UTV". The 50" width suits me fine. I don't need to tow huge loads......

Between the two you probably made the right choice. I owned a MULE 610 (previous version of SX) and while it was a stout little machine it rode fairly rough, 20mph top speed, and no engine braking going slow down steep grades. But it has a locking differential and high-low range which is nice.
One of the SXS's I have now is a P520 and while the shifting can be pretty clunky compared to a MULE it rides a little better and has a lot more power and speed with max around 37 and easy cruising around 30 mph even up grades where the SX might drop down to 10 mph. I think the P520 is good looking and is a great size in woods and on tight trails. Other than shifting, my other three gripes are it has a spool rear end no diff, which can chew up the ground where making tight turns and it makes the steering effort higher. The P700 also suffers from the surprising omission of a differential. The lack of storage space you get 2 cup holders and that's about it not even a glove box. And changing the oil and filter is unnecessarily tedious. Fun little machine though and practical, heck I use the SXS's on my property more than the tractor.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Either one is a good machine. It may come down to which one you can get your hands on. A few months ago I was looking at the same ones. Called around and nobody had either and were saying spring 2023 would be the soonest I could get one. We found a used Pioneer 500 and bought it for about half what a new one would be. One big difference between them is the Honda uses a geared transmission, the Kawi uses CVT. I don't know how low the gearing is on the Mule, but the Honda in low gear could climb a wall if if you could get traction. The down side is the shifts can feel a bit clunky at times.

No, the downside is Honda is at dealer getting a new clutch pack.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

That would be false. I wouldn't call the towing capacity of either "heavy".

Towing capacity of the Honda 520 (1000 lbs) and Kawasaki Mule SX (1100 lbs) are almost identical

Seen too many need that three wheeler clutch replaced on them there Hondas.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I went with a Kubota RTV 520. The one they had came with a heavy duty bumper in front and alloy wheels. The alloy wheels are kind of silly.

Bought the Kubota because it's probably the only one with HST similar to what is on our tractors. Gives gobs of engine braking on the hills in L.

Could not find either a Mule nor a Pioneer to even look at in our Charlottesville, Va area. Honda with its possibly non CV drive might give more engine braking but not if it has a centrifugal clutch.

Driving a Kubota down the road is like watching paint dry. Or watching the grass grow. Like going to town on a riding mower.

 

[ArlyA]

Driving a Kubota down the road is like watching paint dry. Or watching the grass grow. Like going to town on a riding mower.

 

[dj1701]

I test drove a RTV. Solid machine but you are going nowhere faster than a garden tractor for a premium price.

I settled on kawasaki Pro MX. Bigger than the SX but not by much. Plenty of power from the one lung 700. Power steering, and has more storage. It's down hill engine breaking is awsome.