Warning About Dealers And Their Pricing

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What a bunch of children we have on here bicker back and forth. Do you really think that you’re adding anything to the discussion?

Wow Richard!
Only 30 posts in17 years. You must be very selective with your insults.

 

[2manyrocks]

Well, if you insist on getting back on the original topic, my experience in the last two weeks was that only one of three Kubota dealers I spoke with in middle Tennessee knew about the NCHA discount immediately when I called.

One salesman got off the phone and researched it. He came back and said that it was optional for the dealer to offer it, and because of their low inventory, they would not offer the discount.

The second salesman evidently thought I was a nut pulling his leg. He finally came around to at least being willing to ask his GM what he could do, but by that time, I already had a deal elsewhere.

The third salesman immediately knew what I was talking about and priced the tractor and loader $1,500 less than the other two. That's where I bought the tractor. His dealership is right in the prime of Tennessee horse country.

I was also interested in a Land Pride grapple, but my salesman said the discount only applied to Kubota branded attachments. He didn't have a Land Pride grapple in stock anyway.

My take on this (1) shop around between as many dealers as you can and (2) be prepared to have to educate your salesman and wait for the GM to tell the salesman what leeway he has on pricing.

IMO, there's an inherent tension here because on the one hand Kubota is offering this promotional discount and yet dealers can't get their hands on tractors fast enough as it is.

If you are also going to use Kubota financing, the discount may not be your best option, according to the salesman who ended up selling me my tractor.

 

[2manyrocks]

Oh yes, forgot to mention, from what I could find, with a good battery in good conditions, the Leaf had an estimated range of about 120 miles and then needed to be recharged overnight. Fast recharging tended to heat up the batteries and reduce the battery life. And it seems to me there aren't that many charging stations relatively speaking in my area--none in my community. Unlike a hybrid that will let you drive home on gas power, a total EV can leave you stranded with a tow bill if you run out of electric power.

So the Honda Hybrid made better sense for my daughter's situation than the total EV. She'd be the one to push her luck on the pure EV and end up stranded. Battery management is certainly not for her.

 

[RSR]

In my mind, the electric vehicle is non sustainable. It would take 1.3 million "charging stations" just for the state of California. The quickest "refill" I've encountered is 1.5 hrs or 30 minutes enough to get back home within the neighborhood. Compare this to 5 minutes for a gas refill. Yet, it is being rammed down our throats as your next vehicle.
My shop sold 2 battery powered snow blowers. They were both returned after the first snow. They lasted 10 and 14 minutes so there is definitely a need for liquid fuel. Battery powered Outdoor power equipment is another joke to the tradesman.
It takes the removal of 500 tons of earth to screen enough essential minerals to make ONE 1000 lb car battery. Can you say "Strip mines?".
Then, what is the grid going to be powered with to charge all of these cars? Fission, fusion, coal, natural gas?

The electric car is simply a stop gap marketing scheme with the usual palms greased until we come out with something way more viable.

It may turn out to be a net 100% energy usage just like we have now.

Yeah, there are some major logistical challenges. It's not that I think they can't be solved, but it feels like the push towards rapid integration is a little bit of putting the cart before the horse.

 

[DK35vince]

They're great for flat properties and smooth terrain but not so much for anything outside of that.

With the stock turf tires I agree, my z turn was useless on slopes.
Put a set of bar tires on and the difference is huge.
Much of the hill behind our house is around 20 degree slope, I can mow up and down the hill with the tractor in 4 wd, but its to steep to side mow.
I mow that same hill with my zero turn with bar tires, up and down or side hill just fine. (I couldn't mow that hill at all with the stock turfs on my zero turn, no problem now)

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[Jstpssng]

In my mind, the electric vehicle is non sustainable. It would take 1.3 million "charging stations" just for the state of California. The quickest "refill" I've encountered is 1.5 hrs or 30 minutes enough to get back home within the neighborhood. Compare this to 5 minutes for a gas refill. Yet, it is being rammed down our throats as your next vehicle.
My shop sold 2 battery powered snow blowers. They were both returned after the first snow. They lasted 10 and 14 minutes so there is definitely a need for liquid fuel. Battery powered Outdoor power equipment is another joke to the tradesman.
It takes the removal of 500 tons of earth to screen enough essential minerals to make ONE 1000 lb car battery. Can you say "Strip mines?".
Then, what is the grid going to be powered with to charge all of these cars? Fission, fusion, coal, natural gas?

The electric car is simply a stop gap marketing scheme with the usual palms greased until we come out with something way more viable.

It may turn out to be a net 100% energy usage just like we have now.

Remind me not to buy an electric snowblower.
Actually I already have a 0 emissions snowblower down in the shed... a '70s vintage Ariens which was in the barn after my father passed away. Parts were scattered all over 3 acres but I managed to find them all ... if I ever need a snowblower I'll see if I can get it going.

A lot of other electric tools are really becoming popular though... I know a couple of people with electric ice augers who think they are the cat's meow. My various Dewalt tools are great, although that 6aH battery was a bit pricey. Actually not... they never charged my PayPAl account and I didn't receive anything telling me who I got it from.


If you go over into the "Battery Operated..." thread though, you will find that we are naysayers, and that naysayers are always wrong.

 

[Hay Dude]

With the stock turf tires I agree, my z turn was useless on slopes.
Put a set of bar tires on and the difference is huge.
Much of the hill behind our house is around 20 degree slope, I can mow up and down the hill with the tractor in 4 wd, but its to steep to side mow.
I mow that same hill with my zero turn with bar tires, up and down or side hill just fine. (I couldn't mow that hill at all with the stock turfs on my zero turn, no problem now)

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I can still go up & down with mine somewhat acceptably. Dont know if its because mine is like 1800lbs and add me or my son, well over 2000lbs and that gives mine decent traction?
But your right, bar tires turn it into a completely different machine on hills.

 

[JethroB]

I have to disagree with this. I've never run one and don't have enough lawn to justify it. Yet every time that I go past somebody on a zero turn they look like they are having too much fun. It's the same as when I see somebody going up the highway on a nice street bike, it just makes me green with envy.

The teenager who cuts my yard showed up last year with a new 30 hp Bad Boy ZT. He said enthusiastically “and it’ll do 15 mph.” I’m thinking, Oh crap, there goes my wannabe lawn. He puts his cap on backwards and leans forwards like a jockey at Church Hill Downs riding Secretariat. Great kid.

 

[Jstpssng]

The teenager who cuts my yard showed up last year with a new 30 hp Bad Boy ZT. He said enthusiastically “and it’ll do 15 mph.” I’m thinking, Oh crap, there goes my wannabe lawn. He puts his cap on backwards and leans forwards like a jockey at Church Hill Downs riding Secretariat. Great kid.

I hope you saw that my post was dripping with sarcasm...

 

[Grumpycat]

In my mind, the electric vehicle is non sustainable. It would take 1.3 million "charging stations" just for the state of California. The quickest "refill" I've encountered is 1.5 hrs or 30 minutes enough to get back home within the neighborhood. Compare this to 5 minutes for a gas refill.

Every home a charging point. Problem solved.

Tesla Model 3 LR will honestly put 250 miles into the battery in 35 minutes at a 250 kW Tesla Supercharger if you start with the battery very low. But that doesn't matter, that isn't something you do more than once per year if you expect the battery to last 15 years. Is faster to stop every 125 miles than once every 250.

I don't think you can fill your tank in 5 minutes. 20 minutes is a quick off-on interstate stop.

Yet, it is being rammed down our throats as your next vehicle.

Don't worry about it. Will never happen. Politicians will be thrown out on their backsides if they actually try and make ICE vehicles scarce. Right now they are just virtue signaling knowing full well they will be long gone before the bill is due.

My shop sold 2 battery powered snow blowers. They were both returned after the first snow. They lasted 10 and 14 minutes so there is definitely a need for liquid fuel. Battery powered Outdoor power equipment is another joke to the tradesman.

Know plenty of people who love their EGo battery snowblowers. Just because your shop sold an inferior battery-electric doesn't mean all are equally inferior. Fiat 500e is an exceptionally inferior EV so lets pretend all EVs are as limited as a Fiat 500e.

It takes the removal of 500 tons of earth to screen enough essential minerals to make ONE 1000 lb car battery. Can you say "Strip mines?".

Wait a minute, the claim last month was only 200 tons!

But "so what?" How about how much has to be moved to produce a ton of steel? Of aluminum? Of copper?

Then, what is the grid going to be powered with to charge all of these cars? Fission, fusion, coal, natural gas?

50% excess capacity at night. Isn't doing anything now, easy money for the utilities if only they had a market to sell night electricity.