(The dates on this TBN review form stop at 2005. The tractor is a 2006 model, and it was purchased in May 2006)

I'd been looking at replacing an aging compact tractor for about six months. I peeked under a lot of tractor frames. I sat on just a few. Most were pretty disappointing, and most were far beyond my budget. I never even bothered to test drive one until I looked at the Mahindra.

Leg room and easy mounting/dis-mounting was a major consideration for my nearly 60-year old knees. I do a lot of work in the woods and in rough terrain, so it had to be tough, with a low center-of-gravity. Four-wheel-drive with a cast iron front axel and a heavy frame were mandatory. Standard-size Cat 1 hitch (not sub-compact) and a loader were the only other real requirements. Just because of maneuverability, I knew I wanted something between 20 and 25 hp.

One rainy morning I drove to the local Mahindra dealer. I looked underneath at the frame and was impressed. I sat on it. It fit like an old shoe. It even had a tilt steering wheel. I took it for a ride. Wow! The $12,000 price included the tractor, the ML104 loader, a brush guard, loaded rear tires, and delivery. The zero percent financing for 36 months was icing on the cake. The fine people at D&G tractor of Augusta, WV, prepped one for me and delivered it two days later.

Getting on the tractor, and using it, is just comfortable. It took absolutely no time getting used to it, including the loader joystick! Everything is really easy to access, see, and use. After using it for a few hours, my old tractor seemed really awkward.

At this point, I have about 12 hours of seat time. At only 20 hp, this is one real hard working tractor. With the loader and liquid-filled rear tires, I would guess that it weighs somewhere between 2500 and 3000 lbs. It takes a lot to spin the tires, especially when the box blade is on the hitch, either for additional ballast, or for working. I run almost exclusively in 4WD.

Everything seems to be well balanced and stable. With a bucket full of dirt or gravel, even up high and ready for dumping, there is no rear instability. The front end is very stable when transporting a 5-foot box blade or a 4-foot brush hog.

The first thing I did with it was to fill in and level an erosion ravine that was about 100 feet long and about 3-foot deep. The tractor pulled the 5-foot box blade through a lot of small oak stumps and big rocks. The loader is a dream to use -- especially for us old guys who never used a single lever joystick before. It took about 3 minutes to get used to it. It curls, dumps, and lifts/drops real smooth. It’s fast, too. There is enough down-pressure to do impressive back dragging with the little machine.

My 1/2 mile of West Virginia driveway is very steep in places. One after another, I pulled several nearly-full box blade loads of gravel that had washed down during a recent storm. I was able to go back up the steep hills with almost no tire spin.

I only have a 4-foot brush hog, but the tractor pulls it through brambles and brush like there is nothing on the PTO. The tractor does have a built-in over running clutch, but it doesn't work quite like the kind I've always had on PTO shafts. I find it a little strange that I must disengage the PTO to shift gears. I’ll get used to that.

There are a few negatives, but nothing that would ever deter me from recommending this tractor.

I'm going to have to build a light bar for the ROPS. The tractor has no rear light, and if the loader is just above ground level, it blocks the headlights until the bucket is well above the hood.

Like so many tractors, it is real easy to forget that the brakes are on. I plan to install an indicator so that I don't keep driving off with the brake pedals locked down.

I found the draw bar a little wimpy. I believe the manual says it will support a tongue weight of 200 lbs. I filled a 4 x 8 medium-duty single-axle trailer with a half-cord of freshly split oak firewood (GVWR less than 2000 lbs – not sure of tongue weight). With the trailer attached, the draw bar looked like a diving board with a fat man standing on the end. I had an old 3-point hitch drawbar, so I welded up a lock that prevented it from swiveling when using it with a ball hitch. No problem hauling the trailer up or down a hill when fully loaded.

The manual is OK, but it could be better. It doesn’t include a wiring diagram and it seems kind of disorganized, and confusing in places – like it says to replace the hydraulic filter at the 50 hour change – but it doesn’t seem to recommend replacing the fluid!

As for filters, I have heard a lot of complaining about the expense of the filters. After having a tractor that was orphaned by its parent and two major US tractor names before finally being supported by AGCO, the prices don’t look that different.

The tractor has lots of nice little features. Like a tool box mounted behind the seat. Like a bucket level indicator on the loader. Everything seems like it is just where it should be, and they all operate they way you expect them to.

Lastly, this thing is real fuel stingy. It seems to use less than a half-gallon of fuel per hour. I run standard low-sulfur road fuel. The exhaust is down under the front bumper, and so far, no fumes to contend with.

I’m impressed.

Date Purchased: 5/2005
Purchased: New
Price Paid: US$12000
Pros: Heavy, tough and very stable. Great leg room. Extremely well laid out and designed. Smooth/strong loader. Price. Very fuel efficient.
Cons: Loader blocks headlights. Drawbar too small. Easy to forget brakes are locked.
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