Kubota L3130 vs Kioti CK30

[AKREBEL]

I was ready to order the Kubota L3130 until I visited the Kioti dealer yesterday. My use is mowing on flat pasture as well as rolling hills, driveway maint, snow plow, general cleanup of limbs/trees, and corral cleanup. Any suggestions? The Kioti is $3,000 less than the Kubota....

As I read further down this forum, I found a topic that was very similar. I don't want to start a "war of words" here, but re-sale is not a concern of mine. I will probably keep this tractor and give it to my son when I'm too old to run it.

 

[DK35vince]

Both are nice machines.
Both should do the work you listed and run similar size implements.
The Kubota will have a stronger loader (more lifting power).
Be sure to test drive each machine and make sure it fits (Comfort and placement of the controls)
The rest is up to you.
Good luck

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Ditto what Vince said.

The CK30 is a very nice machine, the loader has great visibility. It is on the stout end of the 30hp spectrum. The L3130 has best of class capacity for its loader and is considered the stoutest of the 30hp machines. A $3000 price difference seems like an awful lot between these two machines, it should be less than that based on other prices I've seen here. I would not spend the extra $3000 for the L3130. On the other hand, it seems like the Kubota dealer probably has room to come down and if the difference was about $1000 I'd pick the L3130 to gain the extra capacity.

Both machines seem suited to the tasks you outline. Figure out which one you "fit" into better, which has controls that are more natural for you, and which dealer will give you better support if you run into some problems down the road.

 

[Dargo]

I suppose it would also depend on the dealers you have. Taking into consideration the dealers in my area and the length of historical quality of the Kubota, I would not consider the Kioti for only $3000 less. When I did drive the Kioti, JD, NH, and the Kubota in the same day, the Kioti in the similar hp range was about $5000 less than the others that were similar (I wonder if anyone could guess the order from the most expensive on down; it wasn't exactly what I expected) One of the Kioti dealers locally closed their doors a few years ago and there is only one left. If they dropped the Kioti line, I don't know where the next closest Kioti dealer would be, and my local dealership certainly did not give me a strong impression that they particularly cared for the Kioti lineup or if they sold one. About the only thing they wanted to do was "package" a lot of implements with the tractor that I didn't need or already had. Perhaps since the dealership was trying to sell only on price, I just wasn't too impressed with it.

Obviously it must be different in other parts of the country. I'd say that Kioti represents maybe one out of every 100 tractors in my area, if that many. If it were not for this board, I would not have even bothered to go check out the Kioti when I was shopping. Heck, if it weren't for this board, I wouldn't even have checked to find even if there was a Kioti dealership close to me. As I'd mentioned, one that went out of business was the only one I knew existed close to me. I guess the people in my area are slow to accept "new" entries into the tractor market. Kubota didn't even represent a mentionable percentage of the local market here until about the last 8 to 10 years. The Kioti's here are still viewed as "new" without any long history of quality. Even if I were planning on keeping my tractor forever, I still like to see a long history of quality and of readily available parts and dealerships.

 

[dschanlaub]

I have not seen a response from anyone that owns an L3130. I do. It is a great machine. Have dug small pond, a ditch 1500 ft long (3 ft deep, 9-12 ft wide). Mow 15 acres (my wife does this part), drilled 50 6" holes (pole-barn), spread 100-120 yds of crushed concrete, pulled down a few trees (smaller ones, had to hire a C6 to do the others, but I moved them around to burn). Needless to say, I think it is a great machine. We bought the HST (the only way to go), front end loader, finish mower, backhoe, box blade, and auger. Have 450 hours and its just now a year old. Its is not a big machine, but it can sure do big jobs. Good luck with whatever you choose. Dale, Baytown Tx.

 

[NIXON]

Dale . I agree that the 3130 is one heck of a nice machine .
But I think AKrebel should drive both before deciding .
$3000 bucks is a lot of money .
BTW , Welcome to both of you to TBN ! John

 

[shoppintractors]

My observations are....

Both are quality built machines.
Both are stout, neither is a slouch.

Both are similar in overall length.

3130 has a longer wheelbase.
CK30 having a shorter wheelbase.

3130 has a wider overall width.
CK30 not as wide overall width.

I would suspect the CK30 would be more
maneuverable in close spaces.

3130 has the stronger loader.
CK30 has the sloped hood and curved arms.

3130 weighs a little more.
CK30 weighs a little less.

Kubota's been in the States since 1969. 35 years.
Kioti's been in the States since 1985. Soon to be 20 years.

Kubota's continually improving on their products.
Kioti's continually improving on their products.

<font color="blue">The Kioti is $3,000 less than the Kubota....
</font>
Unless you have specific uses that would require the stronger lifting traits of the 3130 I would have difficulty spending $3000 more for the 3130. I would purchase the Kioti CK30 and spend the $3000 on implements.

Don

 

[kybota]

Other differences to consider:

L3130 has independent pto
CK30 has live, clutch controlled pto

L3130 has separate steering hydraulics, and total flow might have been higher as well.
CK30 has steering/implement hydraulics integrated

Both have the rocker pedal, but I think only the Kubota has the nifty lever cruise control (I don't recall how the Kioti was engaged).

I think the Kubota also might have about 2 more pto hp. (NOPE: Should done this before posting, but I just checked and it is the gear 3130 that has two more horses. The HST model has 24 versus 23.5 for the CK30, so there's not much difference.)

Kioti financing was a little bit cheaper if you went longer than 2 years.

Price differentials I was quoted locally was $18,125 vs $15,500, with the FEL (723 on Kubota) and ag tires. I do not know how much of the difference might be recoverable at resale if I chose to do so.

When I shopped, I liked both dealers, but if I had to do it over again I would probably buy the Kioti CK25 (at $14, 250 with loader, r1) and use the difference for implements, even though the Kubota seemed to run and operate much more smoothly and quietly than all the other brands.

I drove the Kubota last of a dozen or so I tried out, and really loved it, but I have since determined that the Kubota dealer is used to dealing with people with deeper pockets than I have. His costs for generic no-name implements and service are much higher than the Kioti dealer and he seems less interested in helping out a tractor newbie.


The Koti was the first tractor I drove, so maybe my purchase would have been different if I shopped there last. I don't know.

 

[shoppintractors]

<font color="blue"> L3130 has separate steering hydraulics, and total flow might have been higher as well.
CK30 has steering/implement hydraulics integrated
</font>

The CK30 also has a seperate pump for the steering hydraulics. Kioti doesn't spell it out very clear on their website however, in the printed literature, it lists "tandem" pumps with a total flow of 12.7. L3130 total pump flow is 13.2.

Don

 

[AKREBEL]

Okay guys...here is what I think I'm going to do:

Order the Kubota L3130 with 723 bucket, R-4 tires (filled), Landpride 6' cutter and 7' angle/tilt rear blade. The dealer came within $2500 of the Kioti and offered a new 20' tilt flat bed car hauler for his cost. As I found, there was only one Kioti dealer within 200 miles and 5 Kubota dealers. Plus this guy has been in business here for 82 years and has a great reputaion as well as a huge shop and parts house....

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

Jim