Kubota ZG20-48 - Any good?

[amigauser]

I have a compact tractor that is kind of heavy for my lawn so I am looking for something to mow and pickup leaves on about 1-1/2 acreas of land. The ZTR mowers seem to be very popular but I have not seen to many Kubota ZTR's around, at least not in my area. I have been offered a ZG20-48 with the factory bagger for $6800 + tax. This seems like a very good deal but I have no experience with them.

Does anyone here own a ZG20 or ZG23? How well does the factory bagger work? Have you used it to pick up leaves? Any problems with it?

This would only be for my own use on my own property, no commercial use.

Thanks,
Norm

 

[epic6500sr]

As far as the machine, I had for for 6 months while my dealer was waiting for my Grasshopper to come in, it was a great machine, very nice for a homeowner. As far as bagging, I would think it would do a nice job, they have nice deep decks, and the baggers have a good wide fill tube. However, on either of those machines they have air cooled Kohler engines, I am not a fan, the Kubota I had was a Liquid-cooled Diesel model, it had a Kubota engine in it. If you like Kohler this isn't an issue, however I don't like Kohler, but I am sure Kubota wouldn't use a bad engine. As far as everything else on the machine, its great, good pumps, good work station. By the way, I know Kubota baggers from experience, I had an old G1900S it had a bagger on it and it had about the same deck as the ZTR's by Kubota today. Good Luck, let us know the outcome.

 

[Barrybud]

I have been doing a lot of research over the past several months as I look to upgrade from a traditional lawn tractor to a ZTR. I have over 2 acres of mostly lawn and I am looking for time savings with the ZT. I collected data on about 50 different Z's and for my application here are the top 3.

1.Kubota ZG20
2. Skag Tiger Cub
3. EverRide Hornet 25

EverRide is not very well know (at least in my area) though I spoke with a couple of commercial landscapers who run them and they speak well about the (The Warrior model which more commercial than the Hornet) They seem to be built to last and with the current Promo ($1500 instant rebate and 36 month 0%) that puts it around $5100 a very attractive price point for this kind if quality.

Of course the Skag is well respected heavy duty machine for my residential use. The Kubota just seems to offer a lot of standard items that put it on the top of my list like a hydraulic PTO, sealed trans, folding ROPS, Hydro deck lift and cutting height adjustment, shaft drive and a jack in the front for accessing the underside of the deck. It also opens up completely so you have access for maintenance. I've seen it priced between 5800 (if I want to drive 8 hours) to 6800. If I can get the local guy to split the difference we will have a deal.

Come back to this thread and let us know what you get.