eagle107
Gold Member
Guys,
I am currently in the market for a new John Deere X700 series tractor with a 7-Iron mowing deck. I am only going to use this tractor for mowing the farm and nothing else, much like any residential owner who also might do some snowblowing. Now, I love a diesel engine for the torque, longevity and fuel efficiency, but I have been asking myself is it worth a $1,000 more for the X748 diesel model instead of the X728 gas model? Well, my gut says, "Yeah it is, go for it," but my brain tells me, "hold on a second, is that really true?" So I went online and read all sorts of debates about "Gas vs. Diesel" and "X728 vs. X748," however, none of the debates I read provided comparison charts or anything somewhat tangible I could sink my teeth into. So I came up with a comparison chart of my own.
After discussing the X728 and X748 with my dealer, I found X748 will give me at least a $1,000 more when I trade it in and JD rates the diesel engine around 30% to 25% more efficient then the EFI gas engine. Now that I have more information to help me figure out if a diesel engine would be more cost effective than a gas engine, I need to know what my target breakeven/trade-in value would be in 10 years. At the moment, I am thinking that I would trade this tractor in after 10 years.
Below are things I need to compare/look at:
1. I burn about 55 gallons a year to cut the property around the house. How long would it take to breakeven with the fuel savings? I also wondered what the fuel saving would be if someone burned 70 to 300 gallons a year.
2. I use on-road diesel which is 30 cents more than gas right now in Western NY. I also compared if diesel was $.20 and $.50 more than gas. In addition, I do not have a tax number to reduce the cost of purchasing off-road diesel, so I cannot
get that cost benefit and did not figure that in.
3. What is the "true" future value of a $1000 trade-in for the diesel model? I know that my $1000 today will not be worth as much in 10 years. So a $1000 trade-in value in 10 year will be worth about $600.00 in today's money.
So I built a model, crunched the numbers and came up with the comparison chart that I attached. The definitions of the chart's column's are below:
1. The first column shows the retail cost of the X728 and X748, both with a 7-Iron mowing deck, along with the 5 to 20 year interval.
2. The second column shows the combined cost of the X728 tractor and the 55 gallons of gas to run the tractor at a fixed price of $4.00 for the next twenty years. I know this is not realistic, but I am really looking at if diesel continuously cost $0.20, $0.30, $0.50 more than gas.
3. The third column shows the combined cost of the x748 tractor and the 55 gallons of diesel to run the tractor at a fixed price of "$4.20, $4.30 or $4.50" with a 30% fuel savings.
4. The third column shows the combined cost of the x748 tractor and the 55 gallons of diesel to run the tractor at a fixed price of "$4.20, $4.30 or $4.50" with a 25% fuel savings.
5. The fifth column shows the X748's 30% fuel saving compared the X728.
6. The sixth column shows the X748's 25% fuel saving compared the X728.
7. The seventh column shows the future worth of today's $1000 - if I purchased the X748 today and received a $1000 trade-in value for the X748 after 5, 10, 15 and 20 years.
8. The eighth column shows the X748 future dollar trade-in value plus the 30% fuel savings.
9. The ninth column shows the X748 future dollar trade-in value plus the 25% fuel savings.
Based on the results, I see the following:
1. Columns five and six show I will never save enough in fuel costs running the X748 over the X728 even if I use 100 gallons of fuel a year for the next 10 to 15 years.
2. Columns eight and nine show the net value of what my $1000 trade-in and fuel saving would be worth after 5, 10, 15, 20 years. At 55 and 70 gallons a year, I actually would be losing more money with a trade-in that I invested with today's dollars.
However, not all is bad! If you are a landscaper, contractor or commercial user, then the diesel starts to shine when using 200 gallons or more of fuel a year for the next 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. Also, there is no doubt the fuel saving would be considerably more if you can get off-road diesel for the same price or less than gas.
At the end of all of this, I will choose the X728 over the X748 as the tractors are pretty much the same except for the engines. Also, for me the X728 is only an adjunct tractor to cut the small stuff while I already have a JD 4520 compact tractor to handle the big stuff. However, if you are a typical residential user cutting grass and snowblowing a few times a year, then you are better off with the X728's gas engine. Though, if you are a power user cutting fields, using the PTO and other attachments, or a commercial user, then the X748's diesel engine is still the best option for you. Hope this helps anyone trying to compare these two tractors or the "diesel vs gas" engine situation I was looking at.
Note: Please be aware I could not account for everyone's situations/variables. This really pertains to my situation and hopefully a typical residential user's situation. Also, I used the retail price of the X728 and X748 w/ the 7-Iron mowing deck for the comparison. Mostly like you could get a 12% to 20+% discount on the tractors depending on the dealer, rebates and etc.
I am currently in the market for a new John Deere X700 series tractor with a 7-Iron mowing deck. I am only going to use this tractor for mowing the farm and nothing else, much like any residential owner who also might do some snowblowing. Now, I love a diesel engine for the torque, longevity and fuel efficiency, but I have been asking myself is it worth a $1,000 more for the X748 diesel model instead of the X728 gas model? Well, my gut says, "Yeah it is, go for it," but my brain tells me, "hold on a second, is that really true?" So I went online and read all sorts of debates about "Gas vs. Diesel" and "X728 vs. X748," however, none of the debates I read provided comparison charts or anything somewhat tangible I could sink my teeth into. So I came up with a comparison chart of my own.
After discussing the X728 and X748 with my dealer, I found X748 will give me at least a $1,000 more when I trade it in and JD rates the diesel engine around 30% to 25% more efficient then the EFI gas engine. Now that I have more information to help me figure out if a diesel engine would be more cost effective than a gas engine, I need to know what my target breakeven/trade-in value would be in 10 years. At the moment, I am thinking that I would trade this tractor in after 10 years.
Below are things I need to compare/look at:
1. I burn about 55 gallons a year to cut the property around the house. How long would it take to breakeven with the fuel savings? I also wondered what the fuel saving would be if someone burned 70 to 300 gallons a year.
2. I use on-road diesel which is 30 cents more than gas right now in Western NY. I also compared if diesel was $.20 and $.50 more than gas. In addition, I do not have a tax number to reduce the cost of purchasing off-road diesel, so I cannot
get that cost benefit and did not figure that in.
3. What is the "true" future value of a $1000 trade-in for the diesel model? I know that my $1000 today will not be worth as much in 10 years. So a $1000 trade-in value in 10 year will be worth about $600.00 in today's money.
So I built a model, crunched the numbers and came up with the comparison chart that I attached. The definitions of the chart's column's are below:
1. The first column shows the retail cost of the X728 and X748, both with a 7-Iron mowing deck, along with the 5 to 20 year interval.
2. The second column shows the combined cost of the X728 tractor and the 55 gallons of gas to run the tractor at a fixed price of $4.00 for the next twenty years. I know this is not realistic, but I am really looking at if diesel continuously cost $0.20, $0.30, $0.50 more than gas.
3. The third column shows the combined cost of the x748 tractor and the 55 gallons of diesel to run the tractor at a fixed price of "$4.20, $4.30 or $4.50" with a 30% fuel savings.
4. The third column shows the combined cost of the x748 tractor and the 55 gallons of diesel to run the tractor at a fixed price of "$4.20, $4.30 or $4.50" with a 25% fuel savings.
5. The fifth column shows the X748's 30% fuel saving compared the X728.
6. The sixth column shows the X748's 25% fuel saving compared the X728.
7. The seventh column shows the future worth of today's $1000 - if I purchased the X748 today and received a $1000 trade-in value for the X748 after 5, 10, 15 and 20 years.
8. The eighth column shows the X748 future dollar trade-in value plus the 30% fuel savings.
9. The ninth column shows the X748 future dollar trade-in value plus the 25% fuel savings.
Based on the results, I see the following:
1. Columns five and six show I will never save enough in fuel costs running the X748 over the X728 even if I use 100 gallons of fuel a year for the next 10 to 15 years.
2. Columns eight and nine show the net value of what my $1000 trade-in and fuel saving would be worth after 5, 10, 15, 20 years. At 55 and 70 gallons a year, I actually would be losing more money with a trade-in that I invested with today's dollars.
However, not all is bad! If you are a landscaper, contractor or commercial user, then the diesel starts to shine when using 200 gallons or more of fuel a year for the next 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. Also, there is no doubt the fuel saving would be considerably more if you can get off-road diesel for the same price or less than gas.
At the end of all of this, I will choose the X728 over the X748 as the tractors are pretty much the same except for the engines. Also, for me the X728 is only an adjunct tractor to cut the small stuff while I already have a JD 4520 compact tractor to handle the big stuff. However, if you are a typical residential user cutting grass and snowblowing a few times a year, then you are better off with the X728's gas engine. Though, if you are a power user cutting fields, using the PTO and other attachments, or a commercial user, then the X748's diesel engine is still the best option for you. Hope this helps anyone trying to compare these two tractors or the "diesel vs gas" engine situation I was looking at.
Note: Please be aware I could not account for everyone's situations/variables. This really pertains to my situation and hopefully a typical residential user's situation. Also, I used the retail price of the X728 and X748 w/ the 7-Iron mowing deck for the comparison. Mostly like you could get a 12% to 20+% discount on the tractors depending on the dealer, rebates and etc.
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