I have no memory
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2011
- Messages
- 71
I'm a small farmer looking for a tractor that I can do my planting, some tillage, hay mowing, etc. with. I have to have a cab and at least 70 hp for my disc mower. I've looked into LS and spotted them at the National Farm Show last year and got a price on one that I think is not very competitive. Still, if it were here are my relatively newbie thoughts on LS.
It seems LS came out a few years ago and said they want to be in the top four or five in US by 2012. A few weeks ago an article was posted where they cut their incentive agreement with the city, where they distribute their tractors from, because they aren't going to meet employment goals. Granted they came in during rough economic times but I think their not growing as fast as they thought. The US is saturated with compact tractor makers and their are less margins on the smaller tractors than the big ones, (that's why their all made overseas).
From the looks of it LS makes a good tractor but I think they need to improve. They have very few dealers and while they come with a lot of features, their transmissions leave something to be desired. Hydraulic shuttle with synchronized transmission is good, and I think is standard on the 70XX models for 2011, but not awesome. When you just put in a synchronized mechanical reverser transmission on, (not hydraulic), you open up a whole can of worms including used models of other brands going back to the 90's.
LS is backed by LG which is good in that they should be able to weather some tough economic times but is bad because they are a corporation who answers to stock holders. That means that eventually they will want to please them more than the end users.
LS makes and now markets their own branded tractor. I think that is good and I think Kubota is the only other real player in the US that does that for their size of tractors. Unlike Kubota, LS gets their engines from other manufacturers. I like Mitsubishi, (I have essentially a Mitsubishi excavator with Mitsubishi engine in it and it is fantastic.), but am not a big fan of Iveco engines. I'm sure their OK but I would not put an Iveco above a Kubota but I would say the Mitsubishi is as good or better than Kubota, again IMO.
LS needs to offer hydraulic shuttle in their utility line and as far as I know they don't.
I'd love to trade in my CUT and get an LS CUT, buy an Ls utility with loader and the larger LS w/o loader and I'd be set but with their price point and features I can't see that happening right now. I can see the CUT happening sooner than the others because it does look like the LS CUT can compete with any of the other guys.
Just my rant and opinion.
It seems LS came out a few years ago and said they want to be in the top four or five in US by 2012. A few weeks ago an article was posted where they cut their incentive agreement with the city, where they distribute their tractors from, because they aren't going to meet employment goals. Granted they came in during rough economic times but I think their not growing as fast as they thought. The US is saturated with compact tractor makers and their are less margins on the smaller tractors than the big ones, (that's why their all made overseas).
From the looks of it LS makes a good tractor but I think they need to improve. They have very few dealers and while they come with a lot of features, their transmissions leave something to be desired. Hydraulic shuttle with synchronized transmission is good, and I think is standard on the 70XX models for 2011, but not awesome. When you just put in a synchronized mechanical reverser transmission on, (not hydraulic), you open up a whole can of worms including used models of other brands going back to the 90's.
LS is backed by LG which is good in that they should be able to weather some tough economic times but is bad because they are a corporation who answers to stock holders. That means that eventually they will want to please them more than the end users.
LS makes and now markets their own branded tractor. I think that is good and I think Kubota is the only other real player in the US that does that for their size of tractors. Unlike Kubota, LS gets their engines from other manufacturers. I like Mitsubishi, (I have essentially a Mitsubishi excavator with Mitsubishi engine in it and it is fantastic.), but am not a big fan of Iveco engines. I'm sure their OK but I would not put an Iveco above a Kubota but I would say the Mitsubishi is as good or better than Kubota, again IMO.
LS needs to offer hydraulic shuttle in their utility line and as far as I know they don't.
I'd love to trade in my CUT and get an LS CUT, buy an Ls utility with loader and the larger LS w/o loader and I'd be set but with their price point and features I can't see that happening right now. I can see the CUT happening sooner than the others because it does look like the LS CUT can compete with any of the other guys.
Just my rant and opinion.