Kubota B2530 4.00 star(s) (2)

Good Machine, Let Down Big-Time By Flimsy Finish And Poor Design
Model Year: 0

Ben's review on this site says it all, really. We were downgrading from a 50-year-old Massey Ferguson 135 (still going strong) because the heavy controls were just too much for my wife. Our main attachments are a trailer and a flail mower. We'd heard great things about Kubota quality. Well, yes, this little 25 horsepower job does everything we need. It's a cute little machine with a big heart. It has power take-offs in the rear and underneath. What lets it down are two things . .. the very flimsy quality of its paneling and control levers, and it's poor ergonomics. You get the feeling that the designer never even sat on his prototype. If he had, he'd have quickly realized that you can't see the handbrake lever from your sitting position, and also that almost every time you go to get off the tractor, one of the major controls, such as the power take-off, gets caught under your jacket. But the big fault we discovered is that under the left side floor matting, an important transmission pressure monitor is placed right where you can stand on it and break it. We did. Suddenly the main 25-amp fuse blew and we started a lengthy and frustrating search to locate the cause. Only after a couple of lost days did we think to lift the floor mat and discover that the pressure sensor had been crushed and was shorting out. This is really an unforgivable design. Overall, this tractor is a great machine for a small holding. It handles our flail mower beautifully and has lots of grunt for pulling logs around. But I can't help feeling that if I got my hands on the designer his health might be at risk. To be honest, a restored Massey Ferguson 35 would do much the same tasks and be light enough for a woman. Not sure I'd buy another Kubota if all their newer compacts are as poorly finished.

Pros: Good range of facilities, good power, looks nice, good 4-wheel-drive
Cons: Lousy design of critical control positions, flimsy body

Impressive, but they don't make them like they used to.
Model Year: 2010

Bought a B2530 for use on our seed-growing plot (we grow veg seed for mail-order). It is a great tractor, with an incredible amount of power from such a tiny engine. Power steering and 4WD are really good. A few things let it down: 1) it is very tippy - I have reversed the front wheels to make them wider (forbidden in the manual, but I prefer to risk damaging the front axle bearings rather than my neck) 2) It is clearly made down to a price. If I wanted a cheap tractor I'd buy a Chinese thing. For this sort of money I would like less flimsy body panels and better controls (see below). Mechanically it is really solid, but the controls and bodywork are all really thin and plastic-like. 3) Ergonomics are poor. All the levers are unconvincingly flimsy in plastic mounts. Every time you put on the handbrake you catch your watch on the gear-lever shroud - been through 2 watch straps in the first week. The handbrake can't be seen from the driving position and there is no brake-on warning light! So very easy to drive off with the brakes on. 4) this is CAT2 but it only has about 22inches of lift, so some/many cat2 implements cant be used as they are too tall - they drag on the ground even at highest lift. (it has LOADS of lift power though, the link arms will lift a huge weight) 5) The hydraulic lift is pretty much on/off. The control lever moves 8 inches in its slot marked 0-8 for lift but only between 6 and 8 do the arms lift, so it hard to adjust position with accuracy. You might think this was a fault but I have discussed with the dealer AND I have the workshop manual, and it really is meant to be like this. Dealer support was great - front loader brackets bent and they replaced free. I do like it. A big factor in buying this was physical smallness and a light clutch, so my wife (who has a bad hip) can drive it, but even so, another time I might get a re-manufactured MF135.

Pros: Reliable, very strong, impossible to get stuck, great 4WD.
Cons: Tippy, flimsy bodywork, hydraulics not subtle.