Without question the NH or Case/IH cabs are the roomiest, most comfortable cabs in the industry in my opinion. I would probably rate the new MF 1600 series cabs as a close second. For me, I like the placement of the controls overall the best on the NH tractors as well. The placement and feel of the loader controls felt the best to me, and I like the placement of everything else too. Probably the most important is the amount of adjustability to the seat. The NH and Case/IH tractors were the only ones I tested where I could put the seat all the way back and feel like I actually wanted to be closer to the pedals. In other words the leg room in the NH cabs is teriffic.
Oh, and I've been holding out until I sign the papers this afternoon, but I suppose I should just spill the beans. In the end, the decision really came down to the dealer that most wanted to sell me a tractor. The Kubota dealers just wouldn't move enough off of their prices for me. The John Deere dealer was way overpriced so they were out of the running pretty quickly. So especially after ruling out the Kubota 3030 it was pretty much down to the NH or the MF. The MF dealer really sharpened his pencil and I came very close to buying. However the NH dealer came through in the end.
The dealer despite trying hard to do so couldn't come up with a Boomer 3045 cab tractor that any dealer was willing to send, so it was looking like I was going to be getting an MF. Then I got a call about a Boomer 3040 that was located. It was a demonstrator unit but would still come with the factory warranty, 0 fpr 72 month financing and as a bonus would already have the break-in service done. It also came with a mid PTO as a nice bonus, as I will probably put a front snowblower on there someday. The dealer who was familiar with my needs and didn't just want to sell me more tractor explained that the Boomer 3040 would do EVERYTHING that I wanted to do with ease. So after some hemming and hawing I told the dealer that my wife and I would sign the paperwork this afternoon.
So there it is, the price on the tractor came in at about $3000 less than the power shuttle MF 1643 tractor which I feel is the closest tractor in comparison and this one is a hydro. The price on this tractor was actually in line with a Kubota 3240 from one of the dealers, and I got better financing to boot. So I'm pretty happy right now, as long as everything goes smoothly. I got a tractor which will do everything that I want it to do and easily fulfills my most important requirement of comfort. I even saved so much money that I may look to buy a Woods BH90X backhoe for it next year with all the money I saved.
I will post more specific information when the tractor is delivered. I want to give the dealer the credit they deserve, but by the same token if something wierd happens I don't want them to be looked down upon for something that wasn't their fault. In the end I guess I took the first piece of advice I picked up from reading this forum - shop the dealer just as much as the tractor.
