I lurked here for most of a year before I signed up and have learned a great deal here. I must admit I expected more "mine is better than what you bought" but have been pleasantly surprised at the tone of most of the replies to queries like mine.
I have 10+ acres that we bought a bit over two years ago It's mostly hard wood with hilly ground (a killer view) and a driveway 1/2 mile long. My intended uses for the tractor are to maintain the road and parking areas, do a bit of grading, harvesting some of the hard wood recent storms have brought down in the valleys/canyons as well as a little general hauling and moving "stuff" around. The canyons are deep enough and untouched enough that I will likely have to do a little cutting of a road in, but not very much of that. I mow ~3 of the acres, but have a older Cub Cadet that I bought for $5 (yes, five) that has only 420 hours on it and does a good job. I might at some point put a RFM on, but for now the Cub is just fine.
So, I went to a Kubota dealer that's 20 miles away, been around here for some 30 years, and a Kioti dealer that's sold Kiotis for about 20 years, and is 60 miles away. I talked to the Kubota dealer first, told him my intended uses and he agreed with my assessment that a "B" size tractor in the 25-30HP range would be a good fit for me. I looked at the 2650, 2601 and the 3350SU. He shot me prices on all of them with a FEL, Grapple, and third function control for the grapple. I didn't actually drive them, but sat on it and looked everywhere except where I would have had to lay on the ground to take a peek at. I liked the control layout, and felt comfortable in the seat. Bottom line, the 3350SU, the one that most interested me was $22,500.
Went to the Kioti dealer today, and looked at a (new) CK3has been0 he got from another dealer, as well as a CK3510. I looked over both and drove the 3510 a bit and played with the bucket control. I like the way I sat better, and liked the controls layout just as well, IOW, it was largely a wash in just how they "fit" me. Price with bucket, grapple and control was $21,950.
I think these two tractors are about as comparable as the two brands can get, the CK 30 had more bells and whistles, telescoping links, tilt steering, etc, but I understand Kioti cut some of those "nice to have" features when they introduced the 3510. So, given there is so little difference in price, I am leaning toward the Kioti, not because I would save $5-600, but because it just struck me as being "more tractor".
The Kioti is 860 pounds heavier, has almost 1/2 again the hydraulic flow (8.7 vs 11.7). Kubota lists FEL lift capacity "at lift point" as 2139 and at "24" behind lift point" as 1676 while the Kioti lists "Lift Capacity to Full Height at Pivot Pins" as 1835. I know enough from reading here that where capacities are measured would change numbers widely and will hazard a guess they are close enough to call them even - please tell me if I am even close to being right here, am a newbie and short of being called a $^#! moron, have pretty thick skin. ROPS on the Kubota folds down lower than the Kioti (a consideration where I need to park it out of the weather).
I told the Kubota dealer I was impressed with his pricing compared to the "build your own" website price and that I was seeing the Kioti dealer the next day. He immediately said "you won't have the resale value". That was something of a turnoff for me. He could accurately tell me that historically the resale value has been better for Kubota, but if he can tell what I will be able to sell either one for in 5, 10 or 20 years, he is clearly in the wrong business. I told him if I got a tractor that lasts, I won't sell it, it'll be part of my estate. Other than that minor annoyance, I really liked both dealers, they both had clean and well stocked shops, both are stable and been in the business for some time. The "salesman" I talked to was actually one of the owners of the Kioti dealer.
OK, opening up the shooting gallery, anyone got good reasons for why I should buy one over the other? I've admitted I am leaning toward the Kioti, but am still in the persuadable mode, so open up tell me how good the one is, and/or how bad the other. IOW, why buy the one you suggest over the other.
Let the games begin.
