Buying Advice What Is Happening With Kioti?

[RidgeHiker]

Just looked at Kiotis in the Reviews section. Out of the 10 most recent submissions, starting in 2015, half of the owners had substantial problems. Prior to that there most of the reviews were positive with sporadic complaints.
Looking at a new DK4510 or DK5010 but a little uncertain of possible lowering of quality. Any thoughts on the subject?
Currently have an older Kioti with over 200 hours and few issues.

 

[cat fever]

I have 250 hours on mine and no problems at all.

 

[rhunt]

Can only speak for myself but I have had zero problems with mine, it has only about 85 hours on it and no complaints with my dealer. Bob

 

[Looking4new]

I have 430 hours on my 2012 and the only two issues were solved free (warranty work). Neither of the issues did NOT stop me from doing the job at hand.

 

[tman1020]

Probably has a lot to do with the new tier 4 stuff. I would think all the manufacturers are having a fun time working all the bugs out of them.
I'm not a tier 4 fan in compact tractors it just seems silly and unnecessary. I hope the manufacturers can get it worked out and continue making good tractors and not just through in the towel.

 

[Turbys_1700]

Probably has a lot to do with the new tier 4 stuff. I would think all the manufacturers are having a fun time working all the bugs out of them.
I'm not a tier 4 fan in compact tractors it just seems silly and unnecessary. I hope the manufacturers can get it worked out and continue making good tractors and not just through in the towel.

Agreed...
There are probably more issues than we know about that are probably not major in issue but irritating none the less...
A friend of mine purchased a Kubota L 3301 over the 2501 based on my suggestion...
We discussed the Tier 4 deal but so far he has over 50 trouble free hours...
My Workmaster 50 has close to 75 trouble free hours on an EGR Catalytic System...
I think that eventually they will get it worked out...
Who knows the EPA may scale back off road emissions requirements for larger tractors in the future...
Not holding my breath though...

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

Just looked at Kiotis in the Reviews section. Out of the 10 most recent submissions, starting in 2015, half of the owners had substantial problems. Prior to that there most of the reviews were positive with sporadic complaints.
Looking at a new DK4510 or DK5010 but a little uncertain of possible lowering of quality. Any thoughts on the subject?
Currently have an older Kioti with over 200 hours and few issues.

When you look a comparable models from other manufacturers are there also so many negative reviews?

 

[DK35vince]

Just looked at Kiotis in the Reviews section. Out of the 10 most recent submissions, starting in 2015, half of the owners had substantial problems. Prior to that there most of the reviews were positive with sporadic complaints.
Looking at a new DK4510 or DK5010 but a little uncertain of possible lowering of quality. Any thoughts on the subject?

Am I looking in the wrong place ??
I went to the review section and I'm not see widespread substantial problems.
I'm seeing occasional so-so reviews, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Reviews appear to similar to what they have always been in the past from what I can see.

 

[RickB]

Reviews of any product or service, especially internet based reviews, are skewed towards those reviewers that are dissatisfied. A higher percentage of displeased consumers post reviews than happy customers. It's called human nature.

 

[Billrog]

I have a CK27 little over a year old now with 450 hrs running good but when it was new it didn't want to stop when the HST pedal was released so I was without it for 3 days while they put a new transmission in. Over all seems like a solid tractor nothing has come loose or broke and I spend a lot of time logging with it.

 

[paulfun9]

Cant speak for the DK --10 models but I am about 3 years in with a DK40SE with no issues. Very solid and reliable machine.

 

[grm61]

Have not had a single problem with mine...2013mfg date..DK45SE HST Cab, coming up on 4 years ownership.

 

[RidgeHiker]

When you look a comparable models from other manufacturers are there also so many negative reviews?

I looked at the Kubotas. They had significantly fewer issues in the last 10 reviews but perhaps a little more overall.

 

[RidgeHiker]

Am I looking in the wrong place ??
I went to the review section and I'm not see widespread substantial problems.
I'm seeing occasional so-so reviews, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Reviews appear to similar to what they have always been in the past from what I can see.

You are correct. Initially, I got to the longer list of reviews in a little more round about way. Just now I went directly from the brand list on the initial review page and there was only 1 in the yellow (green is best). Looking below the first 10 in the list, 5 of the next 7 are in the yellow - these were included in the list I got in the less direct way. Thanks for pointing it out. Interestingly, if you look at the rest on that page - did not count but probably 20+ more - there was only 1 in the yellow. Aside from that one period from October 2015 into April 2016 the reviews are great. Yeah Kioti.

 

[coobie]

My 2012 Kioti DK40 has been flawless.Just like my 2008 Kioti Dk 40 was.I traded for 2012 no buyers remorse yet.

 

[chim]

My wife and I joke about reviews posted on the internet. Nearly always there is a large group that believes a product is the best thing they ever tried. Another, usually smaller group thinks the product is OK. Then a group nearly the size of the one that gives the product a "AAA" rating thinks the product is complete junk.

We see the value of reviews in the details. For example, if a certain group of window air conditioners have refrigerant leaks reported in significant numbers - that's an indication of a problem we'd want to avoid. Stray comments like "The cord should be twelve inches longer" or "The color doesn't match the picture on their website" get ignored.

 

[Grandad4]

Don't see how anyone could reach conclusions about overall quality of any brand based on comments in a forum like this. First, there are no accurate market shares for the different brands made public, as discussed in another recent thread. So, if a brand with 10% of the market gets 10x the "trouble comments" of one with 1% share, they are really about equal, for whatever that tells us, but lacking that information, you could easily reach a different judgement. Equally important, comments like that are "anecdotal"... you don't know anything about the circumstances, so it's hard to generalize. Plus, Chim's observation about who will comment sounds about right to me.

I would tend to trust the word of experienced owners who have been operating their tractors for some time. On that score, Kioti has some strong credentials... there are many such Kioti owners who speak well about their equipment. Even though I'm a long time Kubota owner whose equipment has been totally reliable, if I were in the market for a tractor today, Kioti would be on my short list right along with Kubota and a couple of others.

 

[RickB]

So how many of those posting in this thread that have enjoyed great service from their Kioti have posted reviews here?

 

[murph1]

So how many of those posting in this thread that have enjoyed great service from their Kioti have posted reviews here?

Not I sir.

 

[paulfun9]

So how many of those posting in this thread that have enjoyed great service from their Kioti have posted reviews here?

Not I!

I like others put no faith in reviews posted but much rather take the word of posters with some record behind them. Post count, time owned or at the least time as a member on a forum or at the very least some common sense showing threw on their posts along with a history of stated ownership of other machines that they can make reasonable comparisons with.
So the first time buyer with 50 hours on the clock has virtually no impact on my decision making compared to the 35 year owner who has had several brands and is showing 700 hours or more on his latest machine