Comparison Kubota vs. LS

[chim]

Judging from the pictures and comments from LS owners, they do make some pretty nice tractors. I do believe there are happy LS owners but there are two things that make it hard for me to be interested in them. Yes, products can improve. I remember laughing at the first little ugly Honda cars

First of all, the Montana* we have at work is a crude piece of equipment. We needed parts for it and had to wait for the next slow boat to bring them. We removed the loader and frame ONCE to work in a small area. Took 3 men with prybars and hammers to get it back on. I'm on my third Kubota and can get the loader and frame off and on in less than 2 minutes by myself with little effort. Loader controls wouldn't allow both lift and curl functions at the same time.

Secondly, around here there aren't any real dealers around here. The LS / ex-Montana dealer we bought from is a farmer who appears to be dabbling in tractors. Nice family but not what I'd call a dealer in the true sense. I live within minutes of Messick's and have become accustomed to walking in and getting most anything needed for a Kubota or Ford.

*Two of our "economists" with no tractor experience bought the Montana to use on jobsites to handle skidded material just prior to my taking over at the shops. They thought it looked a lot like a John Deere with the green paint. It was delivered shortly after I arrived. I questioned the plan and was told about the great lifting capacity of the loader. I asked for the specs. Of course, the capacity spec they referred to was at the other end of the tractor! With the nifty QA forks they bought it wouldn't lift a fraction of what they thought it would. It is handy for odds and ends around the shop like touching up after our snow removal guy, etc.

 

[tradosaurus]

LS makes good tractors and if you are a homeowner or someone who doesnt need the tractor/part fixed immediately it is well worth considering. If you make a living with it then it's another story. Most LS dealers are Mom & Pop or small implements dealers and may or may not have the equipment & know-how to do good repair, but if you do have a good dealer close to you I'd have a go $10K is a lot of dough.

That's a good way of looking at it. If having a tractor down for maintenance would cost me income I would go with a Kubota as long as there was dealer support within an hours drive.

Listen to this guys horror story and why he eventually went with the Kubota. He saved buying the LS but lost money with the trade in.

XG3025 LS Tractor~~ Did LS Tractor Co. Fix THIS Tractor? - YouTube

 

[jaydee325]

Both machines will serve you well. My LS R3039H, purchased in 2013 has been stellar as has the dealer.

I all boils down to which dealer you feel will support you best in a machine down situation.

On pricing, remember back in the day when Kubota was just getting started in the US. They were priced as a value tractor to get their foot in the door. Just like what LS is doing now!

Hi, thank you! We豎*e in Oregon逞ｴ Willamette Valley. I just haven遞 had the chance to get profile stuff done yet. The price tag is pretty awesome, just trying to figure out why the price gap. Driven both and like them both, just seems too good to be true.

 

[Trillium Farm]

On pricing, remember back in the day when Kubota was just getting started in the US. They were priced as a value tractor to get their foot in the door. Just like what LS is doing now!

You can't compare Kubota's mindset with LS! In the 70s even though Kubota was value-priced it sent its engineers to talk to farmers and discuss their problems and how to improve their product and they made good products (perhaps better then) and the re-sent engineers to check on satisfaction, I know I was there when engineers came to talk to dealers & farmers here in Ontario. How many engineers has LS sent? I'm not knocking LS, but you really can't compare it with Kubota, not even on the same planet. It may or may not be good value, it depends on the situation, but the two aren't comparable.

 

[Diggin It]

Perhaps LS has been doing things long enough that they know what the market wants and no longer have to ask?

 

[Jchonline]

Perhaps LS has been doing things long enough that they know what the market wants and no longer have to ask?

Or perhaps LS has sent engineers, just not to Ontario. For me it boils down to dealer support. I want parts availability and good service. If you can get that with LS then I would strongly consider. In my area those arent available.

 

[searcyfarms]

I bought my deere a year ago...........most of the reason was dealer related however i priced and looked at a lot of tractors. I had dealings with the locally owned kubota dealer here that is closest and would not every give them a dime of my money again - similar situation with a rented piece of equipment and glass broke and i ended up footing the bill totally on it - no -other options - long story -

knowing i didnt want to deal with them i talked to next closest kubota dealer and he said this is our price i we do not really negotiate on our prices " it is a kubota after all we dont need to they are just that good "

So i call the closest mahindra and ls dealer - they gave me prices for a mahindra and ls and the mahindra was more $$ than the LS. I said well I am trying to find this and they said we dont make something like that the closest thing we hvae is X and Y and here are the prices. I said do you have any promotions or are you negotiable on your pricing, I explained i was a serious buyer and was ready to buy - he said those are our prices we have the best prices anywhere around blah blah - so i called the kioti dealer and unfortunately they were about 1.5 hours from me so i just couldnt bring myself to go there.

Deere came to the plate and were less $$ than the comparable tractors except for the kioti but they didnt have anything that was real close spec wise. The pricing was as follows, Kubota, Mahindra, LS, Deere, Kioti

I dont know about the bigger tractors like you are looking at but we have some sweet new holland/case ih/LS tractors around here in that class. I would be hard pressed to choose but i can assure you it wont be a Kubota.

 

[BRMyers]

In my case, closest LS dealer was 2 hours away, so I ruled them out. I have Kubota, Deere, and Mahindra dealer all within a few minutes of each other. After looking and talking, I decided on the Kubota. The dealer took us out and walked us through different models and explained the different features. They are also close enough to us that if we have issues, they will come and pick up the tractor and take it to their shop for free.

So for us, it came down to the dealer, model we liked, and finally the price for which one we decided to buy. When we added all that up, we picked the Kubota. The more I read on the forums, it really seems that the dealer is the major factor in the purchase. Yet, it shouldn't be a surprise, car shopping is the same way, we have walked are from vehicles because we didn't like a dealer.

 

[Donnyncarol]

In my case, closest LS dealer was 2 hours away, so I ruled them out. I have Kubota, Deere, and Mahindra dealer all within a few minutes of each other. After looking and talking, I decided on the Kubota. The dealer took us out and walked us through different models and explained the different features. They are also close enough to us that if we have issues, they will come and pick up the tractor and take it to their shop for free.

So for us, it came down to the dealer, model we liked, and finally the price for which one we decided to buy. When we added all that up, we picked the Kubota. The more I read on the forums, it really seems that the dealer is the major factor in the purchase. Yet, it shouldn't be a surprise, car shopping is the same way, we have walked are from vehicles because we didn't like a dealer.

Dealership that comes and picks up free? Lol WOW that's amazing. Like I said before I am on my second my dad is on his 3rd Kubota. We are 15 Miles from the dealer. They will not come get ours for free.

 

[BRMyers]

Dealership that comes and picks up free? Lol WOW that's amazing. Like I said before I am on my second my dad is on his 3rd Kubota. We are 15 Miles from the dealer. They will not come get ours for free.

Yep, they have a 15 mile radius, after that it is a $1.50 a mile (as long as you purchased your tractor from them).