Comparison kubota/ kioti specs and experience

[skindaddy]

talked to the owner of a kioti dealer other day which i happen to know(just came about wasnt in market for one), anyway he states that kubota is one of the lowest rated tractors out there as far as specs. says kioti has way higher lift capacties front and back and alot more flow as far as the hydraulic pumps. now i havent got into actual research of this myself, but was looking at some of your inputs for those who have owned/operated both and so on?? we do have a kubota now and have had for sometime, dont have to many complaints with it nice tractor. but when its time to replace wonder how much i should consider the kioti. is its usability as good or better?

 

[murphy1244]

He is full of it. Kubota makes a good machine. Don't deal with a dealer that has to put other brands down to sell a machine

 

[hks003]

I think Kubota's numbers are more honest. Sure, kioti/LS/Mahindra LOADERS may handle x lbs, but will the rest of the machine? Will the back tires stay on the ground with that load? Kubota also has higher lift heights than most of the others, which plays into that max weight at max height. This comes from an LS owner.

 

[jeff9366]

Kioti brand tractors are well reviewed here. KIA and Hyundai cars from Korea were unknown in the USA twenty-five years ago. If you are an "early adopter" by nature a Kioti may be right for you.

RE: Kubota
Kubota enjoys nearly 50% market share in compact tractor sales in USA. Every successful business is based on repeat customers.

 

[RSR]

talked to the owner of a kioti dealer other day which i happen to know(just came about wasnt in market for one), anyway he states that kubota is one of the lowest rated tractors out there as far as specs. says kioti has way higher lift capacties front and back and alot more flow as far as the hydraulic pumps. now i havent got into actual research of this myself, but was looking at some of your inputs for those who have owned/operated both and so on?? we do have a kubota now and have had for sometime, dont have to many complaints with it nice tractor. but when its time to replace wonder how much i should consider the kioti. is its usability as good or better?

Careful! Them there are fightin' words on this here forum. The unwritten rule seems to be "Thou shalt not question the superiority of Kubota".

I posted this comparison a little while ago (and was met with a torrent of derision). But, being an engineer, I tend to rely on hard numbers, as opposed to gut feeling and how things feel.

The plot below shows loader lift comparisons at the loader pin between a Kubota LA805 loader (spec'd out on a L3560) versus comparable loaders from other brands in similar sized tractors. While I don't have the full loader curves for all brands (kudos to Kubota for supplying it to their customers) you can compare the lift capacities of the Kubota at the same lift height with the other brands. If you're comparing Kioti to Kubota, a DK10SE series is very similar in frame size to a Kubota L3560. If you look at the green "x", you'll see the Kioti lifts about 46% more than the Kubota. That's an apples-to-apples comparison, and numbers don't lie.

Now, to get past the marketing hype, I think you have to ask yourself, "does it really matter"? For me, loader lift capacity was a major priority. I doubt that's the case for most people. As has been mentioned here already, high loader lift capacity does nothing for you if you can't keep the rear tires on the ground. This often requires additional ballasting, which may bring additional consequences (rutting in yards, the mess of filling tires and fixing flats, stress on axles, etc.). Only you can decide if that's important to you or not. As is oft-repeated here, I would make a decision based on what you need the tractor to do, not what it necessarily can do. If you don't need the loader lift capacity, or hydraulic flow, or whatever, why worry about it?

I do also, somewhat, agree with the comment that a dealer should be able to sell a tractor based on its strengths, as opposed to pointing out the weaknesses of others. It's one thing to present facts, it's another to try to use those facts to slander/bad-mouth another brand. You were there, so you know which approach it was. If it was the latter, I would be leary.

 

[Threepoint]

talked to the owner of a kioti dealer other day which i happen to know(just came about wasnt in market for one), anyway he states that kubota is one of the lowest rated tractors out there as far as specs. says kioti has way higher lift capacties front and back and alot more flow as far as the hydraulic pumps. now i havent got into actual research of this myself, but was looking at some of your inputs for those who have owned/operated both and so on?? we do have a kubota now and have had for sometime, dont have to many complaints with it nice tractor. but when its time to replace wonder how much i should consider the kioti. is its usability as good or better?

I can see a hungry salesman saying this kind of stuff, but hearing it from the owner of the dealership is pretty off-putting. It's also misleading puff. "Lowest rated as far as specs"? By whom? Other than folks who cherry-pick what they want from manufacturer-published specs and ignore everything else that goes into designing a CUT. Kubota makes excellent tractors, as does Kioti and a number of other brands. We're fortunate as consumers to have the competition, and the choices it brings.

I wouldn't go as far as Murph to say don't deal with that dealer. If he has a reliable service department, and has a product you want after doing your due diligence investigating the various brands, I would deal with him. But I'd also let him know in a friendly way that talking smack about other brands is not the best way to leave a favorable impression. Besides, what goes around comes around. :laughing:

 

[Tractorable]

I’m quite impressed with the new Kioti DK10SE HC tractors; however, the Kubota Grand L’s have the HST+ which I’d hedge towards when considering a new tractor purchase.

My sense is that Kubota’s takes a more conservative approach to rating their equipment, taking into consideration the safety of the entire package, and providing more reach and loader lift height, which translates to greater owner satisfaction in the real world.

Toyota has a similar conservative approach to business, focusing instead on slow product development and long term quality over short term profits.

 

[dodge man]

If anybody follows Tractor Time With Tim, he is comparing a JD 1 series and a Kubota BX currently. He has about 6 videos out there now with more coming. He is very pro John Deere but his comparison is overall pretty fair. In terms of lift capacity the Kubota is pretty far behind in this case. I'm surprised how much bigger the JD is than the Kubota. Maybe a small B series comparison would be more fair but in the market they are in competition. You would think the Kubota would turn tighter but the JD is actually quite a bit tighter turning.

I owned a BX for 10 years and Kubota makes great tractors, but there is a lot of competition in the market place. Never even sat on a Kioti but I have looked at them. They look pretty solid to me and to me seem to be gaining some traction in the "top tier market".

 

[skindaddy]

Ok I wasn't very clear on the conversation, he wasn't bashing at all just telling me what he believes facts are by the numbers or his numbers, it was only stated because I was blown away by how many he has sold the last few years and is on record pace. It was just a general thing as I was blown away how many people are by these kinds of tractors lately any brand. And he knows I'm broke and there won't be a purchase anyway.
But it does make me think though numbers are numbers, I know they can be manipulated some and I have no way to put them head to head. Just looking for actual usage comments is all. Not a brand loyal to the death deal lol.
Appreciate the input from all would like to hear more fellas.

 

[5030]

I don't believe any brand is superior to another brand. It all distills down to features and what you require. Havening owned over 10 Kubota's to date, I like them but I'd run another brand in a hearbeat. That heartbeat for me is my dealer. I have an excellent relationship with my dealer have an open account there and they don't care of I bought the tractor there (I have one from them and another bought elsewhere), they treat them both like I bought them there. In fact, when I bought the 'other' one and stopped in to my dealer, they asked me for the serial number so they could enter it in their database so if I needed something that wasn't in stock, they could order it for me without unnecessary paperwork.

No matter what brand you buy or own, at some point you'll need dealer assistance, so the dealer to me is the important aspect.