Why buy one?

[jmc]

I'm getting close to buying a SxS for 39 hilly acres. It will be more practical than a dirtbike to enjoy the property in a different way. I'll need more trails and maybe a bridge or two over some ravines. Makes no sense financially or for maintanence time, however.

When I bought an expensive backhoe for property work, friends and family thought I was nuts. If I'd used that same money for a swimming pool, no one woulda batted an eye....

 

[astrohip]

I cannot figure it out.

For those who have both a tractor and pickup, what do you use the SxS for?

We have a Kawasaki Mule, probably the most useful vehicle we own. It's how we get around our property.

Yes, we have a pickup, but it can't go where a Mule can. Maybe when it's dry, and on the smoother areas, a pickup works. But on the more challenging terrain, or when it's been raining, you need a sturdy, sure-legged Mule. The pickup is also too big for many areas.

A tractor? It makes no sense to use a tractor for 90% of what we use the Mule for.

Whether it's just driving around looking at the land, or hauling items from one area to another, or going for an open air drive to enjoy Mother Nature, or any of the dozens of other uses we put our Mule to, a Mule (or any UTV) is the best way to do it.

 

[Tennsawdust]

My wife and I have been discussing getting a side by side. The biggest reason her RA makes it hard for her to walk long distances and it would make it easier for her to get around the farm. Plus, it is easier for her to get on and off a SS verses climbing up and down off the tractor.

That is exactly what tipped me toward buying a side by side. We live at the top of a ridge and that means that makes it really hard on her to walk back to the house from anywhere she would go on the property. I was planning to wait until next year to buy something, but after watching her stop twice on the walk from the garden to the house I decided the SxS was past due.

We have an ATV, but it is old and you can never count on it to start or bring you back if you ride it somewhere. The pickup is just too big to go some places. The Defender will go almost anywhere on the farm and it is very convenient to step in it and go. It will fit through tight spots and tread through soft ground that my truck or tractor would sink out of sight on. Base model side by sides cost about the same price as an ATV, so buying a new ATV wouldn't have saved anything.

I agree with the others that it is something you might not understand the need for until you buy one. For us it was a needed addition to the farm.

 

[oosik]

If I didn't have my ATP or a UTV there are simply sections of my barbed wire fence that could fall into disrepair. No way will I ever be carrying rolls of barbed wire or T-133 posts to these difficult locations. Or anywhere along my fence line, for that matter.

 

[Tennsawdust]

When I bought an expensive backhoe for property work, friends and family thought I was nuts. If I'd used that same money for a swimming pool, no one woulda batted an eye....

People are funny. The one person that has given me a hard time over buying the side by side has a $45K pontoon boat he is making payments on that goes into the water at least twice per year. Our SxS gets used almost every day.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not trying to get out of excercise, but I often use my electric gator a few dozen times a day, the two hundred feet between house and shop, mostly to get suff, or save time. What, I'm gonna hop in the truck, or on a tractor?

Jump on, hit the pedal, your head snaps back and your on your way. Or get the mail. This week, I brought the pressure washer up to the house, and related material. MUCH more convenient than tractor or pickup. Now, the Diesel Mule, not so much! The fact that you constantly have to start and stop an engine is not good.

 

[DMax82]

I do have a UTV, of sorts, but it is a converted Suzuki Samurai 4x4 with dump bed.

Would love to see pictures of this!

 

[shooterdon]

I asked the question because I sold the XP800 and RZR about 18 months ago and do not miss them much. Got a used Jeep Wrangler for $1000 more. I use it for trail riding on the logging/gaswell roads we have here and as a second vehicle to back up the pickup truck. Nice not to be covered in dust and enjoy A/C in the summer, and heat in the winter.

I used the Ranger to haul firewood but the tractor does it much more efficiently as I now store wood on pallets or in IBC totes and use pallet forks. No more double handling.

I used them getting my mail when the weather was nice as my mail box is 2 1/2 miles away . Jeep or truck works too.

Might be handy to have a golf cart for maintenance around the place in the summer. The UTV's tended to tear up the lawn so they did not get much use anyway.

One of the locals just bought a Can-Am that was over $30k. Nice toy...but still a toy IMHO. My new LS 4140 HSTC seems like a bargain.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Many have evolved into nothing but overpriced Motorsport vehicles, not Utility vehicles. Never spent a penny on a Rec item and probably never will. Not good value! The more they become popular and a fad (must have because the neighbors all have one) item, the worse the value will become.

 

[LouNY]

So many uses for them especially if they are sod friendly;
checking hayfields, fences, working cows, branches and garbage on the lawn.
Quick runs to the mailbox and to and from different barns.
Picking up and carrying calfs during calving season.
Take a few mineral blocks out and about.
Could a tractor or truck do most of it, sometimes not always.
I keep hearing people that say their jeep gets every where that an atv or utv does,
not in this area especially when it's wet weather.