Buying Advice Chinese yes or no.

[GManBart]

Your perception is not reality. As you can see, the Japanese are not "in the lead" and the Koreans are not a "close second" - at least in the United States automobile market.

2014 US Car Sales by Manufacturer Market Share:

17.8% - General Motors
15.3% - Ford
13.9% - Toyota
12.5% - Chrysler
9.3% - Nissan
8.7% - Honda
4.2% - Hyundai
3.5% - Kia

The remainder of the manufacturers are single digits - some less than 1% of the market.


I won't comment on the remainder of your post - but, your "facts" are equally suspect, and are really more personal opinion than information that can be backed up with hard numbers.

To be fair, sales numbers don't necessarily equate to quality. If you take "in the lead" to mean the highest quality, Japanese and Korean companies generally are ranked higher than the U.S. brands when you look at things like the J.D. Powers, etc.

 

[kenmac]

I remember (as a kid) the Japanese tools ,etc was junk.. Their quality today (I believe) is 2nd to none.. Chinese stuff today is for the most part junk.. Their tractors are not of good quality. The steel hardening process is not very good and it shows up in chewed up gears, etc,... 1 day the Chinese (like japan) will get there. Just not today.

Chinese quality isn't close to any of the others.

Chinese tractor owners always claim.. All models have problems... This is true, but compare the ## if the other tractors sold to the Chinese tractors sold...


As I said.. they are cheap for a reason..

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Rule # 1 : You get what you pay for...
Rule # 2 : You can pay now, or pay later
Rule # 3 : Cheap isn't optional equipment

 

[poosniffer]

Rule # 1 : You get what you pay for...
Rule # 2 : You can pay now, or pay later
Rule # 3 : Cheap isn't optional equipment

^^^^^^ Best advice so far.Not a lot of quality to be had from Chinese products.

 

[vtsnowedin]

For me, the Jinma has worked out fine - my only regret is having not bought a tractor with a cab (I have an open station one). Digging snow at -20C without the benefit of a heated cab is somewhat painful.

Currently there are brand new John Deere 55** series tractors (big bucks) with brake problems that John Deere seems to want to do nothing about.

Which is better US made John Deere or Chinese made Foton, Dong Feng, Jinma etc.

You need a soft cab for that tractor. Does anyone make one to fit your model? Hummm that might be a problem that buying closer to home would solve.

I don't have any brake problems but others on a recent production have . I expect JD will sort it out before long and is just keeping quiet about it until they find the right fix.

 

[k0ua]

What I find interesting and don't have an answer for is why most Chinese tractor owners in the USA seem to like their tractors, but a lot of the Chinese tractor owners in Australia seem to hate theirs. Most of the horror stories seem to come from Australia, and may be related to dealer assembly and prep or the lack thereof. I cant speak from authority about the strength of the Chinese tractors, but it "seems" that several models seem to have weak front axle components. But again lots of people here will tell you they are happy with their Chinese tractor.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Well if you really want a tractor built in China you could always buy a John Deere built in one of their seven Chinese factories.
It is most certainly an over simplification to lump all Chinese produced tractors together. There are dozens of Chinese firms building tractors and other AG equipment and in that group there is bound to be the good , the bad and the ugly. The problem then becomes finding out which factories are making the highest quality products and sort out those making castings from pot metal.
They are developing there AG sector very fast and the government is pushing things forward which probably is where some of the problems lie.
While they sort that out I'm going to stick with Green as they have the ability to coordinate an Indian casting holding American machined gears over a Chinese axle.!

 

[k0ua]

Well if you really want a tractor built in China you could always buy a John Deere built in one of their seven Chinese factories.
It is most certainly an over simplification to lump all Chinese produced tractors together. There are dozens of Chinese firms building tractors and other AG equipment and in that group there is bound to be the good , the bad and the ugly. The problem then becomes finding out which factories are making the highest quality products and sort out those making castings from pot metal.
They are developing there AG sector very fast and the government is pushing things forward which probably is where some of the problems lie.
While they sort that out I'm going to stick with Green as they have the ability to coordinate an Indian casting holding American machined gears over a Chinese axle.!

These are good points.

 

[Baby Grand]

If you buy from a company that builds to western standards, ASM, AISI, ASTM, ANSI, ASME, AWS, etc., then you have a good chance at buying quality, provided they are rigorous in their inspection of & enforcement of those quality requirements. Established eastern & western companies that source to China have some degree of oversight on what they will and will not accept from the factory, and that's part of what you pay for when you buy from an established make. When you buy direct from China, I'm really not sure what you get. There will be Chinese companies that figure out what the Japanese did after WWII - that they have a quality perception problem in western markets and the way to address that is to adopt western quality standards ... or equivalent eastern standards ... and be rigorous in their enforcement. A reputation for quality is like any other reputation - hard to establish and easy to lose.

It sounds like there are some Chinese brands that are already committed to this path to quality, and if I were in the market for a Chinese tractor I'd be reading everything I could about the different brands, here on TBN, and taking careful notes.

 

[jix]

I do not own a Chinese tractor. I did own a Chinese ATV snowblower (GIO). No parts, no service no reliability. Soft bearings, soft bolts, soft roller chain, poor engine, weak clutch, Poor wiring. Every thing was shoddy. I sold it and bought a KUBOTA. MUCH HAPPIER! The Chinese blower broke down each time I tried to use it. I no longer will by any Chinese product including pet food, shrimp, or farmed fish..or anything canned.... and furniture made from Chinese elm is pretty bad too. Have had no luck with Chinese electronics, either.
Chinese steel is extremely weak, soft or very brittle. No I am not against a bargain...unless it isn't.