Haha...I fell for Mahindra clickbait

[4570Man]

I don’t think tractors are a toy for most of us. More like a useful tool that life would continue to exist if we didn’t have. Of course a few people make their living with them but not very many. I wouldn’t classify a tractor on the same page as a boat by any stretch. Maybe on the same page as my second vehicle. Yet they both are useful and I’d hate to be without either.

 

[Tennsawdust]

yeah, for tractors, it would be the china brands, such as jinma, kama,Foton, etc,. Kubota, deere,mahindra, etc, may make lower quality tractors for other markets. I don't think they would sell well here though

As far as vehicles, many people buy the lower quality levels. chevy, dodge,ford, toyota, Hyundai, etc,. Higher quality would be BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc,.

I don't think it is as much that they make lower quality tractors for other markets as it is that they designs they sell in other markets that are different that what we would buy. Many Indian market tractors, for instance, would be considered crude in comparison to what the same companies offer here. The economic conditions there demand a very cost effective design. It also must be simple to maintain. In some ways quality is a matter of perception. A US buyer would look at a Foton and see a crude design that looks straight out of the 1960's. A farmer in Vietnam would look at the Foton's mechanical simplicity as a plus, because he can fix it with simple tools. He would likely see a more advanced tractor as trouble waiting to happen.

The difference between the best and worst automobile brands these days is about 1 problem per 100 cars and that "problem" is likely to be an issue with things like getting their phone to sync with the radio. Mercedes and BMW actually have some of the worst ratings, where Toyota is perennially near the top and Hyundai-Kia has been slaying giants lately. Some of it is that the entire industry has largely caught up with each other and some of that is because you go to buy a C class Mercedes and find that the engine is made at Nissan and the seats start out at Toyota... (many major suppliers are under the Toyota umbrella) There is a lot of cross pollination.

 

[paulfun9]

As far as vehicles, many people buy the lower quality levels. chevy, dodge,ford, toyota, Hyundai, etc,. Higher quality would be BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc,.

I missed this post

Can稚 speak for BMW but I would buy a Chevy,dodge,ford, Toyota Hyundai and probably even a Kia before even thinking about a Mercedes or Porsche! Been down that road once and wasn稚 very happy at all.

 

[heavy hammer]

Every tractor out there has some form of a problem or some design flaw. With that being said they are all pretty good machines or no one would be buying them. Most people will say what ever brand of tractor they have is the best one. I own a Mahindra and am very happy with it and would not hesitate to get another. In saying that I think kubota is a very impressive machine and would like one of them as well. Their diesel motors are bullet proof, we have a mini excavator at work that has had a rough life. It has been beaten, sunk worked broken and then fixed, but always starts and runs. I don't really know if there is a one tractor out there that is so much better than the others care and maintenance seem to be the real winner. There are plenty of tractor owners out there with many different types of tractors that have very good luck with their equipment. The same can almost be said about vehicles, how you take care of it seems to be the difference>

 

[Tennsawdust]

I missed this post

Can稚 speak for BMW but I would buy a Chevy,dodge,ford, Toyota Hyundai and probably even a Kia before even thinking about a Mercedes or Porsche! Been down that road once and wasn稚 very happy at all.

Mercedes and BMW both tend to be very complicated machines, especially their higher end models. That is why most people lease them and the manufacturers accrue large amounts for warranty. You don't want to own an S-class after the warranty is up! There is a reason they depreciate like a rock.

 

[CMV]

Mercedes and BMW both tend to be very complicated machines, especially their higher end models. That is why most people lease them and the manufacturers accrue large amounts for warranty. You don't want to own an S-class after the warranty is up! There is a reason they depreciate like a rock.

Agreed. I have a BMW 428i now. Previously a M-B E350. I would not call either "higher quality" than then the Hyundais or the F150 they share my driveway with. If anything, I'd say the Hyundai is higher quality - at least from "stuff doesn't break quite as often" standpoint.

We just sold wife's 2012 Sonata that had 140-150k miles. All I ever did to that car was oil changes, brakes, wiper blades, tires. The button on the driver's door to put the power window down - it would stick in down position so you had to pop it back up with your fingertip sometimes. That is the ONLY problem it ever developed in 7 yrs @ 20k miles per year. Can't complain at all how well it held up. Replaced it recently with a 2019 Elantra VE. That is like the middle trim level and it has a lot more options & cool features than my BMW, much longer warranty, and much smaller price tag. Sure the BMW drives & handles a lot better, but that little Hyundai is a real nice car and LOTS of vehicle for the money. For 1/3 the price tag it sure isn't only 1/3 the car! I wouldn't consider it lower quality than a BMW or Mercedes. Lower in styling, performance, some refinements sure, but overall build and component quality, nope.

 

[firebird93]

just got rid of a bmw 535 last fall (wifes car) and was never so glad to see a car go. only had 80k mile but what a piece of crap. her second bmw. the first was a 540 and it was a good car.
the only car that we have owned that was worse then the 535 was a pinto that she had when we got married that she got from her uncle that was some big wheel in ford. it was a test car or something.
it had a factory installed v6. when i went to parts store to get parts and told them it was a v6 pinto they would look at me like i was nuts. it was a real pain but thinking about it would probably be worth
some money now??

 

[aczlan]

the only car that we have owned that was worse then the 535 was a pinto that she had when we got married that she got from her uncle that was some big wheel in ford. it was a test car or something.
it had a factory installed v6. when i went to parts store to get parts and told them it was a v6 pinto they would look at me like i was nuts. it was a real pain but thinking about it would probably be worth
some money now??

$350 at the local junkyard

Aaron Z

 

[Tennsawdust]

Agreed. I have a BMW 428i now. Previously a M-B E350. I would not call either "higher quality" than then the Hyundais or the F150 they share my driveway with. If anything, I'd say the Hyundai is higher quality - at least from "stuff doesn't break quite as often" standpoint.

We just sold wife's 2012 Sonata that had 140-150k miles. All I ever did to that car was oil changes, brakes, wiper blades, tires. The button on the driver's door to put the power window down - it would stick in down position so you had to pop it back up with your fingertip sometimes. That is the ONLY problem it ever developed in 7 yrs @ 20k miles per year. Can't complain at all how well it held up. Replaced it recently with a 2019 Elantra VE. That is like the middle trim level and it has a lot more options & cool features than my BMW, much longer warranty, and much smaller price tag. Sure the BMW drives & handles a lot better, but that little Hyundai is a real nice car and LOTS of vehicle for the money. For 1/3 the price tag it sure isn't only 1/3 the car! I wouldn't consider it lower quality than a BMW or Mercedes. Lower in styling, performance, some refinements sure, but overall build and component quality, nope.

About 10 years ago I bought a used Elantra to use as a commuter-mobile. A buddy picked it up cheap at auction because it had scuffs all over the driver's side roof and trunk lid from the previous lessee's purse. It also had a huge coffee stain in the back seat. I didn't expect much from it, but never had an issue with it in 60,000 miles. My son inherited it when he started driving. I was a bit disappointed that the new Jeep I replaced it with didn't even offer some of the features that came on the Elantra as standard equipment. My son makes great money now, but still drives old blue. He isn't a flashy car kind of guy and it starts every time he turns the key. It does sort of stick out against all the beemers and Tesla's in his neighborhood though. Hyundai and Kia actually have really good quality ratings. We have several in the family. The only major issue any of them have had is my parent's Sonata hybrid. It had some sort of major failure in the sun gear system. Hyundai monitors and reports daily on warranty claims worldwide. As soon as that claim popped up they stopped the dealer in his tracks and ordered him not to disassemble the drivetrain. They air-shipped a complete drivetrain unit (subframe and all rotor to rotor) and had the dealer pull it all as a unit and ship it back to Korea for study. They were told it was the first failure of that type they had ever had in the Sonata hybrid and the engineers REALLY wanted to get their hands on it to see what happened. That was 4 years ago. No hiccups since then. My hyper-miling 75 year old father likes to see how much mileage he can squeeze out of that one.

 

[Tennsawdust]

just got rid of a bmw 535 last fall (wifes car) and was never so glad to see a car go. only had 80k mile but what a piece of crap. her second bmw. the first was a 540 and it was a good car.
the only car that we have owned that was worse then the 535 was a pinto that she had when we got married that she got from her uncle that was some big wheel in ford. it was a test car or something.
it had a factory installed v6. when i went to parts store to get parts and told them it was a v6 pinto they would look at me like i was nuts. it was a real pain but thinking about it would probably be worth
some money now??

Actually might be worth some money today. Pintos in general are climbing in value because almost all of them were used up and scrapped out. I had a 83 Ford Ranger with the V6 that was built before they started building V6 Rangers. It turned out to be a confirmation prototype that had somehow gotten sold (big no-no these days). Went looking for a switch for the transmission in it. Told the guy at the parts house I had a V6 4 speed. He said they didn't make a V6 4 speed. I invited him to come out in the parking lot and see for himself that they did indeed make such an animal. Years later I dealt with an Engineer at Ford that was involved in that build. He told me the 5 speed wasn't ready in time so the prototypes used a Ford Capri transmission instead. The 2.8 V6 they used in the early Rangers was also straight off the Capri line in Germany, so that transmission was a direct fit. Great truck though. I spent about $700 on it in 150,000 miles.