In the Kubota line, what is yuppie and what is real?

[rogersmithiii]

Picked up some hay from my local, crusty farmer, and asked him about his tractors. He suggested staying away from tractor models that are designed for yuppies, and priced accordingly. He suggested getting a farmer's tractor that would be priced for a farmer's budget.

Can anyone elaborate on what this means? I don't need a huge tractor, but was considering a compact around 40 hsp. What exactly is a yuppie Kubota?

Thanks

 

[irvingj]

A real can of worms....:laughing:

The answer to that question is closely related to the never-ending debate as to whether or not tractors such as Kubota's BX series or the Massey-Ferguson GC series (both considered sub-compact utility tractors, and perhaps their slightly larger bretheren, compact utility tractors) are "real" tractors.

I suspect many, if not most, "crusty farmers" would consider such machines to be "yuppie tractors," suitable only for lawn mowing on homeowner estates or perhaps for "gentleman" farmers, but certainly not for real farmers....

He also seems to think that their prices are intentionally inflated due to their target demographic; I don't know about that (but I've often wondered if the same philosophy might be applied by Mercedes, BMW, and other autos of that league). His suggestion seems to be that if you stay away from such "dolled-up" machines you might get more bang for your buck.

It's a debate I don't think will ever be satisfactorily resolved, but I don't care-- my GC has been a godsend to me; I'm not a farmer, don't use it for farming, but at the same time I think it's a far cry from " a lawn mower on steroids." It does what I need it to do.:thumbsup:

 

[bp fick]

You just got one man's opinion, that's all.

Most likely, if we could read his mind, which we cannot, he's referring to $1100 option for HST for example, which in his world, he might have little use for and considers it "yuppie". Fair enough.

There is a culture clash here, most likely. What a fellow uses on a row crop or hay operation are different than what an estate tractor owner uses and appreciates. This probably goes beyond even the subcuts.

Most brands offer a plainer work horse line, modeled on older technologies and fairly tried and true, if somewhat spartan.

 

[TripleR]

As bp says, just one man's opinion. All the "real" farmers have the big tractors with all the bells and whistles. I remember a time when cabs were frowned on by "real" farmers, but I don't know of any open station tractors being used in my area now.

 

[DAY]

This topic is every bit as dangerous as religion and politics!

To your farmer friend, tractors are tools in his business. He probably has a FEL and shuttle shift to clean the cow barn, a bigger one to pull the manure speader, haybine, and baler, plus a REALLY big one to pull that 6 bottom plow. And a combine that cost more than your house! But I bet he mows his lawn with a "yuppie" machine:laughing:

Most of us have "real" jobs during the week- jobs that pay for our "yuppie toys", be they snow mobiles, golf clubs, or CUTs. As long as it gets the job done, and you're having fun doing it, then a rose by any other name is just as sweet.:licking:

 

[Baby Grand]

Part of Crusty's perception may come from the fact that housing in our upper-crust suburbia (2 acre zoning; all the houses in the neighborhood north of $500k) buys a lot of SCUTs. They also buy a lot of Mercedes minivans, so they don't bat an eye when the orange or green dealer quotes them Hyundai car prices. Supply & demand, baby - unfettered capitalism in it's finest form.

I'll admit to having pangs of sub CUT lust. I would love to get one for our place to replace The Plant Manager's tinny Craftsman. She'd love to have something with diesel power, about 14 to 16 HP, for the lawn & garden, but prices keep me from looking too hard. Does that make me crusty?

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

If it has bright paint that is not running rust tracks going down it is a Yuppie tractor. Real tractors are brownish red.
Yuppie tractors have a padded seat. Real tractor have metal seats with holes in them for the water to run through.
Yuppie tractors are HST where the foot does the determining of speed and direction. A real tractor has "GEARS" to select your speed and direction after engaging and releasing a clutch.
Yuppie tractors have power steering for ease of changing direction and leave the driver with arms that have not been exercised. Real tractors DO NOT have power steering and at the end of a long day require pain pills to relieve the pain in the well exercised arms.
Yuppie tractor starts after a few seconds without reconnecting the battery cables or jumping the battery or spraying starter fluid in the fuel intake. Real tractors require a half hour preparation before trying to start and another hour to get them to start.
Yuppie tractors do not require a logging chain be on board to pull them out of places where they get stuck, they have 4 wd. Real tractors always have a good chain on board to help pull them out of holes or ditches.
I love owning Yuppie tractors and I enjoy looking at others "real tractors" on the side of the road.

 

[Volfandt]

I'd guess, and this is just a swag on my part, to him, a good small "farm" tractor would be a Ford 8N or Ferguson TO30
Great hard working old iron that can still be had for 1/5th of the price of our new fangled yuppie mobiles
I'd also guess that anything made nowadays that has plastic/composite major assemblys, cast aluminum construction, fancy electronic gadgetry and heaven forbid - an HST would qualify as a yuppie mobile to him Thing is, the above just about includes every new make & model available nowadays
Got to agree w/him re. cost, these new tractors, even down to the smallest SCUTs ain't cheap......
I know quite a few of these old timers, unfortunately they're leaving us faster than we can glean all the hard earned knowledge they've accumulated by their tried & true hard work. Theres always some truth in their tales but keep in mind that like the rest of us, one has to keep the story interesting

re. tractor trading. Since you've already narrowed the HP class down, DO get out and test each and every model in that HP range you can, do alitle research on the particular model and go w/the one the fits you best.
Good luck
Dave

 

[crazyal]

I don't know if it's the same around you but around here tractor's priced for farmers are usually a lot more than I could afford. Of course any 100hp tractor is not going to be cheap nor will it be made for a yuppie.

To me a yuppie tractor is the expensive line at Home Depot or Lowes that usually has the name "garden" in front of it.

 

[/pine]

IMO...if it has a full scale class 1- 3 point hitch (or better) it's a tractor...anything with less is a "garden tractor" or a riding lawn mower etc...