Geez, I didn't want to get myself involved in all of this, but I need to straighten out a few mis-truths in your statements Dave.
Comparing to a GC...
you are comparing a Max designed for a backhoe attachment to the GC version that is not.
The comparable (GC2610) tractor has a much taller ROPS, and by the look of it, it's taller and beefier than than that of the Max.
Sorry for the bad pic, but thats my head, and you can see the bottom of the ROPS about a foot over my head.
I'm no wheres NEAR a line drawn to the hood, and I am over 6'1".
You can see that this ROPS does indeed fold:
And the statement you made about the hood is just ridiculous:
The hood is not plastic, it's steel.
Thats a magnet I stuck on there.
I'm surprised you are a Massey dealer, as those are very inaccurate comparisons.
From the bottom up. I'm surprised I'm a Massey dealer also. Massey would also be surprised. Since I am not. I do have an old Massey I mow my orchard with, made in Italy by Landini, and it's a great old machine. I like Masseys! And the GC is a good machine as well.
On the hood being plastic, totally screw-up on my part.
It's the GC that has the plastic
fenders I think (correct me if I am wrong), but obviously a metal hood. Of course the plastic vs metal thing is getting less important. The automotive world has pretty much perfected plastic and smc parts (look at a new Corvette) and there are actually some advantages. I prefer steel, but I bet in 10-20 years, there will be very few metal hoods/fenders on tractors. Some of our larger models have plastic fender extensions. They have their place for sure.
Regarding the ROPS, I compared a regular GC with a loader to our most basic Max with a loader. That
is a fair comparison. I am glad your ROPS is taller, it needs to be. And since it is taller, it folds. That makes sense. Mahindra only has one ROPS, since people can chose a backhoe now or later.
I think my point of a low ROPS on the non-backhoe compatible GC didn't evaporate due to my hood error though?
Sorry for the metal hood mistake, and thanks for straightening me out! I need to be really careful making assumptions on the other brands, and this is a good reminder.