Comparison Kubota vs. LS

[chim]

Judging from the pictures and comments from LS owners, they do make some pretty nice tractors. I do believe there are happy LS owners but there are two things that make it hard for me to be interested in them. Yes, products can improve. I remember laughing at the first little ugly Honda cars

First of all, the Montana* we have at work is a crude piece of equipment. We needed parts for it and had to wait for the next slow boat to bring them. We removed the loader and frame ONCE to work in a small area. Took 3 men with prybars and hammers to get it back on. I'm on my third Kubota and can get the loader and frame off and on in less than 2 minutes by myself with little effort. Loader controls wouldn't allow both lift and curl functions at the same time.

Secondly, around here there aren't any real dealers around here. The LS / ex-Montana dealer we bought from is a farmer who appears to be dabbling in tractors. Nice family but not what I'd call a dealer in the true sense. I live within minutes of Messick's and have become accustomed to walking in and getting most anything needed for a Kubota or Ford.

*Two of our "economists" with no tractor experience bought the Montana to use on jobsites to handle skidded material just prior to my taking over at the shops. They thought it looked a lot like a John Deere with the green paint. It was delivered shortly after I arrived. I questioned the plan and was told about the great lifting capacity of the loader. I asked for the specs. Of course, the capacity spec they referred to was at the other end of the tractor! With the nifty QA forks they bought it wouldn't lift a fraction of what they thought it would. It is handy for odds and ends around the shop like touching up after our snow removal guy, etc.

 

[tradosaurus]

LS makes good tractors and if you are a homeowner or someone who doesnt need the tractor/part fixed immediately it is well worth considering. If you make a living with it then it's another story. Most LS dealers are Mom & Pop or small implements dealers and may or may not have the equipment & know-how to do good repair, but if you do have a good dealer close to you I'd have a go $10K is a lot of dough.

That's a good way of looking at it. If having a tractor down for maintenance would cost me income I would go with a Kubota as long as there was dealer support within an hours drive.

Listen to this guys horror story and why he eventually went with the Kubota. He saved buying the LS but lost money with the trade in.

XG3025 LS Tractor~~ Did LS Tractor Co. Fix THIS Tractor? - YouTube

 

[jaydee325]

Both machines will serve you well. My LS R3039H, purchased in 2013 has been stellar as has the dealer.

I all boils down to which dealer you feel will support you best in a machine down situation.

On pricing, remember back in the day when Kubota was just getting started in the US. They were priced as a value tractor to get their foot in the door. Just like what LS is doing now!

Hi, thank you! We豎*e in Oregon逞ｴ Willamette Valley. I just haven遞 had the chance to get profile stuff done yet. The price tag is pretty awesome, just trying to figure out why the price gap. Driven both and like them both, just seems too good to be true.

 

[Trillium Farm]

On pricing, remember back in the day when Kubota was just getting started in the US. They were priced as a value tractor to get their foot in the door. Just like what LS is doing now!

You can't compare Kubota's mindset with LS! In the 70s even though Kubota was value-priced it sent its engineers to talk to farmers and discuss their problems and how to improve their product and they made good products (perhaps better then) and the re-sent engineers to check on satisfaction, I know I was there when engineers came to talk to dealers & farmers here in Ontario. How many engineers has LS sent? I'm not knocking LS, but you really can't compare it with Kubota, not even on the same planet. It may or may not be good value, it depends on the situation, but the two aren't comparable.

 

[Diggin It]

Perhaps LS has been doing things long enough that they know what the market wants and no longer have to ask?

 

[Jchonline]

Perhaps LS has been doing things long enough that they know what the market wants and no longer have to ask?

Or perhaps LS has sent engineers, just not to Ontario. For me it boils down to dealer support. I want parts availability and good service. If you can get that with LS then I would strongly consider. In my area those arent available.

 

[searcyfarms]

I bought my deere a year ago...........most of the reason was dealer related however i priced and looked at a lot of tractors. I had dealings with the locally owned kubota dealer here that is closest and would not every give them a dime of my money again - similar situation with a rented piece of equipment and glass broke and i ended up footing the bill totally on it - no -other options - long story -

knowing i didnt want to deal with them i talked to next closest kubota dealer and he said this is our price i we do not really negotiate on our prices " it is a kubota after all we dont need to they are just that good "

So i call the closest mahindra and ls dealer - they gave me prices for a mahindra and ls and the mahindra was more $$ than the LS. I said well I am trying to find this and they said we dont make something like that the closest thing we hvae is X and Y and here are the prices. I said do you have any promotions or are you negotiable on your pricing, I explained i was a serious buyer and was ready to buy - he said those are our prices we have the best prices anywhere around blah blah - so i called the kioti dealer and unfortunately they were about 1.5 hours from me so i just couldnt bring myself to go there.

Deere came to the plate and were less $$ than the comparable tractors except for the kioti but they didnt have anything that was real close spec wise. The pricing was as follows, Kubota, Mahindra, LS, Deere, Kioti

I dont know about the bigger tractors like you are looking at but we have some sweet new holland/case ih/LS tractors around here in that class. I would be hard pressed to choose but i can assure you it wont be a Kubota.

 

[BRMyers]

In my case, closest LS dealer was 2 hours away, so I ruled them out. I have Kubota, Deere, and Mahindra dealer all within a few minutes of each other. After looking and talking, I decided on the Kubota. The dealer took us out and walked us through different models and explained the different features. They are also close enough to us that if we have issues, they will come and pick up the tractor and take it to their shop for free.

So for us, it came down to the dealer, model we liked, and finally the price for which one we decided to buy. When we added all that up, we picked the Kubota. The more I read on the forums, it really seems that the dealer is the major factor in the purchase. Yet, it shouldn't be a surprise, car shopping is the same way, we have walked are from vehicles because we didn't like a dealer.

 

[Donnyncarol]

In my case, closest LS dealer was 2 hours away, so I ruled them out. I have Kubota, Deere, and Mahindra dealer all within a few minutes of each other. After looking and talking, I decided on the Kubota. The dealer took us out and walked us through different models and explained the different features. They are also close enough to us that if we have issues, they will come and pick up the tractor and take it to their shop for free.

So for us, it came down to the dealer, model we liked, and finally the price for which one we decided to buy. When we added all that up, we picked the Kubota. The more I read on the forums, it really seems that the dealer is the major factor in the purchase. Yet, it shouldn't be a surprise, car shopping is the same way, we have walked are from vehicles because we didn't like a dealer.

Dealership that comes and picks up free? Lol WOW that's amazing. Like I said before I am on my second my dad is on his 3rd Kubota. We are 15 Miles from the dealer. They will not come get ours for free.

 

[BRMyers]

Dealership that comes and picks up free? Lol WOW that's amazing. Like I said before I am on my second my dad is on his 3rd Kubota. We are 15 Miles from the dealer. They will not come get ours for free.

Yep, they have a 15 mile radius, after that it is a $1.50 a mile (as long as you purchased your tractor from them).

 

[Donnyncarol]

That's awesome, ours has a 0 mile radius. They do nothing for free. Well I take that back. They delivered mine after the 2 month DPF header pump issue the attorney general got involved with. But they were on the verge of eating a $70,000 tractor that had 120 hours on it.

 

[searcyfarms]

my dealer is 16 miles one way, they have picked up my old machine at No Charge when doing a repair that was still not quite right trying to fix an intermittent, they also have picked up my new one 2 times for service as well as delivery when purchased and no charge on any of them. Another reason i love my dealer!!!!

 

[nards444]

Perhaps LS has been doing things long enough that they know what the market wants and no longer have to ask?

Yeah I agree that argument from trillium doesnt really hold water in imo. Many ways to get feedback.

 

[Ortimber]

Yeah I agree that argument from trillium doesnt really hold water in imo. Many ways to get feedback.

I know New Holland understands marketing. Since LS makes a good portion of NH tractors, I would have to assume LS corporate understands what products and options will fit every market across the globe.

 

[Gary Fowler]

The unbelievable part is that LS sells for many $$$ less than the LS built New Holland and the LS has more bells and whistles than the NH. Why would anyone pay more for less just because of the brand name.
I have Kubota and LS and really haven't had any issues related to quality with either. LS does step up with warranty issues. They did a couple of re-engineering jobs on parts of my tractor that I broke (seat bracket & drawbar hitch) so as to make them stronger. I got the new parts pretty quickly except for the fuel tank but I fixed the fuel tank myself and still have the replacement in the box in my shop. Mine is a 2010 and not many hours but still going great.
The warranty is much better for LS than Kubota. My B26 had a one year warranty, the LS has 5 year powertrain.

 

[ptsg]

The unbelievable part is that LS sells for many $$$ less than the LS built New Holland and the LS has more bells and whistles than the NH.

So true! It's getting to a point that some of these big brands are actually considering a draw bar as an option when buying the tractor just to sell another overpriced part. I mean, a draw bar is what made the tractors what they are today...

At this rate, in a few years, even the steering wheel might be a option.

 

[Diggin It]

So true! It's getting to a point that some of these big brands are actually considering a draw bar as an option when buying the tractor just to sell another overpriced part. I mean, a draw bar is what made the tractors what they are today...

At this rate, in a few years, even the steering wheel might be a option.

When I was shopping, I went through several of the company 'build your own' sites. I forget which one it was now ... maybe Massey, not sure ... on one of them, tires were not included in the base model price. Once you selected a model, one of the next screens listed the available tires and all options R1, R4 or Turf were all an extra charge.

 

[tradosaurus]

When I was shopping, I went through several of the company 'build your own' sites. I forget which one it was now ... maybe Massey, not sure ... on one of them, tires were not included in the base model price. Once you selected a model, one of the next screens listed the available tires and all options R1, R4 or Turf were all an extra charge.

This was true to some extent when I bought my L3301 this year. Since I elected to go with R1 they discounted a few hundred. R4's were standard in the quoted price and turf's added a few hundred.

 

[shooterdon]

My LS dealer will pick up and deliver for free and I am an hour away (Kubota is 8 miles closer but charges $300). He also has a service truck for minor stuff. I saved over $8k buying the LS instead of the Kubota. The LS had better lift capacity as well. And the dealer is very good. I saw him handle one irate customer who was being an ***. I talked to others who had bought from the dealer. For me it was a no brainer.

If my livelihood depended on my tractor, I would have had a tougher decision. But, it does not. I did not own a tractor until last year so it is not a necessity. It is two months old and has 38 hours on it.

BTW, one of the guys at our hunt camp works in the logging business and he used it for an hour. He was impressed with it and the build quality.

I see the LS as the new Kubota. Underpriced for what you get and poised to increase in market share and value.

 

[nards444]

My LS dealer will pick up and deliver for free and I am an hour away (Kubota is 8 miles closer but charges $300). He also has a service truck for minor stuff. I saved over $8k buying the LS instead of the Kubota. The LS had better lift capacity as well. And the dealer is very good. I saw him handle one irate customer who was being an ***. I talked to others who had bought from the dealer. For me it was a no brainer.

If my livelihood depended on my tractor, I would have had a tougher decision. But, it does not. I did not own a tractor until last year so it is not a necessity. It is two months old and has 38 hours on it.

BTW, one of the guys at our hunt camp works in the logging business and he used it for an hour. He was impressed with it and the build quality.

I see the LS as the new Kubota. Underpriced for what you get and poised to increase in market share and value.

Green had the market and now orange does. But like anything these scuts/cuts are exploding on the market. Somebody just like honda, yota etc will make their in and end of the day provide a machine that is just as good if not better for much less money. Just the way it works.

Even with that said there lots of people like you and me that dont need machine to run 8 hours a day 5 days a week, if that were the case then my thought process might be different to. The problem with thinking that, is that the off branded machines if you will provide a machine that is just as good. The detractors their only real argument is legacy and dealer support, while yes there is some value there potentially, but it doesnt make the machine better. Saying this I just bought a Kubota.