Buying Advice Many People Seem to Favor Kubota over Deere on TractorByNet.

[meyerld]

Scanning the General Forums where prospective buyers are genuinely seeking advice on new tractors to buy, it seems to me that the vast majority of posters recommend Kubota with sometimes fairly negative commentary about Deere. For perspective, we are a 4th generation Deere family with pride in our tractors and mostly positive experiences with them. We note they are robust and attractive and bring smiles to others. I certainly do not even look twice if I see an orange tractor, but then again, in my area there are mostly Deeres on the farms - easily 90 percent so I really don't see many orange tractors. But the opinions on this site would lead me to believe otherwise and so I need to consider if I have been missing something. We obviously have brand loyalty to Deere but would like to know if Kubota has overtaken them in product quality.

 

[s219]

I think it's because you generally (not always) get more tractor for the money with a Kubota, but the quality is as good or better. Of course, other companies like Kioti are now playing the same exact game, but taking sales away from Kubota. I'd say that here in 2015, customers have a lot of good options, and it just doesn't make sense to be exclusive to one brand unless you have a real good reason.

There is also a difference depending on the size of the tractor. Deere has some big monsters and is a strong established player in the farming market. Kubota is still expanding into that market. For compact tractors, Deere lost the crown a long long time ago. I think Kubota outsells them in compacts something like 3 to 1.

 

[DK35vince]

Some brand loyalty if a brand has been good to you in the past I can understand.
But total brand loyalty to where you don't even bother to check and see if the competitions Brands/models may offer more or be a better value makes no sense to me.
I've owned a John Deere compact tractor, I've owned a Kioti compact tractor.
Both have been very good/reliable for me.
But you can bet if I ever get another tractor I will look at and price multiple brands/models/features before I buy.

 

[meyerld]

I would not be asking the question or raising the topic if I were unwilling to consider other brands so you can get off the blind brand loyalty theme please.

 

[Code54]

I think Deere is a good tractor but in my case for a comparable model they wanted a great deal more money. Even the Deere dealer said he really could not compete with the Kubota at the time (which I really appreciated his honesty). If the price would have been closer when we bought it would have been a much harder decision.

 

[4570Man]

A wouldn't mind messing up the orange color scheme with a 1960's model JD to mow with, but I will take a new Kubota ofer a new JD any day. I also hate the separate forward and reverse pedal on a JD, and what kind of moron who probably has never used a tractor decided to put the brake on the left side?

 

[tomd999]

Hiya,

At this point between Deere and Kubota it comes down to ergonomics, options, other equipment currently owned and most importantly the relationship to the dealer.

Case in point, me. in 2011 I was looking for a 45+ PTO HP compact cab tractor, I was looking at New Holland, Kubota and Deere. the Kubota was the first one to be ruled out as I couldn't work the treadel that well and the cab in general seemed sized for someone about a foot shorter than me, I'm 6'5". The NH was nice, especially the cab roof with a glass panel to see the bucket when raised but I couldn't get the dealer to work with me at all on pricing. I eventually had a smaller Deere land in my lap and I snagged that up, it worked out well as I already had Deere loader attachments, something else I think means a great deal if you already have stuff for one brand you don't have to re-buy it for another.

 

[TomSeller]

Deere makes the best large agricultural tractors in my opinion and doesn't focus on the CUT and SCUT market. Kubota is hedging in that direction with some of its newer models over 100 HP as it struggles to compete with the newer low cost players in the small tractor market (LG, Kioti, etc.). The majority of TBN members are not AG tractor users which is why Deere is not appreciated as much on this forum is it should be. When it is harvest time, it is Deere time.

 

[hosspuller]

I think the dealer service or lack of, part of the tractor purchase decision is a large influence. In my area, the commercial operators in ag and lawn are mostly Deere (by what I see) The hobby farmers and home owners can afford downtime. Also as said before, Kubota has a lock on the compact tractor segment. The commercial folks use larger equipment.

 

[meyerld]

Ah. Thanks for this helpful perspective guys. Looking back at the posts it seems more clear to me now that the stated preferences for Kubota were mostly for the smaller tractors. The next tractor I need is in the 125 hp range as we expand our farm.