Most people that frequent there forums, looking for opinion, help, etc are basically homeowners looking for a tractor to aid on propriety maintenance. So those tractors won't get much use over time.
Others just buy them as luxury and owning a orange or a green tractor, gives them some sort of status or something. Those get even fewer hours as you mentioned.
I do agree with you though. No point on spending crazy amounts of money on a fully equipment tractor with 15+ attachments that will get little to no use at all.
I believe I might have one of those luxury owners about a mile or so away. He bought a small (5 acre) lot for hunting etc. Out of the 5 acres about 2/3 is wooded property (won't be marketable for another 15 years or so). After building a "summer" shack, he has about 3/4-1 acre to be mowed and maybe 100' gravel driveway (probably more like 75 though). About 2 years ago, he picked up a brand new "over loaded" JD 1025 w/cab (heater only - he complains he wanted AC but it wasn't available), 2 rear remotes, i-hitch, backhoe, etc, etc, etc. You get the picture. He boasts about how he has close to (or over) $100K in his tractor & implements so far.
For ~$100k you could probably buy a lifetime of maintenance from a company. Anyway, 2 years later he has 26 hours on the machine had only used most of his attachments one time - I'm guessing to play around with his new "toy" or "prove" to his wife he needed everything
. He doesn't come to his property but about one weekend a month during the summer and maybe once from Fall-spring. I know this because he has asked/hired me to maintain his driveway during those months - using my tractor & 8' rear blade (his is only 4'). Every time I go there I just shake my head. Brand new implements and tractor just laying around on the ground, uncovered filled up with leaves, weeds etc. I would think the least he could do is build a carport to park it under. But he probably already got pictures when it was new with all of the implements in use so all of his friends & co-workers already know how cool he is.
Wish I had $100k to throw away like that (or the grand or so a month being paid).
Am I crazy? I thought when I picked up my Mahindra 2555 cab shuttle with under 75 hrs on it for ~$25-30k that it was expensive for a tractor - the dealer had to throw in free beet juice, Titan grapples & 4T forks to make me sign on the dotted line - pre-Covid, go figure what today's prices might be.
