Minis might work on some properties, but like many recommendations, your situation may dictate otherwise. No way a mini could do what a UTV can do on my land. The mini is more expensive than the equivalent UTV. You cannot compare to the most expensive UTV to justify the expense. I can get a UTV that will do what I need for about 10k. By the time I upgraded the mini to handle my minimum needs, it would be twice that at least.
Not sure how you can get to $20K on a mini truck. I’m into mine about 10k, which includes three sets of wheels and tires (ATV for offroad, and two sets od Mud and Snow tires, one with studs), the steel for my bumpers, the four tongue jacks to act as outriggers so I can level it up when I use the scissors lift as a man basket (also handy for getting all four wheels in the air to rotate/change out tires as the seasons/mission changes), some steel to build a second set of bed sides, and tailgate which are 42-inch high as OSHA compliant guard rails. a new carburetor, new radio and speakers, the winch, and the wiring and plow lights.
The minitrucks can get expensive fast if you need to pay someone else to work on them. Or if you don’t know enough about what things you can substitute common parts for instead of buying factory parts fro Japan. Fr example my front struts are bad. Almost $500 for new ones from Japan. solved that by installing a set of shocks for a Chevy half ton, like I was setting up a dual shock system, but now the inexpensive shocks do all the dampening, and the struts are just acting as guide rods ofr the suspension.
One of the things I like about mine is that it has a carburetor, and distributor, which means that I can trouble shoot problems and make repairs myself. My newer vehicles with fuel injection, distributorless ignition, and computerized engine management all jammed into an engine bay too small to get your hands into, are impossible for me to work on.
I’m planning another $500 or so on a new exhaust system. And, might spend another $750 to install a small Roots style supercharger. Halfway thinking about installing a Roots blower on the tiny tractor. Need to take a better look at what it would take to upgrade the fuel injection system to handle that.
There is another $3000, in the BlackLine electro-hydraulic snow plow, but I would have spent that regardless of whether I went with the mini or a UTV.
but it's so light I got it off pretty easily.
