UTVs / Side-by-Sides?

I agree
600 pounds in the bed isn't much. Bed is pretty small also.

But you're giving up a lot of bed space in exchange for 4 seats

 

$20K seems steep for a 'play toy' to me...but if ya got it, I guess?

 

so far guys have bragged about the cherry engine but my experience with them has been completely opposite, biggest pile of chinese trash you can possibly buy. To top that off its absolutely the worst possible choice of engines for a UTV JD could make.

the cherry engine is a car engine transplanted into a UTV. Wet sump with a fixed oil pickup so steep hills will starve the engine of oil, car engine in a vehicle that is belt drive and so the engine constantly runs at or above 2500RPM and running 40mph down the road means the engine screaming 4000RPM with no load so the bottom end takes a beating.

On top of all that they are basically non rebuildable. pistons, rings, rod bearings, and main bearings are only available in Std size so when the crank needs turned your buying a new crank or if the block needs bored, your buying a new block.

plus side is that they are easy to work on and parts are fairly cheap even though they are coming from JD. I think a new crankshaft is only $450.

 

The Polaris line of atv/utvs is pretty well battle tested.

That 570 is 44 hp. The new Kubota is 4 hp more. That's not a lot of difference. I want able to find specs but the tq could be better on one versus the other, also, where the tq and hp occurs is a bigger deal than peak numbers.

 

Good discussion so far. I'm not going to buy anything this year. Or next...I need to get a good deal, and I'm quite happy with the quad

Something about those 4-seaters. I just don't like the the look of that wheelbase. Too long. I know I'd have to test it, but it looks like it would be lousy to turn.

I guess that's why i'm attracted to the Pioneer 700-4. Sleeker look, not always necessary to have the 4 seats up.

But when I price them out...I looked at the Pioneer 700-4 vs. the Polaris Ranger 570-4, they are about the same price. Polaris a bit lower. Sames accessories. Honda financing is a bit lower.

 

How much would you actually use the seats?
Seems it would be a pain to flip the seats up and down if you want to use the machine for work most of the time.
I always have a saw, gas can, oil, chain and other accessories with me on my quad. If my quad had a pop-up seat it would be a pain moving all my junk to set the seat up for a passenger.

 

Good point. I also saw a vid on the Pioneer that when you have a the 4 seats up...you lose 90%+ of the storage in the box, on a side-by-side that already has low amounts of storage.

So many considerations...good thing I'm not in a rush.

 

One does not generally purchase a Kubota for performance. Reliability is the key word in regards to Kubota (speaking for myself).

I'm not knocking the Polaris. I been riding since back when Polaris 4x4 quads were driven by separate front and rear chains. They have come a long way, but it's hard to forget the early days. I do secretly lust for a Ranger 6X6 because they are tanks and will go nearly anywhere. Not a practical machine for me though.

I actually love my RTV900 for what it is. My only real beefs are the relatively low travel speed and ride quality. Neither of these are a real impedance to me, but sometimes an annoyance. The design is nearly two decades old at this point. It works fine, but advances have been made.

I've been dead set on the Kawi Pro to replace it at some point, but the new offering from Kubota changes the game a bit for me. As expressed above by F150, I still have my doubts on the engine selected by JD and Kawi to power their machines, but was willing to 'gamble' with the Mule Pro because I feel like they will be solid machines overall.

 

Yeah, you definitely don't buy a Kubota rtv for any sort of performance reasons. My aunt has one at her campground. It's a workhorse, but slower than a loaded mule.

 

Aren't they hydrostatic?

 

I believe so.

 

The words hydrostatic and performance aren't usually found in the same sentence...

 

Indeed. Can load as much wood as you can fit in/on the bed and hook a 600lb splitter to the back and it just doesn't care.

I should have defined 'performance'. I will state that the old RTVs 'perform' quite well....as a work vehicle. Recreational 'performace' is truly lacking. It must be the trans that keeps the speeds down as their new offering has a CVT style trans in it. In defense of the hydro...keep quality oil in it and filters on it and you should never ever have to work on it.

 

I’ll say that the Ranger is the best tool I ever bought. It is so nice to be able to move things around the property and dump them wherever you want. Plus snow plowing, winching things around, freeing stuck vehicles...it is so verisitile.

 

In my opinion, a buggy is nearly indispensable to a land owner/wood hoarder. An ATV will do, but I find a buggy to be more handy.

 

That should be a little better for travel speed and will make the machine more user friendly when not hauling.

Good info RCBS

 

I am anxious to see in person. Needing a part for the tractor, so hopefully the dealer will have one on the floor to ogle and fondle.

 

Maybe a test drive

 

That's not a good idea. I'm not quite ready for any new payments.

 

Yep, my RTV won't win a drag race, but it is nice to back up with a full load of gravel, drop the gate, pull the lever and watch it dump!
That gas version looks interesting, but hard to think about trading a 5 year old machine with 250 hours on it.